Blessing

1
Blessing

• Imtiaz Dharker

2
Before reading the poem

• Think about a typical day. How many times do you
  use water? What for?
• Imagine you had no water. What sorts of problems
  would this cause?
• How do people in England change when the sun
  comes out? How does it make you feel?
• What other weather changes can affect you? How?

3

• Imtiaz Dharker lives in India, in the city of
  Bombay.
• During the dry season, the temperature can
  reach40 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.

4

• 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.'

5

• 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.
6
Glossary

• Blessing something special and precious
  sometimes thought to be given by God.
• municipal provided by the local council
• pod seed case that splits along its side when
  ripe
• tongues voices
• congregation a group of people gathered
  together, possibly for prayer.

7
So what happens?

• There is a dire need for water in the unrelenting
  heat.
• We imagine collecting such water as there is in a
  tin mug, drip by drip.
• A water main bursts.
• People rush to gather what they can in all manner
  of containers, while the children dance in the
  sparkling fountain.

8

• For most of us, nothing is more ordinary than
  water a burst main is more likely to be seen by
  us as an inconvenience and the phrase dying of
  thirst is no more than a metaphor. However, for
  much of humanity, water is scarce. Sudden,
  unexpected amounts of water is the ultimate good
  fortune.
• It really is a Blessing.

9

• The poem is set on the edge of a city there is
  no particular city mentioned as this situation
  could happen in so many places around the world.

10

• The first line confronts us with the stark image
  of human skin breaking open like a seed pod in
  the heat.
• The second line is an unambiguous statement
• There never is enough water

11

• In the second section, the precise image of each
  drop echoing in an almost empty container
  emphasises the slow, patient task of gathering
  even a tiny quantity of water.
• Even so, the suggestion is of gratitude rather
  than resentment and frustration. The slow
  dripping in the mug isthe voice of a friendly
  god (line 6)

12

• After the difficult beginning to the poem, the
  poem turns into a series of glittering images of
  gushing water. Have you noticed that the word
  water does not appear again?
• Instead it is transformed into silver (line 9)
  and a blessing (line 22) something precious
  and divine.

13

• The sound of the friendly god has grown from a
  hollow rattle in a nearly empty mug to a roar of
  tongues (line 11) as people chatter and
  celebrate their good fortune.
• The people who rush to collect this unexpected
  gift are referred to as a congregation (line
  12), as if they are worshippers at a religious
  building.

14

• The sudden change in the situation is reflected
  in the form of the poem.
• As the pipe bursts, clear-cut sentences become
  more fluid. It becomes an extended list of people
  and containers with several uses of enjambment to
  stress the sense of water flow.

15

• The poem seems to end positively, with excited
  screaming children, innocent joy, at the centre
  of joyous images liquid sun polished
  flashing light. (lines 19-21)
• Even the childrens skin, once dry and cracked,
  seems jewel-like, polished to perfection

16

• However, such events happen only Sometimes
  (line 7). The pipe will be repaired and the sun
  will once again crack the skin like a pod (line
  1)
• Furthermore there is a tragic feeling that the
  drought is man made. The pipe passes only through
  their community. The people who live here have no
  official access to the water it carries.

17

• Where, we might ask, does the municipal pipe
  (line 8) lead to? To the city to official
  buildings the homes of the rich or the luxury
  hotels in which tourists are staying?