Read the following poem and answer the questions that follow : Mother, I am…
2024
Read the following poem and answer the questions that follow :
Mother, I am the one
you sent away
when the doctor told you
I would be
a girl – In the end they had to
give me an injection to kill me.
Before I died I heard
the traffic rushing outside, the monsoon
slush, the wind sulking through
your beloved Mumbai –
I could have clutched the neon blue
no one wanted –
No one wanted
To touch me – except later in the
autopsy room
when they knew my mouth would not
search
for anything – and my head could be
measured
and bent cut apart.
I looked like a sliced pomegranate.
The fruit you never touched.
Mother, I am the one you sent away
When the doctor told you
I would be a girl – your second girl.
Afterwards, as soon as you could
you put on your grass – green sari –
the orange stems of the parijatak
blossoms
glistened in your hair –
Afterwards
everyone smiled.
But now I ask you
to look for me, mother,
look for me because
I won't come to you in your dreams,
Look for me, mother, look
because I won't become a flower
I won't turn into a butterfly
And I am not a part of anyone's song.
Look, mother,
look for the place where you have
sent me.
Look for the unspeakable.
for the place that can never be described.
Look for me, mother, because
this is what you have done.
Look for me, mother, because
this is not 'God's will'.
Look for me, mother
because I smell of formaldehyde –
I smell of formaldehyde
and still, I wish you would look
for me, mother.
Who does the girl address ?
- A.
the doctor
- B.
the society
- C.
the father
- D.
the mother
Attempted by 1 students.
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: D
Concept: In a poem written as a direct address (an apostrophe), the person being spoken to is identified by tracking every vocative — the name or relational word the speaker calls out to — not simply any character who is mentioned in the narrative.
Application: This poem opens with the vocative "Mother, I am the one you sent away" and keeps returning to it — the closing stanza alone repeats "look for me, mother" five times, alongside "But now I ask you", "Look, mother", and "I won't come to you in your dreams". Every direct call in the poem names the same person, so the entire piece is the girl speaking to her mother about being aborted for being a girl.
Why the other options do not fit:
the doctor — the doctor is mentioned only in the third person as the one who revealed the child's sex, after which the medical staff carried out the procedure; the speaker never turns to address him.
the society — "society" appears only through passive bystanders ("no one wanted to touch me", "everyone smiled") whom the speaker talks about, not to.
the father — the father is not mentioned anywhere in the poem's text at all, so nothing supports him as the one being addressed.
Hence, the girl in the poem addresses her mother throughout.