“Hunger’, according to Jayanta Mahapatra was an expression of his solitude. He writes in this regard: “Hunger” was written twenty-five years ago. I grew up in Cuttack, close to a temple. There were two rivers close by. The ways of life there were different. I was into religion. My poems today don’t have those old images. I’ve taken the temple out of my system. I had an unhappy childhood. I had an abnormal relationship with my mother. I owe a lot to my father, though. He put me in a missionary school. The school had a British headmaster… I was trampled upon in my childhood. That still remains with me. I’m not deliberately holding on to tensions. I ran away from home thrice. I’m shaped by factors beyond my control. Now I’m at peace with myself, but this wasn’t the case ten years ago. Perhaps as a result of that childhood I always feel alone, alone when I’m with my family or part of a crowd. There’s a chasm inside which can never be bridged. In “Hunger” I was writing from experience.”
The title of the poem ‘Hunger’ may therefore reflect the poet’s need for company, and spiritual intimacy. He asserts that he had an abnormal relationship with his mother.…