GEHARAIYAAN

By SHILPA KRISHNAN.B

About the book Geharaiyaan is a jewel box of teaching aids which is based on the SCERT textbook of Standard VIII English. It comprises of necessary teaching- learning materials based on the chapter ‘My Grandmother’s House’, which comes under

MY Unit- GRANDMOTHER’S 5, Share and Care. The purpose of this book is to HOUSE help teachers and students to collect information from a single source without wandering across the websites. It may help you in getting new and in-depth knowledge about the chapter and the author. The digital flipbook also provide links to the relevant websites, similar works and videos which can be incorporated in the classroom.

Kamala Das Renowned Indian English writer and an amazing author of Malayalam works, Kamala Das is well known for her Confessional writings and poetry, across the world. She was a writer who was equally loved and hated by people for her openness. She was born to a conservative Hindu family in Punnayurkulam, Thrissur, Kerala where she spend a good portion of her childhood and later she shifted to Kolkata.

Kamala Das is famous in Malayalam with her pen name Madhavikutty and also with her Muslim name Kamala Surayya.

MAJOR WORKS OF KAMALA DAS

MY GRANDMOTHER’S HOUSE - Kamala Das

There is a house now far away where once I received love……. That woman died, The house withdrew into silence, snakes moved Among books, I was then too young To read, and my blood turned cold like the moon How often I think of going There, to peer through blind eyes of windows or Just listen to the frozen air, Or in wild despair, pick an armful of Darkness to bring it here to lie Behind my bedroom door like a brooding Dog…you cannot believe, darling, Can you, that I lived in such a house and Was proud, and loved…. I who have lost My way and beg now at strangers' doors to Receive love, at least in small change?

Note of the poem My Grandmother’s House by Kamala Das is an autobiographical poem which depicts her longing towards her ancestral house at Kerala, where her grandmother used to live. She was immensely loved and cared by her affectionate grandmother and she was deeply and emotionally attached to that place. Now after the death of her grandmother it is a death-like silence that reigns the house. In the poem the abandoned house symbolizes the speaker’s lost

childhood and her present life which is deprived of love, safety and affection. The poet is in the mood of reminiscence throughout the poem. The themes of the poem include nostalgia, longing, loneliness and desire for love. Kamala Das had resorted to her favourite technique of using an ellipsis to convey the intensity of emotions and it also servers the purpose of suggesting a shift in mood and tone.

Summary The speaker begins by remembering a long-lost house in which she felt loved. The speaker's grandmother (who lived there) died, and after her death, the house fell silent. Snakes slithered between the books. At this time, the speaker was still a child and couldn't read yet. When her grandmother died, the speaker felt as if her blood had turned as cold as the moon. The speaker often dreams of going back to the house and squinting through its empty

windows or listening to the cold, lifeless air. She imagines that, in a moment of deep anguish, she might scoop up some of the house's gloom in her arms and take it home to keep in her bedroom, where it would lie around like a moping dog. Addressing a loved one she calls her "darling," the speaker says they couldn't possibly believe she once lived in a house where she was happy, proud, and cared for. She says she has wandered off course now; she spends her time trying to gather crumbs of love from strangers.

LINE-BY-LINE EXPLANATIONS

Lines 1-5 (There…moon) The poet is reminded of her grandmother’s house where she spent her memorable childhood, it is the only place where she received love. The death of the grandmother is even mourned by the house to which she

was emotionally attached. A death-like silence reigned in the house after her exit from this world. It seems that the grandmother was the very soul of this house. Being deserted, the snakes could be seen among books in the library of the house. At that point in time, she was too young to read those books which looked quite horrible and repulsive like snakes. She was almost frozen with fear at the passing away of her grandmother and seemed cold like the moon. The very opening lines of the poem capture the poet’s mood of nostalgia. She is reminded of the happiest days of her childhood which she spent in the company of her grandmother. She was deeply attached to her grandmother who was very caring and affectionate to her. She was emotionally destabilized after the death of her grandmother and felt almost heart-broken. The intensity of her grief is suggestively conveyed by the ellipse in the form of a few dots in this section of the poem. It was her disenchantment with her loveless marriage that reminded her of her grandmother’s pure

and selfless love.

