The document discusses the life and works of a.k. Ramanujan, focusing on his poem 'Ecology' from the collection 'Second Sight.' It explores the conflict between the speaker's modern perspective on nature as an impersonal source of suffering versus the traditional view held by his mother, for whom the red champak trees symbolize cultural significance and a familial connection. Themes of ecological coexistence, nostalgia, and generational differences in attitudes towards nature are emphasized.

1. ECOLOGY
• A.K. Ramanujan
Maun Sadhu
Head & Assistant Professor
Department of English
C.U. Shah Institute of Science

2. A. K. Ramanujan
(16 March 1929 – 13 July 1993)
 He was an Indian poet and scholar of
Indian literature
 who wrote in both English and Kannada.
 Ramanujan was a poet, scholar,
professor, philologist, folklorist,
translator, and playwright.
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Maun Sadhu

3. Maun Sadhu

4. 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 Maun Sadhu

5. 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?)
Maun Sadhu

6. 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.
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Maun Sadhu

7. 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?
Maun Sadhu

8. The poet has tried to show the difference in the views of people belonging to old
generation (her mother) and those belonging to the new generation (poet’s). The old
people have emotions, memories, belief etc attached with the ecology.
For the poet, the Red Champak Trees have no use. Their pollens pollute the air and thus
the city. They cannot be prevented from entering the houses and the human body.
The pollens are the cause of severe pain which his mother is suffering. As the poet has
no emotions attached to the ecology or the trees, he decides to cut them.
On the other hand, his mother’s perspective is on contrary to his views. For her the tree
is not just a tree but a good omen for her and her house. It is the flowers of
the Red Champak Trees which she and other people offers to the Gods and to their
daughters.
This is what makes her to consider her suffering a small sacrifice which she is giving to
the tree.
Maun Sadhu

9. Main Themes
Ecology
Reference to Hindu mythology
Co- existence( human-nature)
A self sacrificing mother
Narrator’s interest in
family
Portrayal of family
His memories of the past
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(Can you consider her like mother nature?)
Maun Sadhu

10. Thank you
Maun Sadhu