Punishment in kindergarten: by Kamala Das
Today the world is a little more my own.
No need to remember the pain
A blue frocked women caused,throwing
Words at me like pots and pans ,to drain
That honey-coloured day of peace,
"why don't you join the others,
what a peculiar child you are?"
On the lawn ,in clusters ,sat my schoolmates sipping
Sugarcane,they turned and laughed;
Childrens are funny thing, they laugh
In mirth at other's tears ,I buried
My face in the sun-warmed hedge
And smelt the flowers and the pain
The words are muffled now,the laughingfaces only a blur.
The years haveSped along ,stopping briefly
At beloved halts and movingSadly on.
My mind has foundAn adult peace .
No need to remember
That picnic day when i lay hidden
By the hedge,watching steel white sun
Standing lonely in the sky.
No need to remember the pain
A blue frocked women caused,throwing
Words at me like pots and pans ,to drain
That honey-coloured day of peace,
"why don't you join the others,
what a peculiar child you are?"
On the lawn ,in clusters ,sat my schoolmates sipping
Sugarcane,they turned and laughed;
Childrens are funny thing, they laugh
In mirth at other's tears ,I buried
My face in the sun-warmed hedge
And smelt the flowers and the pain
The words are muffled now,the laughingfaces only a blur.
The years haveSped along ,stopping briefly
At beloved halts and movingSadly on.
My mind has foundAn adult peace .
No need to remember
That picnic day when i lay hidden
By the hedge,watching steel white sun
Standing lonely in the sky.
posted by Vivek Anand | 7:02 AM
10 Comments:
I'd been looking for this poem for some time. It was there in my ICSE 10th std syllabus. I read your blog and your profile. My bro works in TCS in Kolkata too... although I know that place is so huge that you would probably not even know him.
But thanks anyways for the poem.
The poem reminds me of my college days. It is more an ointment to me now than then.
i think this is my best poem
Hey Thank you...there's something deep and profound about this poem... i have similar memories of school..maybe thats why its even more special to me... Thank you. Found it on your blog
i didn't understand this poem.
why does the poet talk about the flowers along with the pain and do you think she was a peculiar child? help...
hey..thanks a lot...I connect with this poem...another poem that had me literally weeping is 'background casually' by nissim ezekiel...I think u'll like it...
yes,she was a peculiar child.. born in a matriarchal family pampered by old and loving grand mother away from parents' care , that too in a colonial background,she became so... silent and lonely.. poor child.. but her silence was too powerful..
this very special one, lt is the child speaking here.The child has grown up..The child has grown up.
yaar mujhe is ki summary chahi ye par is website par bhi nhi hain.....
I think the poem has some significant elements of the postcolonial process. The very lines, "today the world is a little more my own" are perhaps referring to the process of decolonization. The blue frocked women(the teacher) who marginalized her is clearly western(hence the frock). so she has been othered by a person who is a symbol of the colonial power. The ending is showing the years of time it has taken to recover from the effects of colonization. This gives a decolonization effect to the poem. The poetess is finally able to recover from the memories of a past that isolated and othered her and is able to accept her as she is. After years of suffering and internal loneliness she has finally discovered an adult peace, a peace that can only be attained when you accept the past.
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