Small Towns and the River is poem written by Indian poet, Mamang Dai. The poem was originally published on 2004. The poet tells us about her city through the poem and discuss about the environment and challenges.
Small Towns and the River By Mamang Dai Summary
Summary of Small Towns and the River By Mamang Dai
The story of poem begins with poet who says the small cities always remind me of death as dying there is very normal. My hometown lies among the trees in town. My city is covered with trees around it. My city always has peaceful atmosphere whether it is summer of winter.
The poetess says there wind howls around the gorge and dust fly’s around the town. In the first stanza of poem, poet tells us about her hometown and she also discuss about death as how normal it is to die there.
In the recently next day someone died, we were weeping tears on his death while looking at the tuberose flower around his neck. Nothing is permanent in life only the death and rituals of it. The people born and die, born and die.
My small town has one river which has its own soul. In the summertime river becomes dry and its land crack in the ground. When we look at our river in summertime it feels like as it is in a lot of pain. The poetess says sometimes the river hold its breath and look for a place with fish and stars.
The river looks for a place where it can breathe and flows smoothly. Please remember one thing while reading a poem if poet is repeating a line that means he want us to focus on that lines.
My hometown river has a soul and it knows lots of things. My river don’t just flow it knows many – many things apart from flowing. The poetess says river goes ahead leaving my small town back and it knows when first drop of rain touches the dry land, how it gives life to river.
When first drop of rain touches the dry land it gives life to it. The river knows water is immortal and it can never end. In the second stanza of poem, author is trying to tell us that her hometown river don’t just flow it knows great deal apart from flowing ahead.
In the third stanza, author compares her childhood life with Holy temple as childhood of a child is also pure and truthful like a Holy temple. I have lots of my childhood memories which I still remember. My childhood life was best though but when I grown up I get to know that in small towns, people have a lots of tension about their future.
When the people died in small towns their body placed in a west direction. They does it because when the soul rise from body it will go in east direction from where sun rises.
The poetess says life is like a sunlight of sun which means it is temporary. The way sunlight warm cold bamboo and in evening when sun set it turns cold again. And this process continues. So it is an temporary process like a life of human being. The people of small towns wants to go in Heaven and to walk with gods.
The author is trying to say that small towns people are not materialistic, they are just simple living people. Their life has spirituality as they always connected with Gods. The small towns people have only one small wish that they want to walk with god after death.
ABOUT AUTHOR : Mamang Dai is an Indian poet novelist and generalist who was born in 23 February 1957. The poet was awarded with Sahitya Akademi Award in 2017 for her work, The Black Hill. Her famous work includes “The Sky Queen”, “Stupid Cuvid”, “Mountain harvest”, and the river poems.