Portrayal of Motherhood: A critique of Kamala Das’ and Nissim Ezekiel’s Select poetry

Portrayal of Motherhood: A critique of Kamala Das’ and Nissim Ezekiel’s Select poetry

By Dr Naveen K Mehta

Kamala Das, one of the vibrant voices in modern poetry in English, has successfully portrayed Mother’s point of view in her one of the poems, entitled, “The Middle Age.” It is a powerful intimate poem. The poem is a direct reference to the poetess. Although the poetess has not used the word ‘I’ but it clearly indicates the poetess. The mother in the poem feels that a mother feels that a mother is no longer young when her children grow up and behave as critics rather than friends. The Children do not attach any value to the mother’ need of their love and intimacy yet the mother pines and longs for their love. But she does not get their love and weeps secretly at this loss. Here the mother has been described in her middle age when she feels a kind of isolation and separation from her children. As soon as the children become young, there was a drastic change in their attitude. In the “Middle Age”, the mother wrote an invitation to her children. She signed their name as squirrel. But her children did not take it seriously.

“I wrote a letter invited my

Sons----to a tea party that

Was to take place on Saturday

Under the largest tree-I signed

My name as squirrel and

immediately posted it”. (My Story)

Thus, it depicts the pitiful picture of a mother when she comes to her middle age and her children grow as adults. Her children are then not her friends but critics. They think that the only relation with them is to look after their daily needs. Even they avoid her teachings and commands. They only think her a female servant to support them in their mundane affairs. So when she is left alone, she touches their books and other objects yet she loves them immensely and secretly. On the contrary, her children feel as grown up and are disgusted with the mother’s unnatural and bizarre behaviour. They do not give any value to the activities of the love expressed by their love-lorn mother. They always reminded her that she was no more a young woman. It filled mother’s heart with sadness and she shattered down completely. But the mother tries her best to settle the matter with her children. It is illustrated by the invitation, which she addressed to her sons. She signed her name as squirrel but her sons responded her sharply and bitterly. They again reminded her that she was no more a young woman and she should keep away herself from such childish things. So she must not live in a dream world. It is unfolded that the mother loved her sons very much even in adverse and unfavourable circumstances. She behaved like children as she did in their childhood. She weeps at the loss of her children’s love.

Kamla Das beautifully described the comparison between childhood and manhood. “The pupae burst their cocoons and transforms into the adult form of glorious butterflies. In the same way the children come out of their childhood and change into adults. Manhood is glorious with its special traits. But it looks quite harsh to a mother as her children do not reflect warmth of love and attachment as before.

Nissim Ezekiel occupies a significant place in the post-independent poetry. His one of the Poems ‘Night of the Scorpion’ is set in a family situation. A scorpion has stung the poet’s mother. To cure her, al sorts of treatment are tried, but she gets better only after twenty hours., almost naturally. The poet described the pains, agonies, and sufferings of the mother minutely. During the twenty hours the poet’s mother suffered a lot but the poet’s mother kept sublime and generous qualities of a mother. It is revealed when his mother became well again and she thanked God for sparing her children from the vicious bite of the scorpion.

“My mother only said

Thank God the scorpion picked on me

And spared my children”. (Night of the Scorpion)

In the poem, the poet tells us about the conditions in which the scorpion stung his mother. The poet imagines the story happening in sub-urban part of Bombay where during rainy season it pours incessantly. One such fateful day when it had been raining continuously for more than ten hours a scorpion came into the poet’s house and getting his chance, stung the poet’s mother. The scorpion attacked the poet’s mother with his poisonous tail and soon vanished in the rain which knew no stopping. After the event, the poet became unaware about what to do next and local folk began to swarm in the house of the poet. They claimed the name of the God so that the influence of the Devil could be brought under control and an end. Here, Ezekiel seems to draw upon the Hindu view of Karma and its attendant consequences. The villagers desired that all the accumulated sins of her past life may be burned away in the suffering They also felt that the present suffering would mitigate her future suffering and enabled her to attain salvation. It was also likely that all her sins could be cancelled out. They desired that the poison may be purifying her of the sensual sins, jealousy, hatred and ambitions. The villagers sat surrounding the poet’s mother. The number of the visitors increased every minute. All the time the mother had been twisting with pangs of pain. After her recovery, her first reaction was to thank God for sparing her children from Scorpion, reflected her gentle attitude as a typical Indian mother. The mother’s care for her children is highlighted boldly by the poet.

