Migrations

Critical Appreciation:
In this poem, Daruwalla reflects on the idea of ‘displacement’ that has evolved a new terrain
of thought in ascribing identity to a group of people who are categorised as migrants. The
poem becomes an interesting read because Daruwalla’s concern is not just to catalogue the
factors that engender migration but also to juxtapose public history with the personal. The
poem can be said to be drafted in the inductive mode as we find Daruwalla oscillating
between two polarities—public and private—by moving from the general to the particular in
chronicling the factors of migration. The poem is fused with personal touches that give the
idea of “home” which is again a contentious topic within the rubric of displacement. The
poem unfolds in the manner of the speaker’s estimate of a survey of the factors of forced
migration. Droughts, plagues and even the infamous year 1947 that saw the Partition of India
are considered to be the prime agents of migration. The speaker also reflects upon the
possibility of an inconsequential historicity had it not been for migration that have had
provided the necessary thrust in carving out a history of the place and its people. The speaker
then states the difficulty in retracing the past which indicates that the speaker is not just
dealing with spatial displacement as the only condition of migration but is equally broadening
the limits of a conceptual migration in time sequence. The politics of adaptation to newer
surroundings by the migrants is bolstered in the expression “new faces among old bricks”.
However, the speaker intends to amplify the idea of the “homeland” which is always a distant
dream, an unachieved never land for the refugees which is highlighted in the irony implicit in
the expression “This is your house, Sir”. The speaker assesses the possibility of meditating on
time and goes on to engage in a philosophical digression by listing the pensive nature of a
past migrant memory. It is in the last paragraph that the speaker fuses the public with the
personal when he uses an instance of his childhood memory as a vantage point to reflect on
the more holistic picture of “home” and “identity”. The speaker speaks of the amount of
dissatisfaction that spreads on his mother’s face when he shows his inability to remember his
grandmother and the fried dishes she used to prepare for him. In fact, the dissatisfaction
becomes more painful as the speaker now even fails to remember his own mother. It is here
that he states the difficulty of migrating back in time. The early assertion of migration and
displacement being the root cause of all historical events gets a new amplification in the
recent discovery made by the speaker that even personal memory is steeped in the conditional
titbits of migration and that the very act of retracing it makes one eventually experience the
idea of migration. In other words, the speaker asserts that geographical displacement shares
an ideological corollary with the displacement engendered in an individual’s memory
sequence as both are difficult to trek.

1. Discuss the major themes in the poem ‘Migrations’

In the poem, ‘Migrations’, Keki Daruwalla has very calmly talked about some of the
most unquiet times. He has pointed out the trials and tribulations that are faced by the
migrants. Daruwalla explains the hardships and the immediate change in lifestyle that
occurred during the migration back in 1947. It was extremely difficult for those who
moved as it completely turned their lives around.Some of the major themes that are
 discussed in the poem are cultural alienation, rootlessness, identity crisis, and
nostalgic memories. People had lost their homes, country, identity, loved ones, and
everything. It was difficult for them to adjust to the new lifestyle and theonly way
they could access their past was through the corridors of nostalgic memories.The poet
has used repetition in the first stanza to emphasize the point that the migration was
unwilling. It was a situation that forced people to migrate. Keki very beautifully
describes the key concept of diaspora in this poem.The second stanza enables the
readers to understand how the migrants’ houses were now occupied by someone new
and they no longer could identify themselves with the place that once was very close
to their hearts. This also signifies the cultural alienation and sense of isolation that the
migrants had to face.In the 3rd stanza, the poet portrays the essence of reminiscence
and nostalgia through the tools of simile and metaphor. He knows that the past is long
gone. Thinking about the past makes his mood turn into a pensive. His mixed charred
emotions ebb him to the brink of tearsbut he somehow managed to hold back his
tears. Like the monsoon gathering in the skies. butnot breaking remark on his
emotional side.The last stanza describes the stereotypical mother figure who lives
within the four walls of the house. He elaborates on his mother's mundane when he
exemplified the kitchen, he experiences warmth and sadness when he thinks about
her. His lines “Mother's fallen face would fall further at his impassivity” display the
mother’s emotions of sadness when the poet feels it difficult to go back to her. The
last stanza also tells us how it was difficult for the poet to recall the face of his mother
at the time he is being reminded of his precious childhood memories and experiences.

