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colourfulgreys
1d
Read MoreGRACEFUL
Grace Banu. First transgender woman to become an engineer. She worked seven years as software engineer.
All this seems pretty ordinary for us. Yet when you realise how full of hurdles her path has been and continues to be, is when you appreciate her enormous feat.
She faced brutal discrimination all school life being a dalit child who was going to school unlike most other dalit children. She was not allowed to sit with the other students in the class and asked to arrive and leave earlier than other students so that she doesn't pollute them.
Then she grappled with gender dysphoria and when she confessed the same to her parents they withdrew their support. She left home to live with other trans gender women and though their help continued studies.
She earned 95% marks yet was allotted a private college for engineering. She had no government scholarship or support to study yet with help from some individual charities she continued. Became the first trans engineer and had her SRS too.
She got placed on campus because of exceptionally good performance on her interview. However the job scene was very discriminating, given her dalit queer identity. They paid her less but her work hours were more.
After persisting for 7 yrs in software engineer field, today she is Founder of Trans Rights Now collective. She teaches other trans ppl to help them achieve government jobs to prevent them from begging, dancing and sex work which they often resort to for earning their daily bread.
She raised over 10 lacs during pandemic lockdown for trans ppl and helped over 300 trans ppl and continues the good work.
She adopted her trans daughter and helped her gain seat in medical college. She fought long legal battles to include trans category in admission forms for college.
The queer scene in India has got acceptance very recently, yet I am sad to see the hegemony of upper caste trans ppl like Lakshmi Narayan Tripathi and Trinetra haldar gummaraju there. They bring in their privileged brahminism and do not allow discussion on dalit queer struggle.
According to grace Banu, reservation for trans ppl is the only way to create safe space and opportunity for them to lead a respectful life. I agree with her.
Let's remember this great lady and share her journey of grit and persistence.
Love you Grace Banu Akka.
© Harfkaar 15-04-21 -
colourfulgreys
3d
Read More
Jai Bhim ��
Happppyyyyy Ambedkar Jayanti to y'all!
BABASAHEB Dr. BR Ambedkar was independent India's First Minister of Law and Justice. He was the Chief Architect of Indian Constitution.
Today is his 130th birth anniversary. Let's pay respect to the great leader, Feminist, a double Phd holder, jurist, economist, and politician Babasaheb.
He started Buddhism movement in India. Worked laboriously for uplifting women and Dalits.
It was his hard work and dedication that women like me get several rights and protection in form of Hindu code bill he drafted and presented.
He gave us through it foll. Rights:
1. Paid maternity leave to women
2. Right to women to take divorce
3. Right to women to remarry
4. Right to women to have abortion
5. Right to women to adopt children
6. Equal pay for equal work for women
7. Equal rights on property for women
Let's fully be grateful to him. He made representation of women and Dalits possible through positive reservation.
RBI was his concept and creation (but hilariously Gandhi's face appears in Indian currency notes).
Love you Babasaheb �� for giving me a dignified life amidst such suffocating patriarchal system.
#jaibhim #ambedkarjayanti #babasaheb
© Harfkaar 14-04-2021.
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colourfulgreys
1w
Read More
Often times we avail special benefits on a daily basis and therefore tend to normalise the special nature of the benefits or forget the genesis of those benefits.
Many times, those benefits stem from a long and strenuous struggle by a forgotten hero. Why was such a hero forgotten? If his/her actions brought much needed relief for millions together? The reasons can be many.
I take up today the case of Sexual Harassment (prohibition, prevention and redressal) law that came out in 2013 and which benefits millions of Indian working women, me included, thankfully so.
Who was behind this much needed law? Not a eminent politician, not a judge or a lawyer or a famous activist. But a poor, illiterate, scheduled caste woman BHANWARI DEVI of Bhateri village, Rajasthan.
In 1992, she worked as a Saathin, who is a voluntary worker working with the State government, under Women Development Program. She worked to help government in eradication of social evils, like child marriage. She had to report child marriage cases to the local police so that they can take actions to stop the crime.
Once she reported the marriage of a 9 month old girl from the upper caste and politically-economically powerful Jats of the village. She had informed the police that she might face the anger of the more powerful Jats. Police took no action and as rightly pointed by Bhanwari Devi, she and her husband were socially boycotted.
