PICTURES DRAWN ON WATER by K.

SATCHIDANANDAN

1. How does water come into the house? Describe the coming of the water into the houses.
As people look on, water comes into the house like a long-known neighbour. It comes through
the gate to the courtyard, the steps, and the corridor. From the drawing room, it goes to the storeroom
without even caring to tell its name. It forgets that it is a river and crisply tells the awestruck people in
the house that it has nowhere else to go. After entering the house, the flood devours everything on its
way and then has a siesta. Then it slowly wakes up. It straightens its back and scares the residents with
its exposed muscles. It breaks fast on whatever it comes across. It touches the ceiling with its swollen
belly. Then the people in the house exclaim in fear that they will leave.

2. Why do the three people quarrel as the boat arrives?

The rescue-boat has space left only for one. The three people – a sick mother, a pregnant
daughter and a son who looks after the home- quarrel among themselves. The quarrel is not about who
will get into the boat, but for the others to get into the boat. Each one of them tells the other to go into
the boat because they love one another so much. Tragedy makes human beings selfless, and they don’t
fear even death.

3. What makes a cat a philosopher?

The cat was abandoned in the house. It saw fishes coming, tickling him and laughing at him. He
wondered how could preys laugh like that and how transience could spread its net so fast. When there is
no way to escape, even a cat becomes a philosopher.

4. What does the slate remember? What does the slate stand for?
The slate originally lay hidden in a rock from which it was cut. It remembers the history of
evolution, and the words and sketches scrawled on its grey surface by small hands. Now the slate is
thinking of creating a new universe within its four wooden frames. It dreams of a sky where letters rise
like stars.
The slate is a symbol of the evolution and the eternity. Sitting under the water in the vacant
house, it remembers its past. When the water recedes, it will again be part of the earth.

5. What happened to the slush gathered in the house? What are the memories of the slush
gathered in the house?
The slush gathered in the house is full of confused memories. It has now become solid. The slush
gathered in the house slowly gets dry. It remembers fields, paddy, pond and lily and blue flowers in the
harvested fields. It also recollects the picture of the children, with little flower-baskets hanging from
their necks, racing to gather flowers. There were green parrots, yellow butterflies, grazing cows,
and men and bulls. Light rains made the earth fertile. When it was burnt out, it had rained. It
turned the soil into slush. Then there appeared the first blade of grass.

6. "The flood makes the people selfless and fearless." Comment.

It is very true to say that the flood makes the people selfless and fearless. We see this happening
in the poem “Picture Drawn on Water” by the famous poet K. Satchidanandan. When floods hit Kerala
in 2018, many houses were under water. People sought shelter on the roofs. When the government
alone could not handle the situation, our sturdy fishermen volunteered to help. They went in their fishing
boats to rescue people who were stranded in their homes because of the flood. The rescue-boat in the
poem has space left only for one. There are three people at home: a sick mother, a pregnant daughter,
and a son who looks after all at home. They quarrel among themselves not to get into the boat, but for
the other to climb in. Each one is concerned about the safety of the other. The poet says that tragedy
makes people selfless, and death fearless.

7. ESSAY Describe how Satchidanandan uses the deluge (flood) as a metaphor for social and
ecological concerns.
K Satchidanandan is a noted literary figure. "Pictures Drawn on Water" is written in the wake of
the great flood in Kerala in 2018. In the poem, the poet uses the flood as a metaphor for social and
ecological concerns. Kerala experienced an abnormally high rainfall from 1 June 2018 to 19 August
2018. This resulted in severe flooding in 13 out of 14 districts in the State. This rainfall was more than
40% above the normal rainfall expected here.
Satchidanandan describes the rising waters picturesquely. The poet says that water comes into
the house like a long-known neighbour. It enters the house, reaches everywhere, eats, has a siesta, and
then forces the residents to leave. The social concerns can be seen in the incident where we see the
rescue boat going to a house where there is a sick mother, a pregnant daughter and a son who looks after
all at home. But the rescue boat has only space for one person. Then the three quarrel among themselves
for the other to climb in.
People live in small huts built in places which are not habitable, close to the sea, banks of rivers,
slopes of hills and so on. We see here a sick mother and pregnant daughter. It shows the lack of social
welfare system in our place. People are left to live in misery, anxiety, and pain. The wealthy were not
affected by the floods. It was the poor who suffered the most. This is the social issue highlighted here.
The water says, "Sorry, nowhere else to go" to the residents of the house. This is an indication of
the closed waterways and watershed systems in Kerala. Mindless development clogged the waterways
which would normally take the water to the sea. Then housing complexes were built on watershed
systems by levelling the land, getting the material for filling the watersheds by breaking down hills. So,
when the rain poured down, it had no place to go except upward. And to worsen the situation, the dams
were opened adding more water to the floods. This is the ecology concerns Satchidanandan mentions
here.
The cat was abandoned in the house. It saw fishes coming, tickling him, and laughing at him. He
wondered how preys could laugh like that. When there is no way to escape, even a cat becomes a
philosopher. The slate, sitting under the water in the vacant house, remembers its past. When the water
recedes, it will again be part of the earth. The slush gathered in the house is full of confused memories.
It has now become solid. It remembers nature in all its various forms and moods: the fields, paddy,
pond, lily, children, parrots, butterflies, cows and rain.
In this way, Satchidanandan uses the deluge as a metaphor for social and ecological concerns.
The flood is a result of the unscientific developmental activities in the region. It also stands as a
powerful reminder to the need for promoting a sustainable environment.

8. ESSAY Comment on the changes that the flood brings about?

The flood brings about vast changes in the landscape and in the thinking of people and even in
animals. Usually, monsoon comes to Kerala in early June and people welcome it after the scorching heat
of the previous months. The farmers welcome the monsoon rain because they need it for their farming
activities. But the year 2018 was a terrible one for Kerala. Kerala experienced an abnormally high
rainfall from 1 June 2018 to 19 August 2018. This resulted in severe flooding in 13 out of 14 districts in
the State. This rainfall was more than 40% above the normal rainfall expected here.

How the water enters homes.

The three people fighting near the rescue boat.
The cat’s philosophy
The memories of the slate and the slush.

9. ESSAY Do you think that the poem presents the flood in a favourable light? Substantiate your
answer.
I think the poem presents the flood in a favourable light because the poet Satchidanandan does
not mention the deaths and destruction caused by the flood. He uses the poem as a metaphor to highlight
some socio ecological concerns.
We see the flood apologizing to the residents of the houses where it enters saying that it is
encroaching upon their territory because of the closed waterways and abandoned or misused watershed
systems. To the awestruck inmates of the houses, the flood says, “Sorry, nowhere else to go.” It was the
people here who forced the flood to encroach their territory by blocking its usual paths into the sea.

How the water enters homes.

The three people fighting near the rescue boat.
The cat’s philosophy
The memories of the slate and the slush.

The final part of the poem” Slush” is fine piece of ecological poetry, The poet suggests that the
things we had lost now resides in the memory of the slush left behind by the flood. Thus, when we look
at thepoem, we find that the poem presents the flood in a favourable light.

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