Forest Fire
 
In Kamala Das' poem, Forest Fire, she is speaking directly about the poet's appetite for
sensory imput and for taking in, soaking up, all of the experiences and images around her.
With wild abandon she 'eats' them and consumes them until they become a part of her. Her
hunger and desire to write, create a longing like a fire inside of her. Later, she will take all of
these experiences and write something and 'give birth' to it, but the child will be in other arms
in many other towns. So, the symbolism is the creative 'fire' as the poet's inspiration and
desire to create, and the created work as a child.
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“Forest Fire” the poet consumes whatever comes before her and as a result she achieves
“brighter charm”. Like a forest fire, which leaves nothing behind it, the poet swallows up
everything that happens around her: Of late I have begun to feel a hunger To take in with
greed, like a forest fire that Consumes and with each killing gains a wilder, Brighter charm,
all that comes my way . (1-4) There is the suggestion of reproduction in this process. And
Kamala Das positively brushes aside the approach of death which she thought as the only
solution to escape the burden of living. ‘Forest Fire’ shows how Das tries to transcend the
barrier of personal moods and feelings and through a poetic assimilation projects the
universal. Anisur Rahman describes, “She assimilates the fond details of life in myriad form
and projects an inclusive human consciousness in her best poems” (78). This poem becomes
one of those where Das expresses her own experience of becoming a poet. It’ll be unjust to
treat her just as a love poet. Rahaman rightly says that the prime target of Das is to project
‘human consciousnesses’. She consumes, as a forest fire engulfs and destroys whatever
comes in its way, all human experiences and out of them creates her poems. Rahaman says,
“…courage to own all that comes her way arises probably from the circumstances of her
desperate love-life and emotional wreckage” (78). This description of love-life and suffering
in her life has already been depicted in her poems and memoirs. ‘Forest Fire’ appears almost
at the Research Scholar An International Refereed e-Journal of Literary Explorations 266
www.researchscholar.co.in ISSN 2320 – 6101 Vol. 2 Issue I February, 2014 end of her
poetry collection The Summer in Calcutta. It doesn’t fit in the category of ‘searching for self’
or ‘desiring for love’. Somehow it consciously gets itself detached from the confessional
writings, with which Das is often labeled. Anisur Rahaman observes: “(In)…Forest Fire, she
has engulfed the world beyond the self” (78). And Devindra Kohli almost supports Rahaman
when he says: Kamala Das’ involvement is poetically more appealing as well as more
convincing when she is able to liberate herself from her sense of her own suffering.” (33) She
uses this liberation of self as a technique in her poems through the medium of confession.
Kohli continues, “Forest Fire, though not a conventional poem of involvement, is an example
of the force with which the world outside can move her to poetry” (33). In “Forest Fire”, Das
compares herself to a forest fire which consumes everything within its fold. Like the fire in
the forest she becomes ‘brighter’ and more ‘charming’ with each new experience that she
absorbs within herself. As a versatile poet she took all her experiences around her to recreate
a new world in her writings. A microcosm has been created out of the macrocosm. The
woman, who once found herself trapped in the snare of marital life and almost succumbed to
the disheartening responses of the male-dominated society, now enjoys the life to the lees.
She is no more scared of this system; rather she finds this system as a means to bring out the
impulses which helps her in writing poems and other works as well. She garners this strength
from the poems she writes as she in her poems raises her voice to post her protest against the
humiliation. As a confessional poet, Kamala Das exposes her own self in someway or other
in almost every poem. That is why her poems often appear autobiographical. But accordingly
S.C. Harrex that autobiographical perspective is often used for a general one, “… but that
individual voice also asks to be read representatively or symbolically” (165). Here she
internalizes external experiences and plays with symbol of fire and hunger to reach up to the
inner core of her private self. Different images mingle into one to create a unified whole. Her
confessional tone is used here, as Harrex tells, ‘representatively’. In a first person narrative
she expresses her feelings of hunger. Harrex goes on to point out: In Forest Fire, of course,
the principle of creative energy is focused on through ‘hunger’ and ‘fire’ symbolism, this
being an instance in Kamala Das’s work where life seen as a consuming process is viewed
positively (169). This is such a poem which should come at the end of a writer’s career.
