Answer:
The image of the crone makes the poet realize the old woman's condition. When he noticed the cracks of the woman, he realized that society no longer care for the old. He felt ashamed to be a part of the system which doesn't value the old. Initially, the poet considered the old woman insignificant because he had not seen the kind of struggle she had witnessed in her life, and in the end, he found himself getting reduced in his esteem and worth.
Explanation:
- In Arun Kolatkar's poem An Old Woman we see the speaker initially getting annoyed with the old woman for repeatedly asking for fifty paise for taking him to a horseshoe shrine.
- The poet wanted to get rid of her as he has already seen the shrine, but when the old woman questions him, "what else can an old woman do on hills as wretched as these?" makes the poet realize her condition, and that causes the change in his behavior towards the old woman.