While working on her field, a few days after the incident, five Jat men from that family came and started beating her husband blue and black. On protesting, Bhawari devi was brutally gang raped.
What made this another case of caste based gender violence different, was Bhanwari Devi's courage.
In those days, she came forward to report that she has been raped when talking of rapes were taboo to the extent that the rape survivor was blamed of lying and shamed for having being raped.
Yet she reported her rape. She was made to run from pillar to post to get physically examined and to get the FIR done. Yet she persisted an finally got the case made.
However, the court acquitted the culprits saying that upper caste men won't rape a lower caste women as it would make then impure.
Her appeal in the high court still is pending after more than 25 years.
She lives in the same village and still works as a saathin though socially boycotted. Yet she persists in fighting for justice.
It was her tremendous spirit that motivated the NGO Vishaka to file a PIL in Supreme Court demanding that the State Government be held accountable for the rape to Bhanwari Devi as she was employed by them. This led to the landmark Vishakha guildelines for workplace safety for women in 1997.
Which ultimately served as the base for the 2013 law for prevention/ prohibition/ redressal of Sexual harassment in workplaces for women.
All thanks to her hard work and courage, working women today, get assistance in cases of Sexual crimes at workplace even though she herself awaits justice.
Why have we forgotten her? It's obviously due to her lower caste and class status.
Let's correct our mistake by thanking her and sharing her story.
“If at all you find my story inspiring, don’t just stop there. Empowerment is not just about listening and knowing about injustice; it is also about speaking up and acting on it" - Bhanwari devi.
© Harfkaar 10-04-21 #women_i_love #idols_of_j
_________________________________
Her words are a motivation for me:---
“Why should I leave my house for someone else’s crime? It’s the criminals who should run away. I will not go anywhere".
“The only option I have is to fight. I may not get justice, but others will.”
She says: “We will get justice. My fight today is not for me. I am old, I will die; but my fight is for the future generation — for every girl, every daughter, who wants to pursue her passion free from the shackles of patriarchy.”
Over the past years, she has been awarded by various organisations for her exceptional courage. The Delhi Commission for Women recognised her courage on March 8, 2017. In 1994, she was awarded the Neerja Bhanot Memorial Award.
Though she never got justice through the judicial system and the accused were acquitted, her case opened up a Pandora’s box of taboo topics into the public realm. Bhanwari continues to fight for the rights of every girl in her village despite the threats to her life.
She says, “I am not afraid. What more can they do? I am not alone in my fight. The justice and the case is not just about me anymore. I am fighting for a society where there is gender equality; where there is no discrimination between two siblings of a household; where both brother and sister get equal rotis and education opportunities.”
Reference- https://yourstory.com/2018/01/bhanwari-devi-vishaka-guidelines?utm_pageloadtype=scroll
https://www.news18.com/news/india/the-story-of-bhanwari-devi-indias-metoo-woman-1682995.html.
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colourfulgreys
3w
Read More
LOOKING AT A FOOL
I look at you
And think of how you'll appropriate my statements
As just one experience
Incapable of encompassing the lifetimes of the shared history of my folks.
I look at you
Knowing full well
How you'll snub me shut
For talking and keeping my points
When you won't be able to match my arguments.
I look at you
Seeing how privileged you are
To not know how terrible the conditions are for my lot.
I look at you
And know full well
How regressive your thoughts are
And how mentally infantile you are
And will always be
For you put no efforts to recognize your unfair share
And will do nothing to hurt the status quo which benefits you
I look at you
Only to turn away
And walk away
To a place that doesn't stink of your prejudices.
© Harfkaar 28-3-21.
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colourfulgreys
4w
Read More
A world without books, is an interesting thing to talk about. See in our present times, the book reading populace is decreasing. Most of us are glued to the screen, be it smartphones, laptops or television. Most do not read physical books per se.
There are podcasts, videos and ebooks. So a world without books means we still have got a lot of sources to get knowledge from.
Actually a world without digital writings or videos will be the one that'll sharply drag us to the pre cognitive revolution epoch.
But with no printed books around, not much would change. Of course bibliophiles like myself will cry for a few days but then we cannot cry for long and will inject our minds with podcasts and blogs for our daily dose of reading or knowledge.