Thus, so far, Indo-Anglian poetry has venerated and elevated the status of mother. It is successful in bringing out the essential of a mother. It does not only provide us problems, anxieties, sufferings, sorrows and happiness of the motherhood but also sublime characteristics of it.

Work Cited

Chavan, Sunanda P., "The Fair Voice". New Delhi . Sterling Publishers, 1984

Das, Kamla, "My Story". New Delhi : Sterling Publishers, 1988.

Dwivedi, A. N. "Kamala Das and Her Poetry" New Delhi : Doaba Hose, 1988.

Iyenger, K. R. Srinivasa. "Indian Writing in English". 3rd ed. New Delhi.: Sterling Publishers, 1984.

Kurup, P. K. G. "Contemporary Indian Poetry in English". New Delhi : Atlantic Publishers and Distributors, 1991.

Sinha, Krishna Nanda (ed) "Indian Writing in English" . New Delhi : Heritage Publlishers, 1979.

(Source: The Criterion: An International Journal in English; ISSN 0976-8165; Vol. I. Issue III 1 December 2010)

There's something more to that great discount...

Every day, I come across so many advertisements from retailers who say 80% off or 90%. What most of these 100% retailers bank on is customers who fall prey to their so and so offs! The big and bold letters attract the customers and the tiny letters which say “Up to” get noticed only while paying the bill or sometimes, after paying the bill. After spending a couple of hours in selecting the goods and then standing in queue for another few minutes, no one would like to leave the products behind despite realizing that it was not 90%, but Up to 90% and what we actually got is only 5% off!

Else we see most of the products which have great discounts are old stocks are somewhere very closer to the expiry date. If they are clothes, they are old stocks or if they are eatables, they are near to expiry date and funnily one should see the discounts they give for automobile ads. They look like offering great discounts, especially for cars. A few days before, newspapers were filled with huge ads telling Own a Chevrolet Sonic car for less than QR1,000.

“Nothing says more about you than your ride, so it’s got to be right. The 2012 Chevrolet Sonic has the energy to go up against anything else on the street: Cool, modern design, 115hp (net), and a seriously innovative interior. Put it all together and you’ve got a car that’s pretty much impossible to ignore.”

It goes on to say, “Safety: Chevrolet Sonic packs a stack of safety features designed to look after you if things get rough; Big on the inside: Massive side pockets, a huge glove box and available 60/40 split-folding rear seats give you plenty of options; and Motorcycle-inspired tachometer: Backlit in cool Ice Blue and integrated stylishly into the dash, the massive tachometer just begs you to put your foot down.

All it says is about the EMI and doesn’t mention anything about the down payment or the initial payment to be made. Not just automobile ads, even ads on plots and apartments are also greatly misleading. None of them mention about the huge down-payment to be made in the initial stage of purchasing!

Airlines slashing ticket fare is another thing which gets unnoticed. They mention only about the basic price of the ticket and customers don’t observe “conditions apply” at the end of the ad written in very tiny letters. They realize that the price of the ticket is almost double after booking the ticket, as the ad never mentioned about taxes and surcharges, which almost doubles the cost of the ticket!

Last week, we saw some great discounts offered by Fly Dubai and went to book tickets. Though we got some good discount, there too something was hidden. We could carry only 5 kg of handbag per person and the luggage would be charged QR12 per kg, so if we carry excess baggage, they would ask us to put it in luggage and we would end up paying 5 kg x Qr12= QR60! So again, there was a solution buy a discount coupon for 20kg by paying QR50, which we did of course, as there was no other go. So at the end of the day, when everything combined, we didn’t see that we actually got a discount, compared to other airlines.  

