Read the poem and answer the questions given below it.
The Banyan at the Bus Stand
Where our village road ends at the bus stand,
the old banyan lets its grey roots fall.
I sit on the cement ring round its trunk
with a tin of laddoos and my woollen shawl.
The air smells of diesel and roasted gram,
of jasmine strings on a flower-seller’s tray,
of figs gone ripe and sweet among the roots,
of the wet road, sprinkled at the close of day.
Brides have climbed on buses here and cried,
boys with tin trunks have left for the town,
and soldiers home on leave have jumped down
to mothers waiting at the banyan’s side.
Old tree, you saw my son leave in June
with his father’s watch and a new black bag.
Now the six o’clock bus is late again,
I pull my shawl close and the minutes drag.
Then lights swing in through your hanging roots,
a horn, a cloud of dust, and a tall
young man steps down, looking round for me,
while your old leaves hold still above us all.
Which of the following best describes the theme of the poem?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 2
The correct answer is Option (2) → an old tree that stands by the village through its partings and homecomings
The poem shows the banyan as the one thing that stays while people leave and return.
- Under it, “brides have climbed on buses here and cried” and boys “have left for the town”. These are partings.
- Soldiers “have jumped down” to waiting mothers, and now the speaker’s son comes home too. These are homecomings.
- Through all of this, the tree’s “old leaves hold still above us all”. It has seen every coming and going of the village.
Why the Other Options are Incorrect?
Option 1: the grief of a mother whose son has left the village and will never come back — Incorrect. Contradicted: The son does come back. In the last stanza a tall young man steps down from the bus “looking round for me”.
Option 3: the noise and bustle of a village bus stand in the evening — Incorrect. Too narrow: The horn and the dust are only small details. The poem is about the tree and the people it has seen.
Option 4: the need to protect old trees as villages grow into towns — Incorrect. Not mentioned: The poem says nothing about cutting or saving trees.