Coming with the pandemic, was the epoch of e-learning and work from home. So most of the work is taken up online itself, both by the kids and adults.
So radically thinking, a world without digital presence of writing or words, that is without access to ebooks, social media, writing apps, podcasts will be the one that will be detrimental to the data processing and knowledge grasping capabilities of humans.
Just no physical books will not do much harm. Yes it's true that much digital presence is not there in rural and urban poor backgrounds but that is changing rapidly. Come to think of only ten years back and you see, that the smartphone spread was much less, data speed was lower and cost much higher. But now learning is shifting online much faster.
If books disappear, one impact could be people might be more addicted to the screens or maybe they will be more creative to let their feelings be known through lot of art and spoken poetry or storytelling. Many might read faces more!! Or talk or act or start artificial intelligence memory keeping. Record opinions on voices more.
Around 30,000 years ago, humans made hand prints on cave walls in southern France. Letting us know their presence and history. From that point to today a lot of knowledge is gathered and is effectively shared through books. As books are our agents of recording information, stories and views.
A world without books will be handicapped but not paralysed given the rise of new recording technologies.
© Harfkaar 21-3-21
Ps. So free to talk gibberish on Sundays.
#nobooks
PPS. The book I'm reading currently is Annihilation of caste by babasaheb. And the podcast I'm listening currently is the Anurag minus Verma podcast.
Also I just finished reading Sapiens so the post is influenced by it..
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colourfulgreys
4w
Read More
Ah the sweet poison!
This money I earn
But the interest I pay
Of desires that fly in my face
Coming up like zombies in my dreams
Where the places go stale
Untouched for so long
Unkempt wanderlust
Turned morose
And lost touches
Are never revived.
The contact list is shrinking rapidly
And it's sustaining on intensive care
Nobody to talk to
Nobody to go meet
The people so uninviting
And ever so busy in chasing things.
I am left alone
Just like everyone else
And alone I brood over my lost happiness
Cheers and laughs
Replaced by tears and graphs
Graphs of wealth and career
A timely suicidal marriage
And token pregnancy.
This suffocating submission
To the worldly order
Is your future too mate
Thanks for giving up your today for this hell ride!
What you get is a torn soul
Purposeless and pale
It would be better if you actually did what you wanted
But you couldn't coz you were alone
And it takes at least two to live.
©Harfkaar 17-3-21.
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colourfulgreys
5w
Read More
I'm not the brightest mind
Or the kindest heart
But ~let's fall in love for the night
And forget in the morning
Play me a song that you like
You can bet I'll know every line~.
I might not be the bravest soul
Or have the prettiest smile
But ~sun in your eyes
Navy blue skies
You are the reason I can survive~.
I might not be the most social person
Or the best at the moves
But ~hey you! Out there on your own
Sitting naked by the phone
Will you touch me?
Don't help them bury the light
Don't give in without a fight~.
I come with an open mind
And a candid heart
Not niceties or fakeness
But with a genuine belief in you
That ~you are all
I was hoping for
It's you I'll call
My evermore~...
~Hey you!
Out there on the road
Always doing what you are told
Will you help me?~
© Harfkaar/Hollow Coves/Pink Floyd/Zeremy Zucker/ Finneas
All lines within ~ are from songs closest to my heart....
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colourfulgreys
5w
Read More
A COURAGE TO DREAM
Given an identity number
Hoarded in a cubicle
Handed a series of mundanities
A life all secluded
But as I had once read
A person's attitude
Is last of human freedoms
So I let my mind wander outside
In Indonesian archipelago
The biggest in the world
Next moment I'm high on wall street
Both with Dutch legacies
And I am judging what's left of the French
In Puducherry
As I break free from my chamber
In a summer dress
With my bohemian partner
Our favorite songs
And random chatter
Will you be there too?!
//Cars are underneath us now
The stars are underneath us now
We walk above the city
You and I
Flowers are underneath us now
The towers are underneath us now
We walk above the city
You and I
And we are breathing more
Than we ever did before
~Walk Above the City by The Paper Kites//
//Let's never
Stop at
Dreaming
For a day where
We are free
~ A Gogyohka//
#couragec #gogyohka.