And when I see some discounts for jewellery, I jump in joy only to discover that they have increased the making charges and pretend to slash in that which in fact is still more than the normal days. So, the retailers and advertisers find some or the other way to attract consumers and dumb people like me fall prey to them easily and more often!

Canadian man uses iPad to enter the US

When I saw a joke on Facebook, I laughed at it, but now, somehow I’m surprised at the way the technology is moving and the people are utilizing it. A Canadian who realized he forgot his passport as he approached the US border found a new way to gain entry, through his iPad. Yes, not a joke. iPad helped him to cross the border.

I read a report which said that a Canadian, Martin Reisch, said that a slightly annoyed US border officer let him cross into the United States from Quebec after he presented a scanned copy of his passport on his Apple iPad. Reisch was just a half an hour from the border when he decided to try to gain entry rather than turn back and make a two-hour trek back home to Montreal to fetch his passport.

He told the officer that he was heading to the US to drop off Christmas gifts for his friend's kids. The officer seemed mildly annoyed when he handed him the iPad. "I thought I'd at least give it a try," Reisch said. "He took the iPad into the little border hut. He was in there a good five, six minutes. It seemed like an eternity. When he came back he took a good long pause before wishing me a Merry Christmas."

Reisch said the officer made an exception.

Canadians began needing more than a driver's licence for identification for US land border crossings in 2009. US Customs and Border Protection says it only accepts a passport, an enhanced driver's licence or a Nexus pass from Canadian citizens entering at land crossings. The list doesn't mention facsimiles, like scans and photocopies.

A spokesman for the department did not immediately respond to questions on whether scanned passports are also commonly accepted at US points of entry.

Reisch, 33, said he took a scanned photo of his passport years ago in case it was over lost or stolen while traveling. He said he also successfully used the passport on his iPad to get through Canadian Customs on the way home later that day.

He said he doubts he'd get away with it again and will bring his passport next time. But he hopes border officials will eventually make digital identification an official form of travel document. He noted that many airlines now accept digital boarding passes stored on smartphones.

"I see the future as 100 per cent being able to cross with your identity on a digital device -- it's just a matter of time," he said.

Who will not love the yellow metal?

For the first time in my life I have come across people who won’t wear any jewels. My neighbour’s maid one day told me that her landlords do not wear any jewels and often persuade her also not to wear any jewels. I was confused for a moment. It just reminded me of my school days when one day suddenly the school authorities announced that students shouldn’t wear any gold ear rings. It took us a day or two to realize that the decision was taken because a KG girl had lost her ear rings!

Malayalam actress Kavya Madhavan

But here, the case is different. It is because of the religion that they do not wear any jewels. The maid told me that her landlords were Pentecostal Christians. And now I realize why the small kid was so curious about my chain when I took her in my arms the first day I met my neighbours 10 months ago. The kid was pulling my chain and the mother had to literally pull the little one away from the chain, only making her to scream and cry. I noticed that the mother was not wearing anything and I thought it to be a fashion. And it took me nearly 10 months to know the fact that they belong to a faith which forbids them to wear any jewels! The family strictly follows the faith and adheres to the principles.

But I wonder if everybody follows and committed as my neighbours are. I often feel how can a woman stay away from jewels? Doesn’t she feel like having some at least? I have not read the Bible and I don’t know if the holy book restricts Christians from wearing any jewels, as I see other Christians wearing jewels. I don’t know why this particular group considers wearing jewels as “sin”. And maybe again, the interpretation of the Bible differs and something might have been interpreted in a manner that it forbids ornaments. Here I remember Mahatma Gandhi who once said: “I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.”

A Christian bride

I have also heard that few denominations of Kerala Pentecostals will not baptize a person if he/she is wearing ornaments! Leaving apart what the holy book says, let me think about it from a social aspect. Even during earlier times, social status was determined by the amount of gold and silver jewellery a person wears. During weddings, gold was given as part of dowry, so the more gold they gave as dowry or they wear the more rich they were considered to be. While the rich wore lot of gold jewellery, the poor, who couldn’t afford, wore glass, plastic or stone beads’ jewellery. Maybe when Christianity entered India, many of these poor people found solace in the new religion, as it preached simplicity and treated everybody alike. Maybe they decided to shun jewellery and start their life afresh in the newly accepted faith.

