Blessing by Imtiaz Dharker Context Imtiaz Dharker lives in India, in the city of Bombay. During the dry season, the temperature can reach 40 degrees. The poem is set in a vast area of temporary accommodation called Dharavi, on the outskirts of Bombay, where millions of migrants have gathered from other parts of India. Because it is not an official living area, there is always a shortage of water. In an interview, the poet says: 'But when a pipe bursts, when a water tanker goes past, there's always a little child running behind the water tanker getting the bits of drips and it's like money, it's like currency. In a hot country in that kind of climate, it's like a gift. And the children may have been brought up in the city and grown up as migrants, but the mothers will probably remember in the village they've come from they would have to walk miles with pots to get to a well, to the closest water source. So it really is very precious. When the water comes, it's like a god.' Picture courtesy of Andrew Jarvis What is Blessing about? The skin cracks like a pod. There never is enough water. Imagine the drip of it, the small splash, echo in a tin mug, the voice of a kindly god. Sometimes, the sudden rush of fortune. The municipal pipe bursts, silver crashes to the ground and the flow has found a roar of tongues. From the huts, a congregation: every man woman child for streets around
butts in, with pots, brass, copper, aluminium, plastic buckets, frantic hands, and naked children screaming in the liquid sun, their highlights polished to perfection, flashing light, as the blessing sings over their small bones. The poem starts with a simple statement, 'There is never enough water', and shows what it is like to be without water. When the poet imagines water, it is so special it is compared to a god. When a water pipe bursts, we are shown how the community responds: they collect as much water as possible. The children enjoy the water and play in it. Structure The poem is structured in four stanzas of different lengths. Why has the poet organised her thoughts in this way? Why does the poet start new paragraphs at lines 3, 7 and 18? Look at the full stops in this poem. How many full stops are there in the first half of the poem (up to line 11)? How many are in the second? What is the effect of this? (Picture courtesy of Stephen Clark) It is significant that short stanzas (with short, abrupt sentences) express what it is like to be without water, and longer stanzas (with flowing sentences) show what it is like suddenly to have water. Can you find any words in this poem which rhyme? For example, note pod/god and ground/found/around. What is the effect of these words? Can you find any alliteration? Try'the flow has found' (line 10), 'polished to perfection' (line 20). What is the effect of this?
(The essence of water. Picture courtesy of Akshay Mahajan) Language Stanza 3 refers to 'men, women and children', but stanza 4 focuses on the children alone, as the water pours over 'their small bones'. Look at the different reactions of the adults and the children to the pipe bursting. Why did the poet choose to end her poem in this way? Imagery The poem opens with a striking image of dryness: 'The skin cracks like a pod.'. How does a pod crack? What sort of skin/pod do you imagine here? What effect does this simile have on you? The sound of a drip of water is described in a metaphor as 'the voice of a kindly god', while water itself is referred to as fortune, as silver, and as 'the blessing'. What do these words have in common? 'Blessing' is a religious word: blessings come from gods. A congregation can just mean 'a crowd of people', but its main meaning is 'a crowd of worshippers'. What does this imagery suggest about the importance of water? Why did the poet choose Blessing as the title of her poem?
Sound When the water appears, we get words like rush, burst, crash, flow, roar. What do these words have in common? What's the effect of putting them close together? Can you link that effect with the list of objects in lines 14-17? Imtiaz Dharker has said this about the rhythm patterns in her poetry: 'My first instinct when I'm writing and when I'm saying the poems aloud is always to get into a kind of iambic rhythm, so what I begin to do then is to break the rhythm, break it internally. So I take it very much from spoken rhythms, but at the same time I'm trying to do some bouncing off. I'm really talking about the rhythms of my spoken word, which might be different from the rhythms of someone else's.' By iambic the poet means a steady, regular rhythm, which alternates stressed and unstressed syllables in a fixed pattern. She prefers irregular patterns in her writing. Attitude, tone and ideas Much of the meaning of a poem is conveyed by the attitude it expresses toward its subject matter. 'Attitude' can be thought of as a combination of the poet's tone of voice, and the ideas he or she is trying to get across to the reader. How should the poem be read? In a pitiful voice, sympathising with the poor of India? Excitedly, celebrating the blessing of the pipe bursting? Choose a short quotation to justify your choice. Ideas The main idea in this poem is that water - so essential to life - comes to be seen by people in a hot, dry country as supremely precious, a divine gift - a blessing. Have a look at these quotes, and our suggestions about how they fit into this theme
Key phrases and how they fit into the theme: Picture courtesy of Stephen Clark Images Key phrase Commentary The skin cracks like a pod. This image of the effect of drought refers to the skin of the earth, which cracks when dry and becomes useless for growing things, and the skin of a seed-pod, which dries up and becomes brittle once it has fallen to earth. But it also reminds us of the pain we feel when our own skin splits... The rushing water, shimmering in the bright sun, shines like silver; silver crashes but the word also suggests its to the ground... value to the villagers - like an outpouring of precious metal, which will make them rich. Picture courtesy of Kate Gare Picture courtesy of Anushya Badrinath From the huts/a congregation... Congregation, like blessing, suggests that the outpouring of water is a kind of holy communion, a religious event - 'the voice of a kindly god.'.