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colourfulgreys
5w
Read More
RAIL AGAINST THE DYING DAY
//Pack yourself a toothbrush dear
Pack yourself a favorite blouse
Take a withdrawal slip
Take all of your savings out
'Cause if we don't leave this town
We might never make it out
I was not born to drown
Baby come on//
Everlasting wanderlust
Incurable longing thirst
For things outside my window
Everytime I'm lying low
Will it ever be possible that I'll fly
Is it all too long shot to even try?
That river beyond that mountain
And the lovely vast paddy plain
A field full of flowers beneath those stars
Beyond this hustle and sans all these cars
A lifetime so short to behold an eternity
A viewpoint so small for my frailty
I often wonder that if I truly try
Will I be able to see all under this sky?
//If the sun don't shine on me today
And if the subways flood and bridges break
Will you lay yourself down and dig your grave
Or will you rail against your dying day//
#star #eternityc
© Harfkaar 12-3-21
~Song is Sleep on the Floor by the Lumineers.
My forever song. A song that captures my soul. Addicted..
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colourfulgreys
7w
Read More
RISE FROM FALL
Beyond the fall
Fall from ideals
Ideals of truth and honesty
Honesty to my genuine dreams
Dreams which got crushed by reality
Reality capitalised for money
Money neatly bought all
All our humanity and individuality
Individuality bartered for fakeness
Fakeness to hide diseases
Diseases of mind, body and soul
Soul still thirsts for freedom
Freedom for a moment of it's own will
Will that survives and strives to achieve
Achieve true consciousness
Consciousness of who I want to be
Be myself
Myself only.
-----------------------------------------------------
Myself only
Only for a while silent
Silent from hunger
Hunger of justifiable words
Words of meaning
Meaning to the mindly
Mindly depth of thoughts
Thoughts of salvaging humanity
Humanity from our own shambles
Shambles that make us stamble
Stamble and mumble
Mumble for words
Words of hope
Hope for humanity
Humanity to the world
World filled with love
Love with peace
Peace and Live
Live in hope
Hope and Joy
© Harfkaar and @pj_animation ( second part) 1-3-21
Had an amazing collab with my dearest mate Pato ❤️ on a moment of epiphany from the world towards our true being. #chainverse.
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azlal_
38w
Read MoreEvery day brings a new kind of pain,
one that overtakes the anguish of the previous, and every day the numbness is more overpowering, more unbearable.
A strange kind of feeling seeps into blood, crashes against the bones and knocks at the door of the soul.
My teeth titters at the edge, my tongue recoils and sticks to the wall of my mouth and the dryness is so profound, I long to gulp the whole of the Indian Ocean.
No help arrives. No voice leaves my mouth or strikes against my eardrums. No strength left to even unfurl my eyelids.
I lay buried in myself and the earth beneath me gapes, while the sky above finds every reason to smile.
Azlal��©nazlal
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pj_animation
3d
The world is full of magical things patiently waiting for our wits to grow sharper.
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pj_animation
1w
Its always the simple that produces marvelous.
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A DAY TO AVERY-DAY
What good is a day
When down i lay
As it wastes away
And emotions slay
Curved from my way
Its sad to say
But I pray
Not to fall astray
What good is a day
As I am locked away
And alone i stay
Thoughts mild today
East to West at bay
Laying to waste ohay!!
What good is a day?
What good is the stay?
What good as I lay?
What good to spay?
What good is a day
For answers I pray
And to chase the prey
So stay today
And enjoy the very day
And afford a smile everyday
©pj_animation -
sparkling_
1d
Read MoreI think instead of spreading fake messages we can start logical things.
PLEASE PLEASE DON'T IGNORE THIS POST.
PLEASE READ IT AND SHARE IT AS MUCH AS YOU CAN.
����
Ps.- u can take the screenshot of this nd can share on wp and on all the social media Platforms.
Thanku
*Important Message for all*
The hot water you
drink is good for your throat.
But this Corona
virus is hidden behind the
Paranasal sinus of your nose for 3 to 4 days.
The hot water we
drink does not reach there.
After 4 to 5 days
this virus that
was hidden behind the
paranasal sinus reaches your lungs.
Then you have trouble breathing.
That's why it is very important to take steam,
which reaches the
back of your Paranasal sinus.You have to kill this
virus in the nose with steam.