And maybe because of this decision, Pentecostal Christians took a joint decision to abstain from divorce, wearing ornaments, remarriage of divorced, smoking, drinking wine, going to theatre to watch commercial movies, watching drama or dance along with unbelievers etc. It was a requirements for the believers to avoid such things to get baptized and to join a Pentecostal church.

Another important feature among this group is wearing white dress. The elders insist others to wear white, symbolizing purity, inside and outside. Whether they are in the US or the UK, North India or in South India, they maintain their identity and stick to the rules set by their forefathers!

A Christian bride

Okie, coming back to the topic: I sometimes keep wondering if I was a goldsmith in my previous birth, because I love gold like anything. And my relatives keep asking if I’m the same woman who used to spurn the metal during my childhood. I used to laugh at my cousins seeing their love for jewels and today, to their and my own surprise I own more jewels than any of them!

My love for jewels began only after attending a Malayalee friend’s wedding. Then also, I had no idea that one day I would end up marrying a Malayalee, who are known for their loads and loads of jewels on the bride during weddings. Slowly, my salary and savings went on to buy jewels which helped to save my parents’ grace during my wedding. Yes, I will never forget the incident where one female counted how many gold bangles I was wearing during my wedding and another who sarcastically made fun of me asking if the maatti along with the ear rings I’m wearing was mine or my mother’s. Though I couldn’t stop laughing at her ignorance, I simply replied “mine”. Reason for such query? Simple? It was an antique south Indian temple jewel and I had paid double the money to get that set, but women (who are unaware of the fact that wearing old and antique temple jewellery is a new trend) thought that I’m wearing some old jewellery (probably from my mom’s or grandmom’s)! But whatever said and done, I love my jewels and absolutely adore them.

A Muslim bride

Somehow, I’m attracted to gold like a magnet. Every time I have some extra cash or find some special occasion, whether my birthday or my hubby’s or parent’s birthday or my wedding anniversary or my parents’ wedding anniversary or some auspicious occasions or festivals, I head towards a jewellery shop to pick up a gold bangle or a gold coin. I just love the metal. I save and save and always tell myself that I will invest in some other thing, but the minute I see a jewellery shop, I seem to gravitate towards gold! My hubby is often irritated by my irrational obsession and I counter-argue telling him that it is a stunningly rational one, given the trend in gold prices, which would come in handy in future.

And I have inherited this bad habit of presenting something in gold for near and dear ones. I just wait for an opportunity to buy gold. So far, a gold chain bought for my hubby’s friend was the expensive one back home, and I remember how I had cried for one day when I lost that chain with a diamond pendant. Yes, some gold is due on our part and his friend would get something else from us when we return home ;)

Recently, we had Vij’s friend’s wedding and though initially we thought of buying him a good watch, then felt like no, not watch! Then, I took my hubby to a gold shop and we ended up buying a beautiful diamond pendant for his wife. When we presented the gift before he left for his wedding, our friend was literally excited, overwhelmed with joy and emotions. When else do you get to see such a moment? Gold comes in handy and can bring that glitter and smiles back on faces, I swear, try giving some such presents and see how happy you will be and how happy your friend or relative or family member will be!   

I don’t think I’m the only one to love this yellow metal. It is uniformly loved across the country, like cricket and movies. I sometimes feel naked and starving without some kind of the sparkling trinket on my body. And show me a house where there is no sign of some piece of gold, barring quality and quantity.

Anoushka Shetty in temple jewellery

And I have come across families where the shiny metal has come to save their lives and honour. I have seen families fighting for the gold, brides getting tortured and harassed, but still there’s not a single woman who can say that she doesn’t love this metal. And will any woman forget how she lost all her jewels to her in-laws? I don’t think so, my mom would never forget how she lost all her jewels to her in-laws, not just her, many of my cousins and their daughters too will never forget such incidents. For as women, we have a sort of emotional attachment towards gold jewellery and would never like to part with them.

