CBSE Class 12 English My Mother At Sixty Six Notes Set B

About The Author

Kamala Das (31 March 1934-31 May 2009) was an Indian English poet and at the same time a leading Malayalam author from Kerala, India. Kamala Das received many awards for her literary contributions like ‘Asian Poetry Prize’, ‘Kent Award for English Writing from Asian Countries’ and many more.

Summary

The poet recalls a trip back to Cochin from her holiday at her parents’ house. It was a Friday morning and that morning she was driving with her mother next to her on the front seat. She was observing her mother who had fallen asleep on the front seat with her mouth slightly open. She could see her mother’s face which was pale and resembled to the nearly white face of a dead body. She realises that her mother is no longer younger and she has started looking very old.

This became very hard for her to accept so, she was determined to shift her focus to something else. So, she turned her face away from her aged mother and started looking outside the window of the car. She started looking at the trees they crossed while driving. It seemed to her that the trees were running at full speed past her because of the moving car. It seemed that those trees would have been young if they could move at such a fast pace. She also saw children coming out of their house with their face gleaming with excitement. After crossing these sights they reached airport. Till now, her mind was busy and distracted due to those sights. But now, when they were going through the security check, she was standing a short distance away from her mother and saw her old mother. Again her mind was filled with the same thoughts. She could see her mother appeared extremely pale and lacking vigor.

The poet compared her mother’s face with the winter’s moon which is slightly faded on winter’s night. She recalled her childhood fear of losing her mother one day, that her mother would die. This fear afflicted her many times before and again this thought was tormenting her. However, she did not let that fear show itself on her face. She smiled and waved a goodbye to her mother. She gave the assurance that they would soon meet again and throughout the conversation she put a brave face even though she was agonised within.