At 50°C, this virus becomes disabled i.e. paralyzed.
At 60°C this virus
becomes so weak that any
human immunity
system can fight against it.
At 70°C this virus dies completely.
This is what steam does.
The entire Public
Health Department knows this.
But everyone wants to take
advantage of this Pandemic.
So they don't share this information openly.
One who stays at home should take steam once a day.
If you go to the market to buy Groceries
vegetables etc.
take it twice a day.
Anyone who meets
some people or goes to office
should take steam 3 times a day.
*Steam week*
According to doctors,
Covid -19 can be killed by
inhaling steam from the nose and mouth,
eliminating the Coronavirus.
If all the people
started a steam drive campaign for a week,
the pandemic will soon end.
So here is a suggestion:
* Start the process for a week from
morning and evening, for
just 5 minutes
each time,
to inhale steam.
If we all adopt this practice for a week the deadly
Covid-19 will be erased.
This practice has no side effects & doesn't cost anything either.
So please send this message to all your Loved Ones, relatives,
friends and neighbours,
so that we all can kill this
Corona virus together and live and walk freely
in this beautiful world.
*Thank you* -
ashamurali
1d
Read More
Refrain, in literature, refers to the form of poem where a line or a phrase is repeated in the end of every stanza.
This is my humble attempt at @mirakee challenge on refrain.
Our body is designed in a marvelous way. Uterus is a fascinating organ in our body that is capable of creating another life. This is my homage to the intimate and intricate part of my body.
This is also my appeal for all ladies to go for regular check ups so as to ensure the uterus is happy and healthy.
#writersnetwork #mirakee #wod #pod @writersbay @writersnetwork #ceesreposts #readthisj #woman #refrain
@writersnetwork thanks for the repost!Thank you, my dear uterus
So beautifully shaped like a pear,
Uterus! to me you are an organ so dear ,
No words for my admiration,
uterus, you have my adulation!
My body changed for good,
It was your work, I understood,
Filling me with fascination,
Uterus you have my adulation!
Oh! The wonderful happy moments!
Ecstacy! my companion constant!
I became a wonderfully complete woman,
Uterus, you have my adulation!
Thanks to you, I am a proud mother,
Filling me with joy like no other,
Enabling me to shower all my affection,
Uterus, you have any adulation!
Thank you for supplying hormones,
That is good for my body and bones,
So grateful for your contribution,
Uterus , you have my adulation!
Non stop tirelessly you work,
Oh! Amazing piece of clock work,
Always in perfect coordination,
Uterus you have my adulation!
The time has come for you to stop,
Cant help but my tears drop,
Goodbye, we had a long association,
Uterus, you have my adulation!
©ashamurali -
galvanizedthoughts
2w
Read Moreনষ্ট মেয়ে / Damaged goods and women
In an event less afternoon
As you hear the buzzes and clicks
Of the washing machine
The TV blares and you come across
A Whisper's Wings add
You shoot your mother
A questioning glance
As she scurries on her dainty two feet
To change the channel
Softly hitting the remote
As she struts and fumbles
At 8 or so
You would watch RAMAYANA with your grandma
Where Nalakubera curses Ravana
You ask what happened with Rambha
Grandma replies o ekhon ekta নষ্ট মেয়ে / Damaged goods
/She is now a damaged good/
You wonder how can a woman be a good
But you don't force that question
Upon the prying silence
Unlike Ravan did
You don't want to be an antagonist
Of the comfort zones
Of a silence
The women have carried
As long as they have carried their honour
Their family tree's honour
In their meek flowers
What is a flower in comparison to a tree
You wanted to ask
But then you were no Ravana
You wouldn't force
But at the age of 10 or so
When you read
In a children's story book
About a man carrying two pots
On his shoulder
The first one, round smooth and polished
The second, irregular and broken
One being damaged and other not
And how the water seeps out of the damaged pots
And nourished the roadside flowers
You wonder that aren't damaged goods and women
Are alike that broken pot
You were 12
When you come across Bollywood scenes
Closing doors
Shadows beneath the clothes
And hands intertwining
You want to ask Ma
why no one talks to that aunty
Who lives next door
You are 14 and on a lift
When your mom stops you
From striking a conversation
With that aunty who no one talks to
You ask her with your gazes
Only to find silence
Alas! You are 16 now
You now know
You know now
Even now the TV blares
And the washing machine chatters
But this time when Whisper's add arrives
Or the shadowy figures in queen sized beds
Behind curtains
And abruptly your Ma
Tells you about that lady
That lady on the elevator
Of how she was a
As a নষ্ট মেয়ে / Damaged good
Grandma narrates
In their times during the batwara
/Partition of India/
When anthems of bloodbath were sung
And countries of slaughtered bodies
Arrived on trains in both sides
And women who were নষ্ট মেয়ে
Forcefully
Were thrown into the fire
Like vermilion gulal in a holy fire
An uncomfortable silence settles
After all the dust in the abandoned fields turn red
The TV cackles and the washing machine nods
In pure resignment
You are 16 now
The skies imitate the hostile reds
That flow in rivers underneath your skin
As you trudge along these fields
Your leaking water bottle
Feeds the roadside flowers
While you and your silence mourn a little.
