‘Ecology’ - A. K. Ramanujan-study material

‘Ecology’ - A. K. Ramanujan

Introduction

A. K. RAMANUJAN (1929-1993) is probably the most well known of Indian English poets who made Indian verse in English internationally popular. He belonged to Mysore in India and taught in many universities in the country. Then he migrated to America.  He became a lecture in the University of Chicago in 1962 where he worked till his death in 1993. Most of his works breathe Indian culture and tradition.

'Ecology' is Ramanujan's well known poem. It depicts the blind and innocent faith of an in educated Indian woman. This woman is the poet's own mother. She has great love and respect for the champak trees in her yard. They have been there from the time she could remember and provided basket full of flowers to the women in the family to offer their Gods. But the fragrance of the flowers gave her sever attacks of migraine and so her children decide to cut them down. When she hears about this she flies into a fury and adamantly protests against her children. The poet implies that through her love for the trees, unaware, his mother is becoming a strong spokesperson for the protection of nature and her trees. And the poet himself represents the educated modern man and luxury forgets his duty to nature.

A.K. Ramanujan is devoted to his mother. He is very angry because the flowers of the Red Champak tree caused a severe headache to his mother. Even the breeze and his home cannot protect her from the ill effects of the pollen of the flowers. He decides to cut off the tree.

His mother prevents him. She sees the only positive side of the tree. She says that the tree is as old as her. It gives many flowers to worship Gods and to decorate the girls of the household. It is germinated by the droppings of a passing bird. So, it is a good omen. It may give a terrible headache to one line of cousins.

The poem shows the poet’s strong interest in the family. His mother has a kind of emotional attachment to the tree. That is why she does not allow her son to cut the tree.

The poem  

The day after the first rain,
Monsoon.
for years, I would home
in a rage,
Interesting. What are you so mad about, speaker?

for I could see from a mile away
From a mile away, on the way home
our three Red Champak Trees
OUR three red champak trees
had done it again,
meaning they've done it before

had burst into flower and given Mother
her first blinding migraine
first but not last; blinding because of the extent of the pain she's in in
of the season
these migraines last the whole season

with their street-long heavy-hung
yellow pollen fog of a fragrance
The pollen grains have made the air thick like fog - in fact the air IS yellow with it's heady scent
no wind could sift,
the breeze cannot blow away this fog

no door could shut out
and the doors cannot keep it out either. the whole street in front of them is thick with it; it will seep in through the gaps
from our black-
pillared house whose walls had ears
and eyes,
begins personifying the house
scales, smells, bone-creaks, nightly
visiting voices, and were porous
pollen will get in through the holes
like us,
self-explanatory: we will breathe in this fog of pollen

but Mother, flashing her temper
like her mother's twisted silver,
giving the mother's anger some physical quality: shiny, radiant, expressive in her temper
grandchildren's knickers
soaked, then wrung (twisted)

wet as the cold pack on her head,
wet because she was sweating - cold sweats
would not let us cut down
a flowering tree
Flowering tree. Religious significance. Bad omen.
almost as old as her, seeded,
she said, by a passing bird's
providential droppings
Taken as a blessing - came from the sky

to give her gods and her daughters
and daughters' daughters basketsful
of annual flower
This^ is the extent of what this tree is good for.

and for one line of cousins
adower of migraines in season.
Burn!
(perhaps the pollen allergy is inherited?)

Notice that the whole poem is one single sentence -

 a spitting angry, sarcastic, cutting rant

love-hate relationship with nature
speaker's love for mother (also family)
Questions given:
Is the description of the mother similar to that of other Indian mothers?
Is this poem about the conservation of nature?

