Hi Everyone!! This article will share Amma Questions & Answers.
This poem is written by Tabish Khair. In my previous posts, I have shared the questions and answers of Ozymandias, A Good Deed Comes Round and Playthings so, you can check these posts as well.
Amma Questions & Answers
Question 1: Read the lines and answer the questions:
1. Down the stairs of this house where plaster flakes and falls…
(a) Whose ‘house’ is it?
Answer: The house belongs to the speaker’s grandmother.
(b) Why does the plaster ‘flakes and falls’?
Answer: The plaster ‘flakes and falls’ because the house is very old.
(c) What does the speaker remember?
Answer: He remembers his grandmother’s echoing footsteps.
2. …..evaluating how soon,
The past will collapse or how long the present last.
(a) Who is ‘evaluating’?
Answer: The grandmother is ‘evaluating’.
(b) Is the present any better than the past?
Answer: Perhaps no because in the past, the house though old used to have children coming during the summer. In the present, the grandmother wonders how long will she and the house last.
(c) In what sense will the past collapse?
Answer: The past will collapse when the children stop coming or the house falls apart.
3. Though your collected steps never turn the corner into you
In a starched and white sari, the fragrance of soap around you
(a) Explain: collected steps never turn the corner into you.
Answer: This means that though her walking with effort will never make her visible physically, the poet can still feel her presence.
(b) What can you infer about the person being talked about?
Answer: We can infer that the grandmother was very well liked by the poet and her presence can be felt in the house long after she is no more.
(c) What has happened to the person?
Answer: She is no longer alive.
Question 2: Why do you think grandmother’s footsteps echo?
Answer: The echo is mentioned here because the house is empty. But, the grandmother (Amma) is not alive and therefore it is in the poet’s memory that the echo occurs.
Question 3: Why does the grandmother have to wait for monsoons to repair the curtain?
Answer: It is so because during summers, the curtains provide respite from the sun but this shade from the sun would not be required much during monsoon season.
Question 4: What does the speaker remember about summers in his grandmother’s house?
Answer: The coolness of the wet khus and the various ice drinks are mentioned herein in the grandmother’s house.
Question 5: What has changed about the house though the speaker says, ‘Nothing has changed’?
Answer: Here, it is the diminishing eyesight of the grandmother that has changed though things are the same way.
Question 6: What is the significance of the last line of the poem?
Answer: It means, there is no one living in that house and no need for any curtains.
Question 7: What do we get to know about the grandmother from this poem?
Answer: From this poem, we get to know that children were fond of their grandmother and liked to be with her. She, very well, knew the house. The house has her presence even years later as the poet feels the echo of her footsteps in the house.
Question 8: Explain the line: Through the intimate emptiness of its rooms and hall……
Answer: It refers to the fact that the poet missed his grandmother and he knew very well the reason of the emptiness in the house i.e. she is not alive.
Question 9: Based on your understanding draw a character sketch of ‘Amma’ using clues from the poem.
Answer: Amma was fond of her grandchildren and arranged for their coolness during summer. She took care that children enjoyed their favourite ice drinks. Children also loved her as they enjoyed their stay with Amma. She was meticulous about the time and its impact as she was anxious as to how long she or her old house would remain alive.
So, these were Amma Questions & Answers.