Read the following poem and answer the questions that follow : Mother, I am…

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.

What does the killed infant smell of ?