A Hot Noon In Malabar by Kamala Das - Explanation
The poem "A Hot Noon In Malabar" written by Kamala Das is nostalgic in nature. Like most of her poems, the poem is personal.
The poem narrates the ordeal of the poetess who misses her days at her grandmother's home in Malabar where she spent the best of her days. She describes the bustle of Malabar during noontime, the beggars roam there and ask for alms in their "whining voices". The fortune-teller who has his parrots in a cage and his old fortune-cards with him. The "brown Kurava girls" examine the palm of people and enlighten them about their self and future events ahead of them. Besides it, their group sing their cultural songs.
There are some bangle-sellers who sell red, green and blue bangles on the dusty roadside. Their heels are cracked due to continuous travelling. When they pass-by narrator's house and climb her porch, their cracked heels make unusual noise which seems strange to the narrator.
During these noons, strangers walking through the streets, and they often peep through windows of the houses and their eyes described by poetess as "hot eyes brimming with the sun" tells us that the weather is very hot and exhausting. When they fail in looking inside the rooms, they step back and anxiously stare at the "brick-ledged well". The reason behind this unusual behaviour is their thirst. At that time, modes of transportation in villages were not as ubiquitous as in urban cities. So people have to travel a lot on foot and harsh weather gives them lemon, in other words, it makes their journey difficult.
Next, the poetess gives us the description of the noons in her present residing city where she doesn't feel secure at all. Unlike the strangers in Malabar, in her present town, strangers are not honest and the poetess only finds "mistrust" in their eyes. These strangers don't speak much and remain silent, but when they speak, their voices are alien and wild to her. This noon, she says, is dominated by "wild men", their wild thoughts and love. She feels suffocated and torturous there. The place which she calls her home is Malabar, her grandmother's house.
The poem narrates the ordeal of the poetess who misses her days at her grandmother's home in Malabar where she spent the best of her days. She describes the bustle of Malabar during noontime, the beggars roam there and ask for alms in their "whining voices". The fortune-teller who has his parrots in a cage and his old fortune-cards with him. The "brown Kurava girls" examine the palm of people and enlighten them about their self and future events ahead of them. Besides it, their group sing their cultural songs.
There are some bangle-sellers who sell red, green and blue bangles on the dusty roadside. Their heels are cracked due to continuous travelling. When they pass-by narrator's house and climb her porch, their cracked heels make unusual noise which seems strange to the narrator.
During these noons, strangers walking through the streets, and they often peep through windows of the houses and their eyes described by poetess as "hot eyes brimming with the sun" tells us that the weather is very hot and exhausting. When they fail in looking inside the rooms, they step back and anxiously stare at the "brick-ledged well". The reason behind this unusual behaviour is their thirst. At that time, modes of transportation in villages were not as ubiquitous as in urban cities. So people have to travel a lot on foot and harsh weather gives them lemon, in other words, it makes their journey difficult.
Next, the poetess gives us the description of the noons in her present residing city where she doesn't feel secure at all. Unlike the strangers in Malabar, in her present town, strangers are not honest and the poetess only finds "mistrust" in their eyes. These strangers don't speak much and remain silent, but when they speak, their voices are alien and wild to her. This noon, she says, is dominated by "wild men", their wild thoughts and love. She feels suffocated and torturous there. The place which she calls her home is Malabar, her grandmother's house.