An Old Woman - Arun Kolatkar

A Note On The Poet :

Arun Kolatkar (1932 – 2004) was educated in Mumbai where he worked as a graphic
artist.
A winner of the Commonwealth Poetry Prize, Kolatkar has contributed to ‘Kavi’, ‘Opinion
Literary Review’, ‘New Writing in India’ and ‘The Shell and The Rain’. He is a bilingual
poet and has translated Marathi poems into English. This poem is selected from ‘Jejuri’,
a collection of his poems.

An Old Woman Summary :

An old woman clutches a tourist’s sleeve and tags along with him. She wants a ‘fifty
paise coin’. For this, she offers to show him ‘the horseshoe shrine’. This refers to a
legend centred around a horse¬shoe shaped depression in a rock about Khandoba, the
presiding deity at Jejuri, who leapt from that rock onto his horse as he carried his wife
with him. This is a legend that the true believer reveres and the sceptic doubts.

The tourist moves away as he has seen the shrine already. The old woman ‘tightens her
grip’ and ‘hobbles’ along – not giving up so easily. She is persistent. She clings to him
like a ‘burr’ – a prickly seed pod that clings to clothes.

Irritated by this persistence, the tourist decides to ‘face her’ with an ‘air of finality’ – he
decides that he will not yield to her and thereby wants to put an end to the ‘farce’. He
presumes that his no-nonsense reaction will deter her. But the old woman’s matter of
fact question – ‘what else’ could an ‘old woman’ do to survive on these ‘wretched hills’ –
strikes the narrator like a thunderbolt.

The stark reality that hits the narrator allows him to ‘see’ her at closer quarters. When
he turns to look at her face, he is shocked. There are two deep sunken eyes that look
like bullet holes. Her skin is wrinkled and cracks appear around her eyes and spread
beyond her skin. He feels that everything is falling apart. Everything is cracked and in
ruins.
The cracks spread beyond her skin to the hills and the sky. There is a catastrophe. The
hills crack, the temples crack and the sky falls and shatters like a sheet of glass. But the
old woman stands there as a symbol of all-round degradation. The narrator feels
ashamed. He is reduced to the small change in the heartland.

In a moment of realization, the narrator/tourist finds himself reduced in his self-esteem.

His awakening to the ‘real’ world makes him feel ‘small’ – as insignificant as the small
coin in her hand.
An Old Woman Comprehension I :

1.‘You’ in the poem refers to

(a) the speaker
(b) the passerby
(c) the reader
(d) anyone.
Ans: (d) anyone.

2.What does the old woman offer to do?

OR
What does the old woman offer the speaker in return for fifty paise?
Ans: Take the speaker to the horseshoe shrine.

3.What does the old woman demand from the tourists for her service?
OR
What does the old woman demand from the pilgrims to show ‘the horseshoe
shrine’?
Ans: A fifty paise coin.

4.The lines, ‘You turn around and face her with an air of finality’ suggest that he
decided to
(a) give her a fifty paise coin and get rid of her.
(b) allow her to take him to the shrine.
(c) end the farce.
Ans: (c) end the farce.

5.The old woman’s eyes are compared to _____

Ans: bullet holes.

6.‘You are reduced to so much small change in her hand.’

Here, the speaker is suggesting that
(a) one is reduced to an insignificant position.
(b) one feels that one is being cheated.
(c) one feels a change in one’s personality.
Ans: (a) one is reduced to an insignificant position.

An Old Woman Comprehension II :

1.How is the plight of the old woman depicted in the poem?

Ans: The old woman depicts all those who live below the poverty line in India. If this is a
common problem of many because of the problem of unemployment, the woman’s age
is an indicator to the fact that the problem is more pronounced in the case of the old.
When young they might have done more productive work and earned money. But in
their old age, with their physical fitness reduced, they are reduced to the level of forcing
themselves upon tourists who want to get rid of them. This can be a very painful
experience for the people who have lived with dignity all along but are suddenly reduced
to the status of being considered burr.

Arun Kolatkar wants to take up this social problem. He takes up the question of
geriatrics – the caring to be shown to the old. Does he ask as to who is responsible for
the pitiable condition of the woman? Shouldn’t the government take up the problem of
the old and take necessary measures to ensure that they live a life of dignity? Kolatkar
has a definite purpose in talking about the cracks on her face extending to the hills,
temples and the skies. He seems to suggest that just as monuments are part of our
heritage, the old are also part of our heritage. We cannot treat them as unwanted,
disposable stuff.

When the speaker has this realisation, he has a changed perspective and he finds
himself reduced to the position of being a person of insignificance – a cheap person like
the small coins in the hands of the old woman. But this realisation has not dawned upon
all and that is why the old woman continues to be a tourist guide, which is nothing but a
euphemism for a beggar. Her suffering is indicated by the description that she has two
bullet holes in the place of eyes. Eyes are normally taken as the indicator of life, but the
old woman’s eyes are lifeless bullet holes.

Thus, Kolatkar takes up a social problem with a special focus on the aged and tries to
awaken in us a sense of responsibility towards our fellow brethren.

2.The old woman in the poem is a self-appointed tourist guide, not a beggar. Do
you agree? Give reasons.
Ans: Certainly, the woman is a self-appointed tourist guide because she pesters the
speaker to avail of her services even when his intention is to get rid of her. Her
persistence is seen in the fact that she hobbles after him and goes to the extent of
stopping him by tightening her grip on his shirt. The speaker is more and more annoyed
and he wants to get rid of her by being firm in refusing her offer. If we compare the
interaction between the speaker and the old woman, we see that it isn’t much different
from the transaction that takes place between a tourist and a beggar.

