Poem To A Man

(Picture from ~llparazitell )

I’m not “asking for it”.

I’m a 21 year old single girl,

A child of no more than 10 years,

A middle-aged mother of two.

I like to party sometimes,

Or attend the evening classes

for my professional course,

Or just play in the sun & sand,

ribbons in my hair blowing in the wind.

It’s me, living my life

one step at a time,

Trying to make sense of the world-

Just like you do too.

But life in this world-

In your world?-

often seems like a game

the rules of which

apply only to me.

These rules are not written anywhere.

I come to know of them

only when I break them.

Don’t go out in the dark.

Look sharp, everyone likes a pretty face.

Don’t look “too pretty”.

Don’t smile too much.

Ignore the stares. And the whistles.

Lose weight, no one likes fat women.

And hide that slim figure when you go out.

Don’t get in crowded buses.

Don’t get in a taxi alone at night.

All of this,

just so that you

will not turn around & say,

“She was asking for it.”

I understand these rules

only when I break them.

Or do they break me?

Because none of them apply to YOU.

I have to change my habits,

My likes, my dislikes, my life-

Just because you can’t be responsible

for what you think?

You cannot “man up”

and control your head?

(And you call me the “weaker sex”.)

Keep this up,

And soon I-

Your wife, your colleague,

Your mother, your niece,

Your sister, your best buddy-

Will have a smile

that no longer reaches my eyes.

Is that what you want?

Is that what will make you happy?

Will you stop this game then?

So the next time you see me

Out on the town

having fun with my friends,

Or walking back home at night

hugging my books,

Or swinging on a swing

in a frock and two pigtails,

Or just living my life,

It’s because I hope

and I trust

that you’re not a weak wuss,

that you’re as strong

as they say you are.

I’m not “asking for it”.

Never have, never will.

*Happy Women's Day!*

A billion hopes..

Wrote this a long time ago, a friend needed help with lyrics for his song..

I hear them all
Deciding where I’m gonna go
Nobody knows it yet
But I’ve made my own road
I’ve heard this world is not
The best place to dream
But I’ll go right ahead
And make them all see.

A billion hopes and
A billion dreams
Everyday I wanna see
How far I can reach.

When the nights are so dark
You don’t know what to do
I can still see the stars
And know I’ll see it through
I won’t close my eyes
To what I can really be
Just ‘cause it’s a high climb
And the fall is really deep
‘Cause when I dream, I dream
It’s the best time of my life
No one to hold me back
I can just soar and fly.

*Picture from baloch1 on pixdaus

Contract for Inspiration

Our experience with contractors hasn't been a very nice affair. Especially those hired to do our house for us. Especially the first contractor to do our Mumbai home. In fact, it is a taboo to mention him at our home- mom would wince at anything to do with him. The reason, of course, is age-old. Inferior quality of work, bad materials used, zero reliability.. meh, you don't need to hear it from me. What you do need to read, however, is this poem I had written at that extremely testing time, inspired by the extremely testing situation of living in a house that wasn't holding up too well against the monsoons. Yes, you do need to see this. Or maybe not.

Polly, Polly, what have you done,
You made a house of wood & gum!
You plugged the holes with cork & slime,
And covered it up with paper that shined.
It is all fine if it’s made for you,
But alas! That is not quite true.
You are much too smart for things like that,
So instead of using your bat
To break it all up after the game,
You kept it all, just the same.

So when a gentleman came to you once,
To fix his home, mend his fence,
You said, “Why, I can do better,
I’ll show what will make you happier!”
And with all the smartness of a mouse,
With a flourish you showed him the house.
It was covered all over with paper that shines,
So he couldn’t see the cork & the slime.
His downfall came when he believed
The house was just the perfect dream,
That, for him, had come true.

But never after that, was a moment for him,
When he could just sit all day & dream.
The house leaked, the house burnt,
It did everything a house shouldn’t.
All the time, the man rushed around,
Cause in this house that seemed so sound,
There was much to fix, much to build again.

So then he looked all over for Polly,
To return the house, fix his folly.
But you were nowhere to be found,
Along with his hundred thousand pounds!