Introduction of the Poem:
It seems that the poet's grandmother showered a lot of love and affection on the young Kamala Das as a growing child. She is often remembered in her poetry, as in, My Grandmother's House and A Hot Noon in Malabar. In this poem, Kamala Das recalls the house where she once used to live with her grandmother. The grandmother died, the house was not occupied by anyone.
Critical Summary:
The young Kamala when she visited her grandmother as a child, did not even know how to read the books lying in the house. When the grandmother died, the child lost the capacity to feel. It seemed that the blood in her veins was no longer warm but had turned as cold as the moon. (Significantly, her own parents are never remembered with such love and affection.) The poet now thinks of going back to her grandmother’s house to look at the things inside it through the windows. But since the windows are closed, she would not be able to see anything lying inside; she would experience a feeling of hopelessness. She would be able only to gather some of the darkness from the place and bring it with her to her bedroom, where she would merely lie down to meditate on the memories of her past.
Addressing her husband, Kamala Das says that he would perhaps not to be able to believe that she had lived in such a house , had felt proud of herself, and had received the love of someone (her grandmother). She tells her husband that she feels lost now because of the utter absence of love in her life as no one loves her. Now she seeks love like a beggar from strangers, she would be consoled even when she receives a small measure of love from somebody.
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