Deborah Pope in her influential book, A Separate Vision, comments: Every woman writer
has had to deal with the realization that men write out of experience that is ‘universal’ but her
experience is likely to be regarded as trivial and private. (03) Kamala Das dedicated her
whole life to protest against these humiliating realizations. As a confessional poet it is
expected of her that whatever she exposes in her poems must be very much personal and real
in life. Though Das is supposed to be a very straightforward poet, sometime she uses imagery
and symbols with a lot of possibilities in her poems. She has an uninhibited style of writing
resembling her life style. As a feminist poet she always uses chiseled and sharp words to
penetrate into the monochromatic world of suppression and humiliation. Words always come
to her unmasked. But in some poems like “Forest Fire” she very beautifully Research Scholar
An International Refereed e-Journal of Literary Explorations 267 www.researchscholar.co.in
ISSN 2320 – 6101 Vol. 2 Issue I February, 2014 wraps herself up in imagery and symbol.
A.N.Dwivedi points out, “As a poet, Kamala Das makes ample use of images and symbols”
(65). Though not too often, some timely exploration of symbols prove Das’s versatility once
again. As in the introduction of The Symbolist Movement in Literature, Arthur Symons
properly says: “Without symbolism there can be no literature; indeed not even language”
(01). In “Forest Fire” Das exploits that perspective. Here she shares with us those experiences
which are not confined just to women. Like Krishna in Mahabharata, she almost develops the
“Viswarupa’, the whole world view. Das feels a tremendous hunger to engulf all types of
experiences available in this life. She shows three stages of human life and the poems
displays that the whole world exists in her. As T.N.Dhar properly points out: As if to
demonstrate the all-compassing nature of the range of her poetic theme, the succeeding lines
of the poem give us explicit references to the three prominent stages of human life: “ Bald
child in/ open pram”, “ slim lovers behind the tree” and “ old / man with paper in your hand
and sunlight in /your hair . (21) Technically these images are the paraphernalia of a complete
life. Often we have got ample evidences of her acquaintance with these stages of human
being. Those moments are expressed in uninhibited manner and meant to be the source of
Das’s creativity. “Forest Fire” assembles all these experiences into a nutshell which is
consequently consumed by Das just to ‘spit/ out small heaps of ash, nothing else’ (10-11 ).
There may be an undertone of episode of “Khandava-daha”i from Mahabharata. In this
episode when Pandavas were in the shelter at Khandavaprastha , Agni, the god of fire, came
to Krishna and Arjuna in the disguise of a Brahmin and begged them to help him in the
burning of the forest of Khandava . Being unable to avoid repetitive requests of the Brahmin,
they help him in the destruction of that wide forest by ravages of fire. It is told that at that
time that forest was the shelter of multitude of flora and fauna. So the destruction literally
brought forth nothing but large heap of ashes. In “Forest Fire” Das takes in whatever comes
in the front of her: … My eyes lick at you like flames, my nerves Consume; and, when I
finish with you, in the Pram, near the tree and, on the park bench…(8-10) And apparently she
gives out nothing. After the devastating fire nothing remains. But unlike that event Das
internalizes these experiences to recreate. At this juncture the fire looses its devastating
nature and becomes the harbinger of new lives. In her poem, ‘fire’ has been used as a dual
symbol of destruction and creation as well. The concept of ‘Fire’ has always been of multiple
implications to Das. It plays a dispassionate role. As in the book The Summer in Calcutta,
where this poem is published, there are various uses of the symbol ‘fire’. In “The Dance of
the Eunuchs” there is an indirect reference of the destruction of ‘fire’: …beneath the fiery
gulmohur with Long braids flying, dark eyes flashing, they danced and They danced, oh, they
danced till they bled…(4-6) In “The Seashore” the image of ‘fire’ takes us directly to ‘death’:
On some evenings I drive past the cremation ground And seem to hear the crunch of bones in
those vulgar Mouths of fire, or at time I see the smoke, in strands, Research Scholar An
International Refereed e-Journal of Literary Explorations 268 www.researchscholar.co.in
ISSN 2320 – 6101 Vol. 2 Issue I February, 2014 Slowly stretch and rise, like serpents,
satiated, Slow, content…(1-5) Again in some poems ‘Sun’ becomes the originator of fire. At
the same time it nourishes with its temperate warmth and plays with the subconscious level of
human beings. The Sun or on the other hand, the fire becomes the reservoir of both creative
and destructive themes represented by love/lust, noon/midnight, sun/ moon, child/old age,
birth/death imageries. In “In Love” the warmth of the Sun very unlikely leads us to the
futility of a marital relationship. The male partner gets her woman just as an object of carnal
satisfaction. : Of what does the burning mouth Of sun, burning in today’s Sky remind me?
