What is the central idea of …

The central idea of the poem is ‘aging’ which is the eternal law of nature. Everything has to change one day and therefore the poet has portrayed the constraints of an old age which she found in her mother On this earth whenever a human being is born he/she has to grow up and face different situations that are put in front by life. When a person is young then he/she is full of energy and then old and then one day has to die. During the course of life we meet many people, make friends, many people do leave us. There is a kind of pain we feel when others leave us. This whole poem is concentrated on that pain only.

.The poet also mentions the close relationship which a mother and a daughter share. Everyone has a deep feeling of love for their mother and we are always very worried and tensed. There is a pain deep inside us when we have to leave them. So does Kamala Das feel while going away from her mother who has grown old, and when the poet is going away from her she is deeply saddened. She bids goodbye to her mother with a false and hollow smile on her face and simultaneously she is also feeling guilty that when her mother needs her she is not there.