Read the following poem and answer the questions-

Driving from my parent’s

home to Cochin last Friday

morning, I saw my mother,

beside me,

doze, open mouthed, her face

ashen like that

of a corpse and realised with

pain

that she was as old as she

looked but soon

put that thought away, and

looked out at Young

Trees sprinting, the merry children spilling

out of their homes, but after the airport’s

security check, standing a few yards 

away, I looked again at her, wan,

pale

as a late winter’s moon and felt that

old

familiar ache, my childhood’s fear,

but all I said was, see you soon,

Amma,

all I did was smile and smile and

smile.....