Oh, yes, his Mouth… and his limbs like pale and Carnivorous plants reaching Out for me,
and the sad lie Of my unending lust. (1-7) In “Summer in Calcutta” ‘the April Sun’ becomes
the inspiration of life: What is this drink but The April sun squeezed Like an orange in My
glass? I sip the Fire, I drink and drink Again, I am drunk, Yes, but on the gold Of suns. (1-8)
Again in “The Testing of the Sirens” there is the dispassionate presence of the Sun or the fire:
… I Shut my eyes, but inside eye-lids, there was No more light, no more love, or peace, only
The white, white sun burning, burning, burning…(41-43) However in “Forest Fire” Das
personalizes these divergent experiences and instead of vomiting anything out, she harbours
each of them in her and consecutively find herself a storehouse of experiences. As
S.C.Harrex suggests : Before external reality can be rendered, she argues, its objects – baby ,
pram, lovers , old man , street –lamps , cabaret girls, wedding drums, eunuchs, the wounded
and dying-must be possessed and devoured by the poet’s sensibility, must be personalized ,
so that images of their reality live on, objectified, in the world of the poetic imagination.( 168
) This process fulfills her yearning as a poet aspiring for a universal acceptance and displays
the creation of a poetic self. Forest Fire doesn’t fit into the typical confessional mode.
Nowhere in the poem the spontaneous Das strips her private self in front of the invisible
camera. The difference would appear more prominent if it is compared with other poems by
Das like “An Introduction”, “Composition”, “Loud Posters”, “The Stone House”, and
“Convicts”. The ‘individual’ as well as ‘singular’ ‘I’ of “Introduction” is more personal than
the ‘I’ in “Forest Fire”. Though the poet’s original identity seems more distinct in “Forest
Fire” and the tone of the character is undoubtedly Research Scholar An International
Refereed e-Journal of Literary Explorations 269 www.researchscholar.co.in ISSN 2320 –
6101 Vol. 2 Issue I February, 2014 the tone of the poet, somehow the exploitation of the self
is covertly done. The recovery of the self from the subconscious state or the search for the
suppressed identity has been given a changed outlook. Here ‘confession’ puts on a different
mask to bring Das’ realization out into the focus. As Jayakrishnan Nair sums up: Every
person has experiences both agonizing and exhilarating. But only a passionate sensibility can
concretize these experiences in the form of a vibrant poetic formula. (109) “Forest Fire”
investigates that ‘formula’. Nayar continues: In order to do this the artistic self has to undergo
a traumatic process through which his artistic personality develops; and the predicament
encountered by the poet invariably transcends the present and assumes a generality. Thus the
poet’s artistic personality develops into a collective poetic sensibility (109). When she utters
the lines in “Forest Fire”: …In me shall sleep the baby That sat in prams, and, sleep and wake
and smile its Toothless smile. In me shall walk the lovers , hand In hand, and in me, where
else, the old shall sit And feel the touch of Sun. in me , the street –lamps Shall glimmer, the
cabaret girls cavort, the Wedding drums resound, the eunuchs swirl coloured Skirts and sing
and songs of love, the wounded moan, And in me the dying mother with hopeful Eyes shall
gaze around, seeking her child, now grown And gone away to other towns, other arms. (13-
23) we can easily remember her personal life . There are the reminiscences of unsuccessful
marriage, the group of the eunuchs whom she saw in her staying at Calcutta and their sad
songs of love resembling her desperation in love, her ‘wounded moan’ which is produced out
of her loveless conjugal life, forceful possession of her helpless body and also her mother
who was forced to be dominated by her traditional husband throughout her whole life.
“Forest Fire” is a microcosm of Das’s eventful life. Nair concludes: Kamala Das has shaped
her feminine poetic self on the anvil of her naturalistic experiences and visions, and her
poems are the direct results of the psychic trial she underwent throughout her life on
instances. (109) This is the poem where she achieves transcendence. Surpassing the pettiness
of ordinary existence she reaches the level of creativity which leads towards the immortality
of self.