1. MY MOTHER AT SIXTY SIX BY KAMALA DAS

COMPLETE SOLUTION OF THE POEM 'MY MOTHER AT SIXTY SIX'

(A) Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow.

“Driving from my parent’s home to Cochin last Friday

morning, I saw my mother, beside me, doze,

open mouthed, her face ashen like that of a corpse and realized  with pain

that she thought away,

Q1. Name the poem and the poet.

Ans:- The name of the poem is, ‘My Mother at Sixty six’ and the poet is Kamala Das.

Q2. Where was the poet going by driving her car?

Ans:- The poet Kamala Das was going to Cochin airport from her parent’s home by driving her car last Friday morning.

Q3. What did the poet notice about her mother?

Ans:- The poet’s mother was sitting beside her in the car. The poet noticed that her mother was sleeping with her mouth open.

Q4. Why was the poet mother’s face looking like that of a corpse?

Ans:- The poet mother’s face had lost all its beauty and charm of youth because of growing old. Her face looked pale, like lifeless. That’s why; the face of poet’s mother was looking like a corpse.

(B) Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow.

                                    …… and looked but soon

                       put that thought away, and looked out at young

                            trees sprinting, the merry children spilling

                                          out of their homes, ….

Q1. What thought did the poet drive away from her mind?

Ans:- The poet Kamala Das realized that her beloved mother had turned off enough old, her face had wrinkled, pale, lifeless like a corpse. Such top notch thought came into the poet’s mind while her driving car.

Q2. What did the poet look out through the window of her car?

Ans:- The poet saw the trees running back to her car, she also saw some children rushing out of their homes to play. These both images of young trees and merry children were full of life in comparison to the poet’s mother, who was pale and lifeless sitting beside the poet in her car.

Q3. Why was the poet upset by looking at her mother’s face?

Ans:- The poet was quite upset looking at her mother’s pale face. Because she knew that her mother is now the guest of few days more. So she didn’t want let her mother away from her.

Q4.What does the phrase ‘trees sprinting’ signify?

Ans:- The phrase ‘trees sprinting’ signifies time, which has gone away far from the poet’s mother now.

(C) Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow.

                             “ 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.”

Q1. Who went for security check?

Ans:- The poet, Kamala Das, went for security check at the airport.

Q2. Who was standing a few yards away?

Ans:- The poet’s mother was standing a few yards away.

Q3. What does the poet compare her mother’s face to and why?

Ans:- The poet Kamala Das compares her mother’s face to a late winter’s moon. As the moon of the winter looks colourless and weak due to mist and fog, the face of poet’s mother looks pale and lack of brightness because of growing old.

(D) Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow.

                                      “ …… 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. What was the childhood’s fear of the poet?

Ans:- As being a child, the poet was insecure about losing her beloved mother in childhood. But now looking at her mother’s pale and weak face while driving away her car from her parent’s home to Cochin airport, the poet realized the same haunting feeling about her mother.

Q2. What do the poet’s parting words suggest?

Ans:- The poet’s parting words ‘see you soon, Amma’ suggest hope, not only for her, but also for her mother that they will meet again.

Q3. Why did the poet smile and smile?

Ans:- Though the poet smiled and smiled because the poet was trying to conceal her real feelings and her tears. She was afraid of the fact that she might not see lovely mother again.

Q4. Explain “And felt that old familiar ache”.

Ans:- The poet Kamala Das felt much grieves by getting far away from her mother. The poet remembered her childhood looking at her mother’s face. She was ever young and beautiful but now her beauty and charm has lost with the wave of time. The poet felt a kind of ache by knowing that her mother is now the guest of only few days. She feared of losing her mother.

                                          FROM OUT OF STANZA

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

Ans:- The poet Kamala Das feels pain and ache by looking at her mother who has grown enough old, she is feared of losing her beloved mother who seems weak and colourless. She doesn’t want to be separate from her mother.

Q2. Why are the young trees described as ‘sprinting’?

Ans:- The poet looks out through the window of her car, she feels young trees are running along her car. These young trees present the vivid image of the poetess childhood that passed away very quickly. She also looks children playing merrily out of their homes.         

Q3. Why has the poet brought in the image of the merry children ‘spilling out of their homes?

Ans:- Those merry children are the vivid image for the poet that she looks through her childhood. The poetess peeps her mother’s ashen face, she has turned enough old, her beauty and charm has lost but those merry children who are playing out near their homes are happy but her mother is sad.

Q4. Why has mother been compared to the ‘late winter’s moon’?

Ans:- just as a ‘late winter’s moon’ looks hazy and appears to lack brightness and lustre due to mist and fog, similarly, the poet’s mother, who is now sixty-six, looks pale and devoid of exuberance. She has grown enough old, and her face looks dull and colourless due to old age.

Q5. What do the parting words of the poet and her smile signify?

Ans:- The parting words and the smile of the poetess Kamala Das signify her terrible failure with the words. Indeed, the poet is feared towards her mother that pains her heart because she doesn’t want to be separate from her mother any more who has turned enough old.