My Mother at Sixty-six by Kamala Das Questions & Answers

Poem 1: Book: Flamingo: Class XII (Notes by Shish Pal Chauhan)

My Mother at Sixty-six by Kamala Das

A.   Questions & Answers

Q1. What is the kind of pain and ache that the poet feels?

Ans. The thought that her mother was not going to live for more time created the pain that she used to experience in her childhood. At that time, she was unable to bear any separation from her mother. When she grew up, she was not able to bear the loss of her mother. She did not want her mother should die and leave her alone.

Q2.Describe why the young trees are described as sprinting?

                                        Or

What does the poet want to convey to us when she describes the merry children ‘spilling out of their homes’?

Ans. The poet describes the children ‘spilling out of their homes’. She wants to intensify the contrast between the pale and weak mother and the joyful and energetic children. The childhood period is full of joy and energy while old age lacks all this.

Q3. Why has the mother been compared to the ‘late winter’s moon’?

Ans. Standing at a few yards away from her mother, after the security check, the poet looked again at her mother’s face which was pale. She uses a simile here to strengthen the paleness that she observed at her mother’s face. She compares her mother’s face to a waning winter moon. It suggests decay and death.

Q4. Where was the poet going? Who was with her? What did she observe about the person who was going with her in the car?

Ans. The poetess, Kamala Das was going to Cochin airport to pick up flight from there. Her mother, who was sixty-six years at that time, was with her. She observed that paleness was spread on it. She shuddered to think that it was the same kind of paleness that is also spread on the faces of dead bodies. She also concluded that her mother was not going to live for more time and she would be separated from her mother forever.

Q5. What were Kamala Das’ fears as a child? Why did they surface when she was going to the airport?

Ans. As a child, Kamala Das was very possessive about her mother. She did not want to be separated from her, not even for a very little time. The idea of her mother’s separation from her always pained her. It surfaced at the time when she was going with her in a car because she looked at her closely and found paleness on her face. It was the same kind of paleness that is found on the face of a dead body. She feared that her mother would not survive for more time.

Q6. What painful thoughts come to the poet’s mind? How does she drive them off?

Ans. When the poetess noticed her mother’s face closely, she found paleness on her face. It was the same kind of paleness that is found on a dead body’s face. She immediately drove those negative thoughts by looking out of the window of the car.

Q7.  What does the poetess see when she looks outside the car while going to the Cochin airport in a car?

Ans. She looked at the young trees which seemed running fast in the opposite direction. They were young and seemed to her as if they were young children running fast in the opposite direction.  She also saw the happy children who were running out of their homes to reach some nearby playground.

 Q8. What happens when the poetess reaches the airport?

Ans. After some time, the car reaches outside the Cochin airport. Standing at a few yards away from her mother, after the security check, the poet looked again at her mother’s face which was pale. After that, she felt a familiar pain that she used to experience in her childhood. It was the pain that emerged out of the fear of losing her mother. Then she uttered hopefully “See you soon, Amma”.

4. What is the significance of the parting words of the poet and her smile, in My Mother at Sixty-six?

 Ans. The poet’s parting words to her mother signify the hope that she would meet her again.

The repetition of the word ‘smile’ signifies a prolonged smile given by the poet to her mother. That also had a soothing effect on the mother.

Stanzas for Comprehensions:

Stanza 1.

“…but after the airport’s/Security check, standing a few yards/Away, I looked again at her, wan,

Pale/As late winter’s moon and felt that/Old/Familiar ache, my childhood’s fear/But all I said was, see you soon,/Amma,/All I did was smile and smile and/Smile…”

Questions:

Q1.Name the poet and the poem.

Ans. The poet is Kamala Das and the title of the poem is ‘ My Other at Sixty-six’.

Q2. Who is ‘I’ in the above stanza?

Ans. The poetess/poet Kamala Das.

Q3.What was the familiar childhood ache the poet felt now?

Ans. The poet did not bear separation from her mother in her childhood also. That pain troubled her again when she thought that her mother would not survive for more time.

Q4. What were the parting words spoken by the poet? What did they suggest?

Ans. She said, “See you soon, Amma,”. These were full of hope that she wished to see her mother alive in her next visit. These were the only words uttered by her as she might have been charged with sentiments for her mother.

Q5. What poetic device has been used in the line, I looked again at her, wan, Pale /As late winter’s moon’?

Ans. A simile has been used here.

Q6. Give a synonym for the word ‘wan’.

Ans. Pale

Stanza 2

“…but soon/put that thought away, and/looked out at young/trees sprinting, the merry children spilling/out of their homes,…”

Q1. Which thought does the poet put away?

Ans. She puts away the thought that her mother would not survive for a long time.

Q2. What poetic device does the expression ‘sprinting trees’ stand for? What do the sprinting trees add to the poet’s description of her mother?

Ans. The device used in the expression ‘sprinting trees’ is personification. This expression adds contrast to the poet’s description of her mother’s old age. It intensifies the meaning and the contrast and it makes the poet gloomy.

Q3. What do the “…the merry children spilling
out of their homes…” symbolize?

Ans. The merry children symbolize energy and youth in contrast to the old and pale mother sitting in the car. The use of the word ‘spilling’ also signifies the flow of energy.

Q4. What do you mean by ‘sprinting’?

Ans. It means ‘running fast

Stanza 3

but after the airport's/security check, standing a few yards
away, I looked again at her, wan,/pale/as a late winter's moon and felt that
old familiar ache, my childhood's fear,/but all I said was, see you soon,
Amma,/all I did was smile and smile and/smile.

Q1. Who is “I” in the above stanza?

Ans. “I” is the poet Kamala Dass.

Q2. Who is ‘you’ in the above lines?

Ans. ‘You’ is the poet’s grandmother.

Q3, Where are both of them standing?

Ans. They are standing at the Cochin airport.

Q4. Which poetic device has been used in “wan, pale as a late winter's moon”?

Ans. A simile has been used here.

Q5. Explain the words: ”… old familiar ache, my childhood's fear…”

Ans. In her childhood, the poet used to feel some pain when her mother was away from her. Now, she suffers the fear of losing her mother as she is in her extreme old age.

Q6. What does the word ‘all’ suggest in the lines “all I said was, see you soon, Amma,/all I did was smile and smile and smile.”?

Ans. The word ‘all’ suggests that she could not express all her feelings to her mother because she did not want to make her mother feel sadder at her departure.

Q7. Why does the poet compare her mother’s face to “a late winter's moon”?

Ans. The late winter’s moon has been described as wan and pale. It is pale and dim due to the fog in the winter season. Similarly is the situation is with the poet’s mother. Her face is also wan { wɒn/ pale and giving the impression of illness or exhaustion} due to old age.

Q8. Why did the poet repeat the word smile in the line ‘smile and smile and smile’?

Ans. As she did not want to say anything more to her mother, she smiled at her. The repetition of the word ‘smile’ suggests a broad and prolonged smile. It creates imagery.