CLASS 12 CHAPTER - MY MOTHER AT SIXTY-SIX

 

CLASS 12 CHAPTER - MY MOTHER  AT SIXTY-SIX

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 thought away.”

a) Where was the poet coming from? Where was she going?
The poet had gone to her parents’ home to visit them. She was now going to Cochin airport.

b) How does the poet describe her mother?
The poet describes her mother as old, pale, cold and senile. As she dozed off beside her, the mother looked almost like a corpse, for her face was colorless and seemed to have lost the fervor of life.

d) Who does ‘she’ refer to in the last line? What thoughts had she driven away?
‘She’ here refers to the poet. The thought of her mother’s approaching death which she wanted to put it away.

2. “ 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?
The poet was looking at her mother. She noticed the mother’s ashen and almost lifeless face distraught with pain.

b) What thought did she try to drive away?
She tried to drive away the thought of her mother’s approaching death.

c) Why did the poet start ’looking out’? What does her gesture suggest?
The poet started looking out of the window because she wanted to drive away the pain and agony she experienced on seeing her aged mother. She wanted to drive away her helplessness in the wake of her mother’s ageing and approaching death.

d) What did the poet see from the window of the car?
The poet saw young trees running past her car and merry children sprinting out of their homes to play.

e) What did the images of ‘young trees’ and ‘merry children’ symbolize?
Trees and children symbolized the spring of life, its strength, vigour and happiness which contrasts with the lifelessness and helplessness that sets in with age.

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”

a) Where was the poet standing?
The poet was at the Cochin airport waiting to board the plane after the security check.

b) Who does ‘her’ here to? How did she look like?
’Her’ here refers to the poet’s mother. She was an aged lady and hence looked pale, cold like a corpse and colourless.

c) Why does the narrator ‘look at her again’?

The narrator looked at her mother once again for the last time before she left to reassure herself about the well being of her mother. She had tried to drive away the pain she had felt on seeing her weak and aged mother. One last time she looked at her to wish her goodbye.

d) Explain: ’wan, pale as a late winter’s moon’.

In this simile, the poet compares the mother’s pale and withered face with the winter’s moon. 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 which was now misted by age. Winter symbolizes death and the waning moon
symbolizes decay.

4. “ 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?
The ‘familiar ache’ refers to the poet’s fear of losing her mother and the realization that she has not cared and cannot care for her ageing mother. It is an ache of helplessness. It is also a fear of separation from the mother or the mother’s death.

b) What could have been the poet’s childhood fears?
I think the poet’s childhood fear was that she would lose her mother or be separated from her and that death would consume her mother.

c) Did the poet share her thoughts with her mother?
The poet did not share her fears and agony with her mother. She only bid good bye to her with the hope of seeing her soon.

d) Why do you think, the poet did not share her thoughts with her mother?
I think the poet did not share her thoughts with her mother because they were caused by her fear of the unknown. Sharing them with the mother would have worried the frail old woman to death.

e) Why did the poet only ‘smile’?
The poet only smiled to hide her guilt, anxiety and fear of the unknown. Also, she wanted to bid a cheerful farewell to her mother before boarding the flight.

QUESTION AND ANSWERS

 

1. What is the kind of pain and ache that the poet feels?
When the poet looks at her mother’s face she found that it had become pale and withered. She realized that her mother was at the edge of her life and her end was near. The thought that her mother would be soon separated form her caused unbearable pain and ache in the poet’s heart.

2 What does the poet do to shrug off the painful thought of her mother’s approaching end?
To get rid of painful thought her mother‘s nearing the poet looked out to see the sprinting tree and the happy children, bursting out of their house.

3. Why does the poet draw the image of sprinting trees and merry children?
Sprinting trees and merry children bursting out from the doors suggest fresh life and warm energy. The poet draws this image to strikes a scene of contrast with the pale, dull and withered face of the mother. Here the curtain is falling and the life coming to
an end and there the curtain is rising and fresh life is beginning and bubbling with energy and vitality.

4. Why have the trees been described as sprinting?
The poet was driving in a car along with her mother. Her movement created the visionary, illusion of the trees outside appeared to be sprinting past.

5. Why has the mother been compared to the late winter’s moon?
The late winter moon lacks luster. The mothers face was pale and withered. Moreover, the late winter moon suggests the end of season and mother too is nearing the end of her life, therefore the poet compares her with the late winter’s moon.

6. What is the ‘familiar ache’?
The fear of losing her mother has tortured the poet from her very childhood because she had been intimately bound up with her. Therefore this ache is familiar to her; it is known to her.

7. What do the parting words of the poet and her smile signify?
The parting words of the poet reflect the poet’s pain. But she puts on a smile on her face to mask her pain and to give hope, happiness and reassurance to her mother.