© Ayushi Saha 4th April 2021 @galvanizedthoughts
#oxymoron #wod #pod @writersnetwork @mirakee
P.S- I wrote because I wanted to. Idk how this turned out. I have mixed feelings.
P.P.S- I read all comments but won't be able to respond to every. That doesn't make you any less important or bad. I have always told everyone to focus on their top priorities and not just writing. It's time I take my own advice seriously Also it's Na Po Wri Mo. So I'll write as often as possible. Find all the poems of April in #gtnapowrimo21
Hindu mythology references:-
As per Valmiki Ramayana, when Ravana visited Swarga loka, he saw the celebrated Apsara Rambha there and was immediately gripped by lust. Unable to check his emotions, he held Rambha. Shocked by his behavior, Rambha reminded him that he is equivalent to his father-in-law as she was tied up with Nalkuber, son of Ravana’s elder brother Kuber. But blindfolded by desire, Ravana ignored all her plea and seduced her by forcing himself on her. When Nalkuber came to know about this he cursed Ravana. The curse was : “If you seduce a women without her consent hereafter, your head will be blown in 100 pieces.”
@my_cup_of_poetry :)
@surefire I'm happy you are back
Read @moitreyee's comment if you want more clarity on the theme and moral of this poem. She summarised it better than I could have, ever :")
Illustration by @/shreyasea on ig.
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Sorry, Not Sorry
I'm sorry I'm not beautiful,
I'm sorry I'm not wise,
I'm sorry that I've wasted,
More than half my life,
Do you really think it's easy,
Being yourself, being true,
When there's so many,
Telling you what you should do?
I'm sorry I'm not dainty,
I'm sorry I'm not weak,
I'm sorry that I fall over,
Most of the words I try to speak,
Life, it's never easy,
But why do people add to pain?
It's as if we're all at peace,
With war, time and again.
©foreverseptember -
20.21
The clock's ticking.
Every minute
Starts with a grope
And ends with a shriek
Every hour
Filled with screams
Of naive women
Who've been suffering
Every second
Of their lives
But
Time's up.
They have
Suffered
ENOUGH
The clock has
Dis(man)tled
Its time
You stop
Your filthy acts
And open your eyes
With respect
For the knives are
Ready
To be poked
In your chest
The next time you
Stare at a lady's breast.
Its time you
Realise
It was a bomb
Ticking all along
The halls are
Filled with voices
deafening
Chauvinism.
Harassment
Is shameful,
A disgrace
For you-
The so called society
that claims
Of modernisation
But is stuck
At 11.11.
Time's up.
Its past your
Bedtime kids.
Go.to.sleep.
For its a
Revolution.
And you are
walking dead,
Ready to be
Trampled upon
By voices
Of survivors.
©starrdust -
writerrai
105w
संविधान को जानना हर व्यक्ति का मूलभूत अधिकार है ।।
फिर ये सरकारें क्यूं रखती इससे वंचित हमें,
ये हम सबका सवाल है ।।
संविधान को जानना हर व्यक्ति का मूलभूत अधिकार है ।।
शिक्षा तंत्र में संविधान को शामिल करना ।।
ये संसद में क्यूं नहीं चर्चा का विषय समान है ।।
©writerrai
