Back to: Andhra Pradesh Board Class 10th English Guide and Notes
Table of Contents
Introduction
This poem was written by Dr. Suraya Nasim. The title of the poem says ‘left unwanted or rejected permanently’. This poem talks about a newly born baby who was thrown into the garbage bin (dust bin) by her mother. This was the most pathetic plight (very sad & difficult situation) for her to come across.
That scene moved the poetess and made her to write this poem. This poem is meant to feel but not for singing with joy. The words in this poem came like directly from her heart like a flow. These words in the poem are very easy to read and understand.
About the poet
The poetry Dr. Suraya Nasim writes is straight from the heart. It has no fixed pattern. It doesn’t follow any particular rule. The poems come as a flow. Her poems are simple and easy to read and hopefully easier to understand. English was one of her favorite subjects in school along with science. The prescriptions she writes are from the brain but the poems she writes are definitely from her heart. Her poems were nominated for the Booker Award in 2013.
Theme
The themes of this poem are abandonment and failure. These two themes are very strong in this poem. Failure is because the farmer was not much of a successful farmer and he failed his family to provide the things they need to be happy.
Stanza 1
Abandoned to the garbage bin, With mosquitoes and insects eating its tiny fingers away, Little baby crying for help as foul smells make its play, irradiating from disposed bacteria.
A newly born baby, of some days of age, was thrown into the dustbin by her mother. The mother had her reasons to do so. The garbage was located on the outskirts of the city. It contained mosquitoes and some other insects that bitten the baby’s finger very badly. The baby cried a lot for help, but there was nobody as it was dark night on the outskirts. The fingers were bleeding and giving dirty smell. The infected body was exposed to the radiation and spread all over the area.
Stanza 2
die in eerie silence of the night, "An outcast of destiny" Its labored breath racing in quick gasps forced lonely like crap with cyanosed lips sea-blue nose and finger-tips, Its tattered and torn dirty wrap make it shiver in freezing grasp.
The baby cried bitterly in an uncontrolled manner and finally died in the frightening dark, cold night. That was the baby rejected by the destiny and society. As it was bitterly cold outside, the baby struggled a lot to hold her breathe. She took quick breathes in order to get alive. That was the baby thrown into the garbage like a waste material. The baby was with cyanosed (greenish blue) lips; see blue nose and tiny, soft, smooth fingertips. The baby’s body was tattered and the skin was badly damaged by the insects.
Stanza 3
A filthy black cat edges on to the holed bin searching for easy rats And finds its food tearing at the babe's hair with their sharp teeth gnawing at its ears to complete their feed, As the cat jumps in with a screeching meow the rats let loose a clicking squeak A bloody chaos ensues, The only sin of the infant— BEING BORN.
There was a dirty, fat and black cat sitting on the edge of the dust bin searching for its food. It found its food (rats) in the dust bin eating the baby. The rats were tearing baby’s head with their sharp teeth and biting the ears of the baby to eat as the food.
Then, the cat jumps over giving ‘meow’ sound and the rats too get ready to attack the cat. A violent fight takes place between the cat and the rats for the food. The baby was already dead. The only sin of the baby was to come to this world where the people were unkind and society was uncivilized.
