Thinking Activity on An Introduction

This Blogpost is a response to the thinking activity on 'An Introduction' poem by Kamala Das, a task given by our professor ma'am Miss. Yesha Bhatt.

• About the Poet: 

Kamala Das was one of the very prominent literary figures of Indian English Literature, Post Independent. This name is her married name. She was occupied with writing, short story, poems, and novels. Her very famous poem, 'An Introduction is very much famous in the genre of IWE. The poems suggest the freedom of the writer's writing in any language or we can say her freedom to choose the language or writing in a mixture of languages. Ultimately, the Poem suggests that we have the freedom to write in any language, there are no binaries to writing in such a particular structure. 

• About the Task: 

Our professor ma'am gave us the task, that we were supposed to Pick any one line/word/phrase/thought/idea from that - Write your version of it in form of poetry, excerpt, paragraph (prose), story, or any literary piece then write a blog upon that. Here is my write-up. The very first line that I picked from the poem. 

Title: Firefly of Unseen World by Divya Sheta

The Weight of my Breasts and womb crushed me

But still, I feed my little angel.

Angel? 

Yes. She is my little angel.

I want to see her, in the bundle of Joys,

That Joy gave by him.

But her smooth lips and sharp teeth,

Decorate her laugh in dark stormy weather,

Like Firefly.

Isn’t my reality?

Would you like to say YES?

But it is Her Imagination 

To keep me alive. 

She is like Garbage to them. 

Though, my Second child said

And questioning again and again

“Hey, poor Mum!

I need only your milk.

I hate this Huge-Milk”

I heard the tear of that Mother Cow

Who gave her milk to them?

She cried and said,

“My Dear child! My whole body feels threatened 

I Can’t Help You!

• Interpretation: 

My interpretation of this poem is about female infanticide in India which was founded by British Empire. They found that many Rajputs were newborn girls drowned in pails or pits of cow milk (doodh). This poem presents the inner conflict of the mother who's a girl who will be killed. I hope this is my interpretation is suitable for this historical episode.