Summary
The poem, ‘Ecology’ is taken from Ramanujan’s third volume of poems, ‘Second Sight’, published in 1986. The speaker seems to be the poet himself or some imaginary person who is loyally devoted to his mother. He is very angry because his mother has a severe attack of migraine; a very bad kind of headache, often causing a person to vomit; which is caused by the fragrance of the pollen of the flower of the Red Champak every time it is in bloom. The fragrance is heavy and suffocating as the yellow pollen spreads everywhere. Even the doors of the speaker’s house cannot prevent the strong smell from entering the house. The walls of the house are able to absorb almost everything-the sounds, sights, the human voices, the harsh sounds produced when new shoes are worn. But they cannot stop the fog of pollen dust from the Champak trees.
The loving son therefore decides to cut down the tree, but he is prevented from doing so by his mother who sees the positive side of the tree in her garden. She says that the tree is as old as her and had been fertilized by the droppings of a passing bird by chance which is considered to be a very good omen. The positive side of it is that the tree provides many basketful of flowers to be offered to her gods and to ‘her daughters and daughter’s daughters’ every year, although the tree would give a terrible migraine to one line of cousins as a legacy. The yellow pollen fog is the yellow dust of pollen carried in the air which is thick and heavy like fog which covers the earth.
This poem portrays Ramanujan’s strong interest in the family as a very important theme of his poetic craft. His memories of the past would inevitably bring pictures of his family, especially his mother who is self sacrificing. There is also a reference to his Hindu heritage as he mentions the gods and the ancient beliefs in the poem. The sense of irony is indicated when the mother very angrily protests the idea of cutting down the tree even though she is suffering very badly from the migraine caused by it. She has a kind of emotional attachment to the tree, saying that it is as old as herself.
‘Ecology is a poem which could be read as one single sentence. However, each stanza has one particular idea. There is a casual connection between the ideas and they flow from one stanza to the next. ‘Flash her temper’; an instance of the use of irony because she is very angry at the idea of having the tree cut down. The actual meaning of the word ‘Ecology’ is not followed here but the poet seems to convey the thought that a particular kind of tree may have both negative and positive factors and therefore it need not be pulled down.

This poem, ‘Ecology’ is taken from Ramanujan’s third volume of poems, ‘Second Sight’, published in 1986. The speaker seems to be the poet himself or some imaginary person who is loyally devoted to his mother. He is very angry because his mother has a severe attack of migraine; a very bad kind of headache, often causing a person to vomit; which is caused by the fragrance of the pollen of the flower of the Red Champak every time it is in bloom. The fragrance is heavy and suffocating as the yellow pollen spreads everywhere. Even the doors of the speaker’s house cannot prevent the strong smell from entering the house. The walls of the house are able to absorb almost everything-the sounds, sights, the human voices, the harsh sounds produced when new shoes are worn. But they cannot stop the fog of pollen dust from the Champak trees.

The loving son therefore decides to cut down the tree, but he is prevented from doing so by his mother who sees the positive side of the tree in her garden. She says that the tree is as old as her and had been fertilized by the droppings of a passing bird by chance which is considered to be a very good omen. The positive side of it is that the tree provides many basketful of flowers to be offered to her gods and to ‘her daughters and daughter’s daughters’ every year, although the tree would give a terrible migraine to one line of cousins as a legacy. The yellow pollen fog is the yellow dust of pollen carried in the air which is thick and heavy like fog which covers the earth.

This poem portrays Ramanujan’s strong interest in the family as a very important theme of his poetic craft. His memories of the past would inevitably bring pictures of his family, especially his mother who is self sacrificing. There is also a reference to his Hindu heritage as he mentions the gods and the ancient beliefs in the poem. The sense of irony is indicated when the mother very angrily protests the idea of cutting down the tree even though she is suffering very badly from the migraine caused by it. She has a kind of emotional attachment to the tree, saying that it is as old as herself.

‘Ecology is a poem which could be read as one single sentence. However, each stanza has one particular idea. There is a casual connection between the ideas and they flow from one stanza to the next. ‘Flash her temper’; an instance of the use of irony because she is very angry at the idea of having the tree cut down. The actual meaning of the word ‘Ecology’ is not followed here but the poet seems to convey the thought that a particular kind of tree may have both negative and positive factors and therefore it need not be pulled down.