The beggars also follow people around pestering them with a demand for alms. But the
difference is that if the tour guides offer their service, the beggars don’t. This
immediately introduces a world of difference between the two categories of people. It
shows that even if the tour guides can be as annoying as the beggars, they are people
with self-respect.
3.How does the speaker’s attitude undergo a change?
Ans: The speaker’s attitude undergoes a change because he is posed a question. The
old woman’s question, “What else can an old woman do on hills as wretched as these?’
makes him realise the wretched life of the old woman. The word ‘wretched’ used with
reference to a pilgrim centre makes it clear that places of worship will have no value if
people at such places suffer. The question stumps the speaker and he is filled with
admiration for the woman who has remained on the wretched hill resolutely. Though
ugly and old, she is shatterproof. At this point, there is a sudden reversal of role. The
speaker, who had until then considered the old woman insignificant and worthless,
suddenly realises that it is he who is insignificant because he has not seen the kind of
struggle the old woman has witnessed in her life. Her strength and forbearance are
stronger than his.

An Old Woman Comprehension III :

1.“The old woman reduces the self-esteem of the speaker and makes him feel that
he is nothing more than ‘so much small change’.” Comment.
OR
How do the stature of the old woman and that of the narrator change at the end?
Ans: Arun Kolatkar’s poem, ‘An Old Woman’, begins with a commonplace experience,
but ends in a revelation. At every tourist place, you will meet a self-appointed tourist
guide like the old woman in the poem. They need the money and will pester you. They
even promise to give you some service in lieu of the money you give them.

Generally, tourists give them something to get rid of them. But a few are firmer and
refuse to be influenced by the persuasive attempts of the guides. But what is to be
understood is that they do what they do because they have no other means of earning
their livelihood. If they don’t do what they do, perhaps the only option left for them is to
beg. The very fact that they don’t beg, but offer their services shows that somewhere
deep within them there is some self-respect and hence treating them as burr is
inappropriate. Though they are irritating, one should remember that it is the
circumstance that has reduced them to this.

Especially in the case of an old woman like the one found on the hills, what else would
you expect them to do for their living? When the speaker realises that he has no answer
for the question posed by the woman, “What else can an old woman do on hills as
wretched as these?’, his perception of the old woman undergoes a sudden change. Her
eyes which are like bullet holes become a sign of her suffering. The cracks on her face
become symbolic of the cracks in a society which do not care for the old and the meek.
That is why the speaker says that her cracks extend beyond her skin, and the hills,
temples and the sky crack. In other words, everything around her indicates the cracks in
the life of such helpless-people. Yet she stands shatterproof, continuing with life
doggedly whereas many others would have cracked under the blows of poverty.

Suddenly the speaker has a new-found respect for the old woman. She becomes a sign
of her heritage – the land from which she comes. It is people who dismiss her with a fifty
paise coin or shoo her away without giving even that who become as cheap as the fifty
paise coin. Kolatkar describes this transformation in a tourist by placing before the
readers the tourist’s experience at a pilgrim centre.

2.What is the speaker trying to convey through the lines ‘And the hills crack, And
the temples crack, And the sky falls’?
Ans: The speaker had associated only ugliness and annoyance with the old woman until
he had the awareness of her strength as well as her helplessness. With this realisation,
she becomes the very symbol of the Indian heritage, and the otherthings, which had
until then been considered monuments of heritage, begin to crack. The poet seems to
suggest that it is the Indian heritage in flesh and blood that we have to value.

The reference to the hills, temples and sky cracking and falling could also mean the
radical change in the hitherto held opinion of the speaker. The shock the man receives
in looking at the sky, perhaps as blue as the woman’s eyes which are like bullet holes
leads to his enlightened perception of the woman and her connection to this old land.
The man notes that as he looks at the woman, and the cracks around her eyes, the
cracks seem to spread to the landscape around her: to the hills, the temples and even
the sky. But he sees that even though the sky may fall and shatter around her, she is
untouched: ‘shatterproof’.

In the midst of the life that has reduced her to trying to earn some money as a guide for
tourists, and seen only as an old woman to the tourists – not worth their time and barely
worth their notice – her resolve is strong. She is a part of the land, as old as it is: she is
as immovable. She lives, the man realises, with what is made available to her. With the
man’s realization, he feels as if he has been reduced to nothing more than his money,
for he does not have that kind of connection to his land or his heritage. And perhaps, in
light of the trials and tribulations of life, he is really the unimportant one – beyond the
small change in his pocket – but she stands, unbreakable and strong.

3.How do you relate the ‘cracks around her eyes’ to the cracking of hills and
temples?
OR
Bring out the significance of the phrase ‘cracks around her eyes’ in relation to the
description of the woman as ‘shatter-proof crone’.
Ans: Cracks around the eyes are ordinarily signs of old age. But in the case of the old
woman, they signify much more than mere physical features. The old woman’s eyes are
just two gaping holes filled with empty air, with the hills and the sky. Then the cracks
begin around her eyes, spreading beyond her skin and then the hills crack, the temples
crack and the sky cracks and the sky finally shatters and falls like plate-glass. The old
woman herself is shatterproof and nothing happens to her.

Only you get instantly reduced to a small change in her hand. It is you who shatter
because her eyes are already bullet-holes which are formed with the cracks around the
holes. You are shattered with the realisation that the whole system which is guilty of
testing the grit and determination of an old woman is full of cracks; people who look at
the old woman as a pest are full of cracks; monuments themselves crack in the face of
the tenacity of the old woman. Thus the old woman, despite the cracks around her eyes,
is actually the only one who is shatterproof.