NCERT Book Class 12 English (kaleidoscope) Poetry 8 Blood

8
Blood
One of the greatest literary figures in Malayalam,
Kamala Das was born in the year 1934 in
Punnayurkulum, in South Malabar, Kerala. Her
work, in poetry and in prose, has given her a
permanent place in modern Malayalam literature
as well as in Indian writing in English. She is best
known for her feminist writings and focus on
womanhood.
She has been the recipient of such famous awards
as the Poetry Award for the Asian PEN Anthology,
the Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award for the best
Kamala Das collection of short stories in Malayalam, and the
1934-2009 Chaman Lal Award for fearless journalism.

When we were children
My brother and I
And always playing on the sands
Drawing birds and animals
Our great-grandmother said one day,
You see this house of ours
Now three hundred years old,
It’s falling to little bits
Before our very eyes
The walls are cracked and torn
And moistened by the rains,
The tiles have fallen here and there
The windows whine and groan
And every night
The rats come out of the holes
And scamper past our doors.
The snake-shrine is dark with weeds