Road-Dwelling Eye-Catchers

They who stay on road
Glided by the wistfully frosty nights
Guarding their integrities
And feeding on the thoughts to live past the mere freedom to merely live
Have longed enough for their sufferings to end
And for their voices to be heard
And for their injustices to be looked upon
These wretcheds who seek the fair negotiations of life and death
These hesitants who have wailed high enough at the highest notes of their bowels
These eye-catchers who are not getting a chance to look beyond their own miseries
Because all that is left around them is the smoke of your hatred
They are drenched in your ashfull vengeances
And are looking for a mere place to live
Inside the roads where they are dwelling
Which for you are blocked
With an uneasy sight
Contradicting your assumption of how easy a reality could be like
These survivers are simply looking for the empaths in your have-all hearts
Who'd still know the sacrifice of the tears
Over wide range of joys available
And accessible to mere few, but some.

ON WOMEN’S ‘DAY’!

A woman, in the world,

Is associated with words like love, care, tenderness

Devotion, strength, sacrifice,

And other words that are born out of utmost reverences.

Seminars, politics, literature, media

Help her in growth

For she is otherwise

The toy of patriarchy.

People ask people to understand the abilities of a woman

Creating a deity out of her

Generating a perfect image

And thus implanting the same in the minds of the world.

And so when people meet a woman in contrast to that ideal image

They disrespect and stoop her in their minds

Calling her a slut in their conscience

Fearing and cursing her actions.

People make posters, write stories and poems,

Make films and carry out debates

To tell the people the true value of a woman

And the volunteers delight in their actions

For women are weak, always weak

And the more the show-off of a strong woman

The stronger is the testimony of her weakness.

When they tell you that she is an equivalent of a goddess,

They talk of strength, of her patience,

Of her sacrifices and compromises of her dreams,

Of her earnings to raise a family,

Of her ability to equally handle the household chores,

Of her children and for them her unconditional love,

And men, meanwhile, go out and drink

Become irresponsible for there is a “goddess” in their homes

Who would take care of everything.

There is no men’s day celebration

There is no recalling that even men deserve the respect

Does that mean men are always respected?

But they then talk of a woman’s honor.

Where is men’s honor?

Do they not need it?

Why all this campaigning?

And then they talk of gender equality

Men and women speak, shout for female’s honor.

Women need people to defend themselves

And what about men?

Men are a ‘by default’ thing in a society

And women…

Always a game.

A traditional game.

And patriarchy will find ways to suppress her

Generations over generations.

Adding on, I’ll say

Don’t defend me

I don’t want your sympathies

Am strong enough

And I am ugly

And irresponsible

And unloving

Above all I am a woman—

Just the other form of human species.

This poem was first published in 2014 in the book 'A Phase Unknown, Woman - A Tribute'.