My Mother at Sixty-six- Important Extracts-Questions-Answers

My Mother at Sixty-six-Kamala Das

Stanza 1.

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 was as old as she looked /but soon put that thought away, and/looked at Young Treessprinting, the merry children /spilling out of their homes

Answer the questions that follow options/instructions:

 

(i) Kamala Das’ mother accompanied her daughter to the airport

(a) To receive her younger daughter

(b) To bid her daughter Kamala Das farewell/ goodbye

(c) To see the airport as she had never been to any (d) As she had also to board the plane

 

Ans. Option (b) To bid her daughter Kamala Das farewell/ goodbye

 

(ii) The figure of speech used in “ashen like that of a corpse” is

(a) Simile

(b) Metaphor

(c) Alliteration

(d) Paradox

 

Ans. Option (a) Simile

 

(iii) The phrases ‘Young Trees sprinting’ and ‘merry children spilling ‘ represent:

 

(a) Dotage

(b) Death

(c) Youth

(d) Affection

Ans. Option © youth

 

(iv) Choose the word that rhymes with ‘ yards’.

 

(a) wards

(b) check

(c) corpse

(d) merry

Ans. (a) wards

(v) Name the poet of the above extract.

 

(a) John Keats

(b) Robert Frost

(c) Kamala Das

(d) Pablo Neruda

Ans. (c) Kamala Das

Questions & Answers — Already Provided
(Your answers are correct: (i) b, (ii) a, (iii) c, (iv) a, (v) c)

STANZA 2 — Extract + Questions & Answers

Extract 2:

…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. The poet compares her mother’s face to a late winter’s moon to show that she is—

(a) bright and glowing
(b) pale and weak
(c) cheerful and happy
(d) strong and confident

Answer: (b) pale and weak

 

Q2. The phrase ‘standing a few yards away’ suggests—

(a) physical distance only
(b) emotional distance between mother and daughter
(c) both physical and emotional distance
(d) indifference

Answer: (c) both physical and emotional distance

 

Q3. What emotion dominates the poet’s mind in these lines?

(a) Anger
(b) Fear of losing her mother
(c) Excitement
(d) Indifference

Answer: (b) Fear of losing her mother

 

Q4. Choose the correct figure of speech in ‘pale as a late winter’s moon’.

(a) Personification
(b) Simile
(c) Metaphor
(d) Alliteration

Answer: (b) Simile

 

Q5. The word ‘wan’ means—

(a) colourful
(b) cheerful
(c) pale and weak
(d) energetic

Answer: (c) pale and weak

 

 

STANZA 3 — Extract + Questions & Answers

Extract 3:

…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. The phrase ‘old familiar ache’ refers to—

(a) physical pain
(b) fear of exams
(c) the poet’s lifelong fear of losing her mother
(d) joy of reunion

Answer: (c) the poet’s lifelong fear of losing her mother

 

Q2. Why does the poet “smile and smile and smile”?

(a) She wants to hide her fear
(b) She is very happy
(c) She is laughing at a joke
(d) She is posing for a picture

Answer: (a) She wants to hide her fear

 

Q3. Which emotion best describes the poet at this moment?

(a) Joy
(b) Hope and fear
(c) Anger
(d) Disinterest

Answer: (b) Hope and fear

 

Q4. The repetition of the word ‘smile’ shows—

(a) artificial happiness
(b) helplessness and emotional struggle
(c) excitement
(d) irritation

Answer: (b) helplessness and emotional struggle

 

Q5. ‘Amma’ means—

(a) sister
(b) grandmother
(c) mother
(d) aunt

Answer: (c) mother

 

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. It was the same kind of pain that she used to feel in her childhood. It was caused by her fear of being separated from her mother. 

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 (highlight) 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. The poetess compares her mother’s face to a waning (decreasing) winter moon. The late winter’s moon looks pale and it suggests decay and death. 

Q4. Where was the poetess 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. Her mother was with her. She observed that paleness was spread on her face. She also thought that her mother was not going to live for more time. She feared separation from her mother. 

Q5. What was Kamala Dass’ fear as a child? Why did it surface when she was going to the airport? 

Ans. Kamala Das did not want to be separated from her. The idea about her mother’s separation from her always pained her. She looked at her face closely and found paleness on her face. 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 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 looks 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 the security check, the poetess 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 also. It was the pain that she felt due to the fear of losing her mother. Then she uttered hopefully “See you soon, Amma”. 

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 poem and its poet. 

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. 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 words suggested hope. 

 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. 

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

. ‘The merry children’ symbolize energy and youth. The word ‘spilling’ 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 Das. 

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. 

 Q7. Why did the poet repeat the word smile in the line ‘smile and smile and smile’? 

Ans. It shows a long smile.