SISTERS Saleem Peeradina The Poem is about two sisters described fondly by their father, who is the persona of the poem. The speaker draws a clear picture of the younger daughter but the picture of the elder daughter can be inferred from the poem.

One of the sisters is not yet quite ten years old but she is ahead of the other, the younger one, by five years. The difference is always going to remain. The elder of the two is at the receiving end most of the times and always it is she who is blamed. Even as she withdraws into a simmering silence, she stands her ground knowing too well that her father is being unfair.

The lesson is how to overcome fathers and challenge their authority, and by extension the authority of all elders. Saleem Peeradina shows how youngsters feel and understand the behaviour of the grown- ups, even though they remain silent about it. It is difficult to generalize the behaviour of these three characters but the younger children are not always as described in the poem. The advice to the elders and the behaviour of the parents are normally the same everywhere.