Lines 6-12 (How often…Dog) The poet often longs to visit her grandmother’s house to which she was emotionally attached since her childhood. It has been a place of security and protection which is sadly missing in her new house in the city. She would like to peep through the dust-ridden or coloured panes of windows that were shut after the death of the grandmother. She would like to listen and feel the still atmosphere prevailing in the house. It is this longing to revisit her grandmother’s house that adds to her sense of frustration and hopelessness. The darkness of her grandmother’s house can have no terrifying impact on her. She would like to gather some darkness, some memories of the grandmother’s house and bring them to her present city residence. The very memories of her grandmother’s house will have a soothing impact on her loveless and hopeless married life. The poet is in a mood of reminiscence and recreates the plight of the grandmother’s house after her departure

from the scene of life. She gives us the very feel of the house in its state of neglect and desertion. The poet has used the simile of a brooding dog to show her inability to pay a visit to her grandmother’s house. She has employed suggestive visual imagery of ‘blind eyes of the windows’ and ‘the frozen air to convey the idea of death and desperation.

Lines 12-16 (..you…small changes) In these lines of ‘My Grandmother’s House’, the poet says how her frustration and disenchantment in the marital life forced her to go into for an extra-marital relationship. Here the poet informs her dear husband that he can never believe the intensity of love that she received from her grandmother. He can never realize that she was extremely proud of her grandmother’s house where she was deeply loved by her grandmother. It is her separation from her grandmother’s house after marriage that has ruined her life forever. It is loveless and hopeless married life that has crippled her sense of pride and love which she used to have in her grandmother’s house. She has become a beggar for love who knocks helplessly at strangers’ doors to receive at least in a small measure. She has almost lost her way in search of genuine and selfless love.

Kamala Das exposes the futility of loveless and hopeless marital relationships in these five concluding lines of the poem. It shows the agony and humiliation of a married woman who is forced to seek extra-marital relationships to seek love for her emotional satisfaction. It is the mood of nostalgia that dominates the closing phase of the poem.

POETIC DEVICES

Alliteration The repetition usually initial consonant sounds in two or more neighbouring words or syllables.

Examples :

Example from the text: Behind my bedroom door like a brooding dog

Consonance The repetition of consonant sounds either inside the lines of the poem or at the end of the words. Examples:

Example from the text: House withdrew into silence, snakes moved among books

Simile The figure of speech that compares to unlike things that is often introduced by like or as .

Examples:

Example from the text: Blood turned cold like a moon. Darkness lie behind the bedroom like a brooding dog.

Personification The figure of speech in which an idea or a thing (inanimate objects) is given human attributes or feelings. Examples:

Examples from the text: Blind eyes of windows. House withdrew into silence. Darkness lie like a brooding dog.

Images used in the poem The imagery vivid and vibrant form of description that appeals to readers senses and imagination.

Visual image Visual imagery appeals to the senses of sight.

❖ snakes moved among books ❖ Peer through blind eyes of windows

Tactile image Tactile imagery appeals to the sense of touch ❖ Blood turned cold

❖ Frozen air

VISUAL IMAGES

Snakes moved among books

Peering through blind eyes of windows

AUDIO LINK:Audio of the poem https://youtu.be/mha-VeUGHQQ

VIDEO LINK:Depicting the childhood Kamala Das in her grandmother’s house https://shilpakrishnanb.blogspot.com/2022/09/my-grandmothershouse-teaching-aid.html

VIDEO LINK:Short video of a child living with her grandmother https://shilpakrishnanb.blogspot.com/2022/09/my-grandmothershouse-teaching-aid_18.html

Further Information https://poemanalysis.com/kamala-das/my-grandmothers-house/ https://www.litcharts.com/poetry/kamala-das/my-greandmother-s-house https://www.infokara.com/gallery/117-nov-3167.pdf https://www.worldwidejournals.com/global-journal-for-research-analysisGJRA/recent_issues_pdf/2018/May/May_2018_1526726255_146.pdf https://www.academia.edu/26928575/Feminine_Sensibility_of_Kamala_Dass_ Poetry_The_Freaks_and_My_Grand_MotherS_House_ https://gackarur.com/econtents/ug/English/das%20&%20ak.pdf