Moniza Alvis Presents from my Aunts in Pakistan Essay -- English Lite

Moniza Alvis Presents from my Aunts in PakistanMoniza Alvi was born in Lahore, in Pakistan, the daughter of aPakistani father and an position mother. She moved to Hatfield inEngland when she was a few months old. She didnt revisit Pakistanuntil after the publication of her first book of poems, The Countryover my Shoulder, from which this poem comes.The poet says Presents from My Aunts... was unitary of the first poems Iwrote - when I wrote this poem I hadnt actually been back toPakistan. The girl in the poem would be me at about thirteen. Theclothes look to stick to her in an uncomfortable way, a bit like akind of false skin, and she thinks things arent straightforward forher.I found it was important to write the Pakistan poems because I wasgetting in touch with my background. And maybe theres a bit of amessage behind the poems about something I went through, that I wantto maybe dissipate a few doors if possible.Subject MatterWhat is Presents from my Aunts in Pakistan all about?* The speaker in the poem, who is of mixed race, describes the gifts of clothes and jewellery sent to her in England by her Pakistani relatives.* She is drawn to the loveliness of these things, but feels awkward wearing them. She feels more comfortable in English clothes - denim and corduroy.* She contrasts the beautiful clothes and jewellery of India with boring English cardigans/from Marks and Spencer.* She tries to remember what it was like for her family to travel to England.* Her knowledge of her birthplace, which she left as a baby, comes to her only through old photographs and newspaper reports.* She tries to approximate what that world might be like.GlossarySa... ...n Hatfield at that time, of amixed race background or indeed from any other race, so I felt therewas a bit of a blank drawn over that. I think I had a fairly typicallyEnglish 50s/60s upbringing.When I eventually went to Pakistan I certainly didnt feel that was blank space, Id never felt so English. But I never feel entirely at home inEngland, and of course Im not part of the Asiatic community at all. Andit feels a bit odd sometimes that because of the group of poems thatIve written about my Asian background, I sometimes tend to beidentified as a black writer. I tend to think of England as being veryculturally mixed now.But its important to know where you come from, which is perhaps whatI was lacking as a child. I think its important to know what has kaput(p)into your making, even quite far back, I think it gives you a senseperhaps of richness.