A.    K. Ramanujan’s poem, ‘In the Zoo’

AK. Ramanujan (1929-93) is the first contemporary Indian English poet to have achieved a remarkable breakthrough in cross-fertilizing English with native literary traditions. Poet, translator, folklorist, and philologist Ramanujan was born in Mysore, India. He earned degrees at the University of Mysore and Deccan College in Pune and a PhD from Indiana University. Ramanujan wrote in both English and Kannada, and his poetry is known for its thematic and formal engagement with modernist transnationalism. Issues such as hybridity and transculturation figure prominently in such collections as The Striders (1966), Selected Poems (1976), and Second Sight (1986). The Collected Poems of A.K. Ramanujan (1995) received a Sahitya Akademi Award after the author’s death.

            As a scholar, Ramanujan contributed to a range of disciplines, including linguistics and cultural studies. His essay “Is There an Indian Way of Thinking?” proposed a notion of “context-sensitive” thinking based in complex situational understandings of identity that differed significantly from Western thought and its emphasis on universal concepts and structures. Context-sensitive thinking influenced Ramanujan as a folklorist as well. His works of scholarship include The Interior Landscape: Love Poems from a Classical Tamil Anthology (1967), Folktales from India: A Selection of Oral Tales from Twenty-Two Languages (1991), and A Flowering Tree and Other Oral Tales from India (1997).

 For much of his career, Ramanujan taught at the University of Chicago, where he helped develop the South Asian studies program. In 1976, the Indian government honored him with the title Padma Shri, the fourth-highest civilian award in the country. Ramanujan’s other honors included a MacArthur Fellowship. The South Asia Council of the Association for Asian Studies awards the A.K. Ramanujan Book Prize for Translation in honor of his contributions to the field.

‘In the Zoo’ (a tour with comments) is a satirical poem with a humorous tinge.

 Ironically, the poem speaks only of storks. The storks are described as scavenger birds. They are fit symbols for Calcutta or Madras, which are filled with filth. The storks, according to Ramanujam, stand erect on their long legs and look dignified. They look slightly vulgar. They come in three shades: i) faded black like the Madras lawyers; ii) grey and iii) dirty white like grandmother's curd.

The storks are noisy and heavy when they take off. It reminds the poet of his father. The noise that comes from the flapping of wings is compared to the sound that comes from the father's broken umbrella. Three ribs of the umbrella were broken by his sons on a fencing match and three other ribs were broken by the previous year wind.

The storks circle quietly in the sky with motionless wings. It fills the trans- parent sky with its slow, sleepy movements. It reminds the poet of the father's magic carpet story told on a rainy day. That was a rainy day. Water leaked through the roof into the kitchen. The mother was ill and children walked round the kitchen noisily with pattering feet. As they could not sleep the father told the magic carpet story.

          The poem satirizes the filth of Calcutta and Madras. It makes fun of Madras lawyers. It also highlights the poverty and poor health of the family, may be the poet considers his family, a zoo.

The poem abounds with effective Indian words, phrases and comparison. He is truly an Indian poet who represents Indian culture and tradition.

Introduction:

A.K.Ramanujan is the first contemporary Indian English poet to have achieved a remarkable breakthrough in cross-fertilizing English with native literary traditions. "In the Zoo: A Tour with Comments" is a wildly satirical poem with a humorous tinge. It is a suggestive poem, as the poet seems to compare his own household to a zoo.

Distinguishing Features of the Adjutant Storks:

Ironically, the poem "In the Zoo" speaks only of storks. They are described as scavenger birds which would be fit symbols for Calcutta or Madras which are filled with filth. The storks, according to Ramanujan, stand erect on their long legs and look dignified. They look like army-officers (adjutants) in charge of discipline and administration. They look slightly vulgar. They come in three shades 1) faded black like the Madras lawyers 2) a grey and 3) a dirty white colour like the yeasted 'maggoty' curds produced by grandmother at home.

Adjutant Storks: Reminiscences of His Father:

According to the poet, the storks are noisy and heavy when they take off. When they start flying, flapping their wings, they look like the poet's father opening his baggy umbrella in the rain. The umbrella is short of at least six spokes (ribs) - three taken away by his sons for a fencing match and another three - by the winds of the previous season.

The Air-borne Stork: Reminiscences of a Rainy Day:

Once the bird is air-borne, it circles quietly on motionless wings.