Can we call out that woman – the one who hates,
Who won’t support her sister until it’s too late.
Who gives support to the man who does women harm,
Even though she knows he’s the one in the wrong.
What is within her, what’s behind her thinking?
Is it her frustration because she’s had no freedom?
‘Cos nobody helped her fight for her rights,
Fight for the freedom to have some say in her daily life.
Or, did she live in a box that she created,
Because a woman’s pointless suffering is often encouraged and appreciated?
Can we call out the woman who is filled with hate,
‘Cos she needs us to help her before it’s too late.
I want to go back to the time of the Nirbhaya rape case.
India was in shock and every drawing room discussion centred around the sheer brutality of this particular incident. All of us were shaken up and trying to understand why this had happened. All, except for a shockingly sizeable percentage of elderly women.
Because this group of elderly women knew the answer. It was ‘aajkal ki ladki’ and the way they dress! I remember trying to reason with one such woman – that most of the rape victims in India happen to be those whose dress would be considered decent and acceptable, even by conservative Indians, but this argument didn’t cut any ice.
And what dress code would you prescribe for young children below 10 years of age who are being raped? They had no answer, but it evidently wasn’t important enough to them, to make them stop and think.
A recent video of an elderly lady that went viral highlighted this attitude, which is very prevalent in society here. Click here for the link
I hope this poem reaches out to my readers, because this attitude is very much a product of our society.
I think that we need to find a way to free the older woman and help her let go of anger, so that she can let the younger woman live free without burning up inside.
Copyright © Anita E Kohli, June 2019. All rights reserved.