If other countries see gold as an investment, Indians, including me, have a sort of emotional attachment to the metal and would never dream of parting from it. But we have to laud people before independence and during independence, for contributing their precious metal for the country and war. My dad remembers how during the 1965 Indo-Pak war, thousands of people across the country had put their gold jewels in soldiers' fund.

My dad sometime tells me how his teachers used to often mention about a ship explosion outside Mumbai in 1944 and the blast had sent a shower of gold ingots over then Bombay. The gold bricks had even injured several people. Some bricks fell into the sea and other areas and to the surprise of many, they had crashed through roofs and fell in their homes. In amongst the debris falling from the sky were the 28lb ingots of gold, one of the first to be found was picked up by Burjorji Motiwala, a retired Parsee civil engineer. The ingot had crashed through the buildings corrugated roof, penetrated the floor of the balcony above and come to rest on his balcony in the corner. The bar was stamped Z13256 and was worth Rs 90,000. Motiwala received a reward of Rs 999 which he donated to the relief fund. 

Shobana in temple jewellery

Plus, I have also come across a few reports which say how men use magnets outside Zaveri Bazaar stores to procure gold dust. There are people who are called as gold dust collectors who have been around Zaveri Bazaar ever since the jewellery market was set up in Mumbai during the second half of the eighteenth century. Turning dust into gold is estimated to provide the daily bread for up to a thousand people. Ther are seasoned sweepers who retrieve up to four grams of gold a week. Wonder how gold can be found on streets?  During the buffering and polishing, gold traces are always left on the workshop floor. While most of it is carefully retrieved and recycled, a small quantity makes its way across the market on the soles of the workmen’s shoes, where it mingles with the dust on the ground.

While some, including me, just don’t see any auspicious occasion to buy gold, many consider it as goddess Lakshmi and make plans ahead when to buy it, on special days and months and muhurats as they give much importance to the auspicious and inauspicious days.

How about this??!!

Just before the festival season, newspapers brim over with advertisements of gold - in every form, a gold fund offer by banks or a discount on jewellery. No matter how much the prices soar, the love for the yellow metal never tends to stop or the vice versa, as the old saying says, in India, thanks to drought and marriage, the price of gold will always go up.

And if a person is thinking of gold as an investment it is always better to invest in gold bonds, which is a simple way to buy gold. Buying gold in demat form, either through the commodity exchange or through a mutual fund, can give us all the positives of gold with much fewer hassles and greater tax efficiency. When buying physical gold, not many realize that we are paying a premium on the gold which we would lose if we go to sell it. Plus, keeping the gold safe is always an issue. There is another important reason why people should opt to buy gold in demat form. We women are always reluctant to sell physical gold, but with a gold bond, it is much less of an emotional issue and we will not hold our men back from selling the gold bonds! 

549,258 kg of meat and 16,660 trays of eggs confiscated in Doha

A shocking report in Gulf Times published today with the headline ‘Shifting of labourers’ lodgings from Doha proceeding as per plan’. I didn’t pay much attention to it till I glanced through the last few paragraphs. The law enforcement officers in-charge of health and hygiene conducted 23,340 rounds of inspections of eateries, hypermarkets, convenience stores  and juice stalls during the past year and as many as 1,719 cases of irregularities and non-compliance with health and hygiene regulations were recorded.

And during the past year, as much as 549,258 kg of meat and 16,660 trays of eggs were confiscated because they were found to be not fit for human consumption.

Just imagine 549,258 kg of meat and 16,660 trays of eggs!!! Not a small number to ignore. I wonder if there’s more to it and if it’s just a tip of the iceberg. We have to laud the efforts of officials in this regard. But god only knows how much is still on sale that slips through the net, how much are consumers taken for a ride, how much is still being consumed by many of us unknowingly?

Let me do a simple calculation: 23,340 raids in 52 weeks will be 448 inspections week. Then, 1,719 cases in 52 weeks will be 33 cases of irregularities and non-compliance with health and hygiene regulations per week. Conducting 448 inspections per week is not a joke and officials seem to be on high alert. Hereafter, we will also have to be on high alert while buying eggs and meat!