MOTHER TONGUE (Woven Words)

About the poet

Padma Sachdev (Born in Jammu Kashmir 1940) is a major Indian poet and novelist. She is the first modern woman poet of Dogri language and also writes in Hindi. Dogri is Northern Indo-Aryan Language spoken by about five million people in India chiefly in Jammu region. Dogri is one of the 22 official languages of India. She has published several poetry collections that include Meri Kavita Mere Geet that brought her the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1971. She is also the recipient of Padma Shri (2001) from the Government of India and Kabir Samman for poetry (2007-08) from the Government of Madhya Pradesh. Her works of acclaim include Tavi Te Chanhan (Rivers Tavi and Chenab, 1976), Nheriyan Galiyan(Dark Lanes, 1982), Pota Pota Nimbal (Fingertipful Cloudless Sky, 1987), Uttar Vahini (1992) and Tainthian (1992).

 

I approached a stem

Swinging on a reed

And asked him

To give me a quill.

Irritated, he said

I gave you one only the other day

A new one, what have you done with it? 

Are you some sort of an accountant With some Shah

Writing account books

Where you need a new pen

Every other day he asked.

No, I don’t work for a Shah

I said, but for a Shahni, very kind, Very well off

And I am not the only one Working for her

She has many servants

Ever ready to do her bidding

That Shahni is my mother tongue Dogri

Give me, a quill, quickly

She must be looking for me

The reed cut off its hand

Gave it to me and said

Take it

I too am her servant. 

READ THE POEM CAREFULLY AND ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS:
1. The quill is the central element in the poem—what does it symbolise?

The quill symbolizes a pen. A pen is more powerful than a sword. She personifies the quill and the reed and attributes herself as a servant of her mother tongue Dogri. She uses the quill to preserve her mother tongue.

2. You notice a sense of urgency in the poet’s request—what is the reason for this? 

The reason for the urgency is her fast depleting base of Dogri language and she is in a hurry to save her mother tongue and her own Dogri speaking people are influenced by other languages. She quickly wants to pen down her thoughts and feeling in her mother tongue to save he language. Dogri is one of the 22 official languages in India.

3. How has the poet brought out her emotional attachment to her mother tongue? 

The reed cutting its hands symbolically reveals the attachment of the poet towards preservation of her mother tongue.

4. Personification is a figure of speech that attributes human qualities to inanimate things and abstract ideas. How has it been used in this poem? 

Throughout the poem, one can see the stem indulged in a conversation with the poet. Besides talking, the stem expresses other human qualities like questioning, analysing, decision-making, and so on the stem is personified.