FLAMINGO
Poetry — Full Poem Explanations
Full Chapter Explanation | Audio-Script Style
CBSE Board Exam 2025-26 | Class XII English Core
Class XII | CBSE Board Exam 2025-26
English Core — Flamingo & Vistas
National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT)
, My Mother at Sixty-Six
Author/Poet: Kamala Das
Setting A car journey from Cochin to the airport; inside an aircraft
Characters The poet (Kamala Das), her ageing mother
Theme Ageing, fear of loss, the mother-child bond, mortality
Love involves accepting the inevitability of loss while choosing to remain cheerful for
Moral / Message those we love.
Timeline Contemporary; a single day
Key Terms Ashen face, dozing, spilling trees, merry children, familiar ache
DETAILED EXPLANATION
■ Overview & Setting
This is an intensely personal poem by Kamala Das — one of India's most celebrated poets in English.
She is driving to the Cochin airport with her mother, who sits beside her in the car. As the poet
glances at her mother, she is struck by the physical reality of her mother's ageing — and is overcome
by a wave of old, familiar fear.
■ The Central Image
The mother is described as dozing open-mouthed, her face 'ashen like that of a corpse.' The simile is
stark and deliberately shocking. Kamala Das does not soften the image — she confronts the truth of
her mother's decline with unflinching honesty. This is not sentimentality; it is clear-eyed love.
■ The Contrast: Trees and Children
As the car moves through the landscape, the poet sees trees 'sprinting' past the window — young,
vigorous, alive. She sees merry children 'spilling out of their homes.' These images of vibrant, rushing
life contrast painfully with the static, fading image of her mother. The juxtaposition heightens the
poem's emotional power.
■ The Familiar Ache
The poet says the sight of her mother triggers a 'familiar ache' — this is the fear she has felt before:
the fear of losing her mother. She realises she has carried this fear since childhood. It is not new; it
has always been there beneath the surface of their relationship, surfacing every time she is
confronted by her mother's mortality.
■ The Departure
At the airport, the poet smiles at her mother and says the most ordinary of things — 'See you soon,
Amma.' But behind that cheerful smile is the awareness that this may be one of the last times. She
Poetry — Full Poem Explanations
Full Chapter Explanation | Audio-Script Style
CBSE Board Exam 2025-26 | Class XII English Core
Class XII | CBSE Board Exam 2025-26
English Core — Flamingo & Vistas
National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT)
, My Mother at Sixty-Six
Author/Poet: Kamala Das
Setting A car journey from Cochin to the airport; inside an aircraft
Characters The poet (Kamala Das), her ageing mother
Theme Ageing, fear of loss, the mother-child bond, mortality
Love involves accepting the inevitability of loss while choosing to remain cheerful for
Moral / Message those we love.
Timeline Contemporary; a single day
Key Terms Ashen face, dozing, spilling trees, merry children, familiar ache
DETAILED EXPLANATION
■ Overview & Setting
This is an intensely personal poem by Kamala Das — one of India's most celebrated poets in English.
She is driving to the Cochin airport with her mother, who sits beside her in the car. As the poet
glances at her mother, she is struck by the physical reality of her mother's ageing — and is overcome
by a wave of old, familiar fear.
■ The Central Image
The mother is described as dozing open-mouthed, her face 'ashen like that of a corpse.' The simile is
stark and deliberately shocking. Kamala Das does not soften the image — she confronts the truth of
her mother's decline with unflinching honesty. This is not sentimentality; it is clear-eyed love.
■ The Contrast: Trees and Children
As the car moves through the landscape, the poet sees trees 'sprinting' past the window — young,
vigorous, alive. She sees merry children 'spilling out of their homes.' These images of vibrant, rushing
life contrast painfully with the static, fading image of her mother. The juxtaposition heightens the
poem's emotional power.
■ The Familiar Ache
The poet says the sight of her mother triggers a 'familiar ache' — this is the fear she has felt before:
the fear of losing her mother. She realises she has carried this fear since childhood. It is not new; it
has always been there beneath the surface of their relationship, surfacing every time she is
confronted by her mother's mortality.
■ The Departure
At the airport, the poet smiles at her mother and says the most ordinary of things — 'See you soon,
Amma.' But behind that cheerful smile is the awareness that this may be one of the last times. She
