Poetry. # 2 1/n I wrote this in anger/sadness after the Badaun gang rape in 2014. Was meaning to polish it before I posted.. but .. oh well. FB just reminded me...
MANGO TREE
I am the Mango tree, standing tall, standing free.
Witness for the prosecution,
2/n
Burdened by my fate, burdened by the girls.
Because on this barren parched earth, they had the audacity to take birth.
The audacity to walk freely, to giggle and to live easily.
Until that day when they were torn, and then left behind like they were never even born.
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3/n
And then the circus came to town.
The crowd, the activists, the media, the politicians.
A circus, where everyone was a clown.
"It was the Yadavas," said one with a glint in his eye.
"Must be the lack of toilets," said another, adjusting his tie.
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4/n I kept silent. For I am mute.
I know of only one Yadav, and He was no brute.
He was the Blue One who clothed the Fire.
A charmer, who set her free so that the men faced her ire.
But, I digress. The girls.
I heard they go to schools,
Travel by public transport,
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5/n
Inhabit offices and get groped.
Some at age six, some as babies.
Some wearing burqas, some wearing skirts.
Some are so ugly that they "cannot be raped" some are so beautiful that they "asked for it".
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6/n
I heard that they are killed.
Some in the womb, some outside; by their very own kin.
Some with sand stuffed down their throats, some left in a dustbin.
And yet, they continue to be born. Instead of flowers, they are the thorn.
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7/n
That stings the eyes and pierces the fabric.
No one wants them: not the parents, not the clergy, nor the cleric.
But they just don't disappear. They are "in your face." Alive and kicking.
Despite the savagery on the bus, the iron rods, they are demanding the berth.
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8/n
Like I said, the girls, well, they have the audacity to take birth.
1/ 70% is the problem. Sorry. No one can save those bent upon decimating themselves. Eroding & gaslighting themselves.
Even those Indic wingers who blame Modi-Shah are dumbistanis. Sorry.
What happened this weekend in cricket, in the backdrop of the anti-Hindu riots in B'desh
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2/ has sealed my belief that Hindu society has brought this upon themselves. Like a battered housewife who continues to blame herself for the beatings, Hindu society does the same.
Countless discussions on WA. Responses on FB, all prove that Hindus have internalized Stockholm
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3/ Syndrome.
Yes, there's truly no enemy except the enemy within. MJ said it: man in the mirror.
Peacefuls will be peaceful when Hindus will take pride in themselves *while* maintaining the demography.
Otherwise, why bother ... just roll over and lie down.
I don't even know where to begin with this; but let's just start with false equivalence, shall we?
When Newton identified gravity, he was *shunned* by the Catholic Church. Notwithstanding the fact that Newton was a Christian.
In fact the church 👇
(1/) prezi.com/df5p5wenxkjv/n…
shunned *anything* scientific. A struggle that continues, in some fronts, even to this day. (Ask the Evangelicals about the creation of earth. LOL.)
So the true statement would be that Yoga is as Hindu as the Adam & Eve story is Christian!
deny Yoga its Hindu roots? By cutting of its Hinduness (or Hindutva!), you are essentially denying it, its soul. And not only that, you are facilitating the billion-$$$ Yoga-industrial-complex that runs on the very basis that Yoga is non-Hindu.
India in the 50s & 60s. The kids were SHAMED & punished if they broke into the vernacular by mistake.
Can you imagine that?
Today, while their English is ok 😏, I see these folks (now in their 60s and 70s) struggling to establish/maintain connections with their own
(2/)
kids / grand-kids since they can't seem to verbalize their feelings!
Yes, most parents are loving & caring (mine certainly are!) but few *are* abusive, either knowingly or unknowingly. And the abuse ranges from emotional to physical.
Make no mistake; folks like Divya Dwivedi are the ones who practice caste-based discrimination.
Notice how they never eschew their (ex?) Hindu identities? Observe how they always sneak their "UC / Brahmin privilege" into the conversation? It's always about staying in the (1/)
As folks from all social groups advance their status in India, these people feel threatened. So they have to spin these stupid narratives. It's a desperate cry for attention.
Ideally, we should ignore them. However, Unfortunately, given the (2/)
media spaces that they occupy, we cannot. So we must *absolutely* call them out.
They are BIGOTS. They are hate-mongers. They are pathetic social snobs.
They "other" Dalits.
Dalits were not allowed into temples previously;
(3/)
First things first: good riddance to bad rubbish; I am glad Mathangi S no longer considers herself a Hindu.
(Could you please stay the eff out of defining it as well?)
mix of guilt, superiority complex ("look we know we are better but we'll try our best to hide it"), I really feel like telling them to STFU.
Firstly, Brahmins make < 5% of India's population. So please. While people like Mathangi definitely don't represent Hindus; neither (2/)
do all Brahmins. To assume that a small minority represents the larger group is just stupidity.
Hinduism belongs to *all* Hindus, including Dalits, & other castes. (And Brahmins.)
So please. Don't speak for all Hindus when your experience is so so unique. (3/)