 

ARTICLE WRITING

The problem of poverty is biggest challenge to India. Write an

article mentioning the causes and the ways and means to eradicate poverty from

India.                    
                    

Poverty: The Biggest Challenge to India
India is one of the poorest countries in the world. Poverty is just like a disease to
which many other problems such as crime, low-paced development, etc are
associated. Many Indian people do not get two meals a day. They do not have good
houses to live in. Tribal people, Dalits and labour class including farm workers in
villages and casual workers in cities are still very poor and make the poorest class in
India. Their children do not get proper schooling. The most important causes of
poverty in India are poor agriculture, growing population, the gap between rich and
poor, corruption and black money. Therefore to eradicate poverty from our country,
farmers must get all facilities for irrigation. They should be trained and educated.
Agriculture must be made profitable. The ever-rising population should be checked.
Family planning schemes should be introduced. More and more industries should be
set up to meet the needs of our country. Corruption must put to an end. Our offices
should work efficiently.
Poverty must be eradicated from India as every person has the right to live a healthy
life.

ARTICLE WRITING

Write a letter to the municipal officer complaining about the wastage of water 
occurring at a in your vicinity. 


S. Kumar, 
Rose Hill Society,
102, 1st Floor,
R. Naik Marg, 
Borivali (W), Mumbai 400 015

25th December 2015

The Municipal Officer,
Water Department, D Ward,
S. K. Tilak Road,
Borivali (W), Mumbai 400 015

Subject: Wastage of water in the locality

Dear Sir,

Through the columns of your esteemed daily  I wouldlike to inform you that I have noticed a lot of water being wasted in and around my residential
society within solmara Army campus on a regular basis. At a time when our city is facing a drought like situation, this kind of 
carelessness should not be overlooked. 
The water tank of our society fills around 6PM and overflows for about another hour till the 
municipal water supply remains on. This happens whenever the water supply is switched on. The 
people too, leave the taps in their houses flowing without any reason. If they are stopped from 
doing so, they justify their actions by stating that they receive water only for two hours in a day. 
Such mindset needs to be changed. They need to be made aware that their actions have a severe 
impact on the society at large. We the common people can only share merely knowledge with 
others. This problem can be solved only when someone in authority takes a forceful step towards 
it.
I therefore request you to look into the matter and take the necessary steps at the earliest 
so that such actions do not continue and further wastage of water is prevented.
Thanking you,
Yours sincerely,
S. Kumar

ARTICLE WRITING

Write an article in about 100-120 words on ‘The Two Sides of Technology’.

The Two Sides of Technology

By Vibha Salvi

Technology has penetrated deep into our everyday lives. We start the day by checking 

messages on our phones and by updating our social media profiles with our latest details. 

We rely on a wide array of electronic items in our everyday lives. The electronic revolution 

has made our lives easier. Today, it is difficult to imagine stepping out without a 

smartphone in our pocket. Communication has been enhanced thanks to e-mails and 

cellular technology. Household appliances like the vacuum cleaner, the microwave ovens 

and the washing machine have made chores easier. They are time-saving and more efficient 

than manual labour. However, there are many disadvantages of technology. Automation 

removes the need for human intervention. A lot of jobs are thus lost to robots. A machine 

may be accurate, but it can never replace the ingenuity of the human mind. Technology has 

made slaves out of us since we are too dependent on it. It leads to the stagnancy of our 

intellectual capabilities making drones out of us. Pollution is also on the rise and the fears 

of a nuclear holocaust are always lurking in our minds. We become too slothful when we 

rely on technology. If we do not wean ourselves off electronics, our natural faculties may 

cease to work. For example, depending too much on the calculator will cause our 

mathematical skills to stagnate and eventually not work. For its every merit, there is an 

equally appalling demerit. One should strike a fine balance by exploiting the benefits of 

technology without becoming dependent on it.

FOR ANNE GREGORY -W.B YEATS

Q1.Who is the speaker here and who is being spoken to? What does the speaker say to her?
Ans – The speaker here is the poet. He speaks to his beloved Anne Gregory. They can be the two parts of a human being body and soul.

Q.2 what are the two things of the woman which make the young man not to love her?
Ans – The two things of the woman that make the young man not to love her are her honey colored ramparts of her ear. The second thing is her yellow hair.

Q3. What can a woman do to make young men love her? What does it speak about the young men at large?
Ans – The woman says that she would colour her hair brown, black or carroty with different hair dyes. This means that the young men give more importance to the physical appearance than spiritual beauty.

Q4.What are the important things for love for God?
Ans – The woman says that an old religious man found a text .It proves that for God colors do not matter for love.God loves all the human beings for themselves alone and not their physical sides.

Q5. What message does the poem give out?
Ans – The poem states that physical beauty may be important for young men or the human beings.He loves the human beings without their colour or physical aspects.       

text book questions & answers

Q1.What does the young man mean by great honey colored/Ramparts at your ear? Why does he say that young men are thrown into despair by them?
Ans – By great honey coloured /Ramparts of your ear the poet means golden outer parts of ears of the young woman. He says that young men are thrown into despair by them because they look ugly.

Q2.What colour is the young woman’s hair ?What does she say she can change it to ?Why would she want to do so ?
Ans – The colour of the young woman hair is white as she can colour it brown, black or carrots. She can change it to brown, black or carrot. She wanted to do so to look attractive.

Q3. Objects have qualities which make them desirable to others .Can you think of some objects and say what qualities make one object more desirable than another?
Ans – These objects can be Shoes, ornaments, hair dyes, hair styles etc.Walking wearing costly ornaments, behaving in an affected manner etc. Can make one more desirable than another but these are momentary because they emphasize the physical aspect of beauty