FLAMINGO: MY MOTHER AT SIXTY-SIX
KAMALA DAS
____________________________________________________________________________
In a Nut-Shell: The poet is driving from her parent’s home to Cochin by car, her mother by
her side—sleeping –open mouthed very pale, colorless and frail‐like a dead body indicating
that her end was near. The poet looks at her and feels intense pain and agony to realize that
soon death will cast her mother away from her. She tries to divert her mind, looks outside at the
young trees and happy children bursting out of their homes in a playful mood (a contrasting
image). After the security check at the airport, she looked again at her mother’s face - pale and
cold. ‘Familiar ache‐My childhood fear’ – the poet has always had a very intimate and close
relationship with her mother and she has always felt the fear of being separated from her
mother hence it is familiar. The poet reassures her mother that they will meet again.
Theme: My Mother at Sixty-Six by Kamala Das brings out the reality of inescapable ageing,
decay and death through a simple incident. She feels worried at the thought of her separation
from her mother. She realizes how much her mother and she herself have aged when she looks
at the ‘young trees sprinting’ and ‘merry children spilling out of their homes’. She smiles and
bids farewell saying that she would soon meet her again.
Title: The title, ‘My Mother at Sixty-six’ is an excellent example of showing an ever-unfailing
relationship between a daughter and her mother. The title is apt as the subject of the poem is the
poet’s aged and frail mother. ‘My Mother’ at once establishes the context in which Kamala Das
is writing – the mother’s unexpected pain and the poet’s worry about her mother’s frail health,
old age and perhaps, imminent death. The title prepares us for the frail old mother and her
daughter’s concern for her.
Understanding the poem: On a grey day, the speaker leaves her mother as well as her home to
win her bread, while her mother with a long face stands and stares. The poet was now going to
Cochin from where she had to board an aeroplane for her journey back home. The poet’s
mother was sitting beside her in the car. She was travelling with the poet to see her off at the
airport. As they were travelling, the old woman dozes off and the poet looks at her intently. She
notices that her mother is now old and pale. She looked almost like a corpse, for her face was
colourless and seemed to have lost the fervor of life.
The poet is moved to tears when she sees her mother. A fear of separation from her mother and
a sense of guilt for having neglected her mother cross her mind but the compulsions of her own
life made her drive that thought away. The poet started looking out of the window because she
wanted to drive away the pain and agony, she experienced on seeing her ageing mother. She
saw trees running past her car and merry children sprinting out of their homes to play. The trees
described as sprinting is an optical illusion created when the car is moving forward. Moreover,
the trees which are symbolic of youth and vigour are described as sprinting to contrast the old
age of the mother. The children spilling out of their houses are also in the spring of their life in
contrast to her mother who is at the age of sixty-six. Trees and children symbolize the spring of
life, its strength, vigour and happiness which contrasts with the lifelessness and helplessness
that sets in with age.
When she reaches the airport and the security check is done, the last moments of togetherness
tick by. She once again glances at her mother’s pale and colourless face which resembles a
winter’s moon, for it is foggy, ready to wither away any moment. In this simile, the poet has
compared her mother’s face to the winter’s moon because the moon seems to lose its brightness
in the winter season as it is veiled behind fog and mist. The mother’s face also seemed to have
lost its radiance and was now misted with age. The poet’s childhood fears of leaving her
mother alone unattended and of losing her haunts her once again. Her apprehension that her
mother may not live long grips her mind but she has no choice but to continue her journey.
Even her words ‘see you soon’ seem ironical for she is not sure how soon she would be able to
see her. She only bid a formal adieu and smiled and smiled to hide her guilt, anxiety and fear of
the unknown.
The repetition of the word ‘smile’ indicates the rather long and artificial smile the poet had to
put on to cheer up her mother and to hide her own anxiety and guilt. Time has its toll on all
human relationships.
Poetic devices: Simile: it is the comparison of two things by using as or like. e.g., her face
ashen like that of a corpse‖, as a late winter’s moon. Metaphor: it is the direct comparison of
two things without the use of as or like. e.g., the merry children spilling. Personification: When
we give human characteristics to animals or plants or non-living things. e.g., trees sprinting.
Anaphora: It is the repetition of a word or phrase to create a poetic effect in a poem. e.g., the
poet repeats these words, smile and smile and smile. Alliteration: It is the repetition of the
consonant sounds in a line of a poem. e.g., my mother, see you soon. Rhyme scheme; The
poem does not follow any rhyme or rhythm. It has been written in free verse.
Read the extracts and answer the questions that follow:
1. “and looked but soon
put that thought away, and looked out at young
trees sprinting, the merry children spilling
out of their homes.”
a) What was the poet ‘looking’ at? What did she notice?
b) What thought did she try to drive away?
c) Why did the poet start ‘looking out’? What does her gesture suggest?
d) What did the poet see from the window of the car?
e) What did the images of ‘young trees’ and ‘merry children’ symbolize?
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”
a) Where was the poet standing?
b) Who does ‘her’ here refer to? How did she look like?
c) Why does the narrator ‘look at her again’?
d) Explain: ’wan, pale as a late winter’s moon’.
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.”
a) What ‘familiar ache’ did the poet feel?
b) What could have been the poet’s childhood fears?
c) Did the poet share her thoughts with her mother?
d) Why do you think, the poet did not share her thoughts with her mother?
e) Why did the poet only ‘smile’?
4 Read the following extract and choose the most appropriate option for each question.
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......
1. Kamala Das comparing her mother to winter moon signifies
a) Human life is as short as that of the moon.
b) Though the mother is old, she is still beautiful
c) Winter is the last season of the year
d) Mother is about to die
2. Though she feels painful, kamala Das smiles on …
a) To hide her sad feelings and emotions
b) To encourage her mother to smile and feel good
c) Not to dishearten her mother by showing her worried face
d) All the above
3. The tone of the poem is
a) Pensive and sorrowful
b) Disillusioned and unhappy
c) Happy but discontented
d) Remorseful
4. Study the two statements, in each question, labeled as Assertion (A) and Reason (R).
Point out if:
(a) Both, A and R, are true and R is the correct explanation of A
(b) Both, A and R, are true but R is not the correct explanation of A
(c) A is true but R is false
(d) A is false but R is true
(e) Both A and R are false.
1. Assertion: Kamala Das was honest and didn’t have any hesitation in describing her mother’s
ageing face.
Reason: She compares her mother’s face to a corpse.
(a) Both, A and R, are true and R is the correct explanation of A
(b) Both, A and R, are true but R is not the correct explanation of A
(c) A is true but R is false
(d) A is false but R is true
(e) Both A and R are false.
QUESTIONS: -
1. What is the kind of pain and ache that the poet feels?
2 What does the poet do to shrug off the painful thought of her mother’s approaching end?
3. Why does the poet draw the image of sprinting trees and merry children?
4. Why have the trees been described as sprinting?
5. Why has the mother been compared to the late winter’s moon?
6. What is the ‘familiar ache’?
7. What do the parting words of the poet and her smile signify?
*************
