by Vinita Agrawal
The state in which I reside
Is notorious for female foeticide
I cringe with shame
When I write ‘I belong’ against Rajasthan’s name
If the foetus is not slaughtered and makes it out of the womb somehow
She’s left to die on railway tracks or hacked to death by ploughs
If she lives, it’s for monetary incentives by the government
The sand grains here are bloody with ugly male firmament
Girls mean nothing, they are just vehicles to bear more boys
They are nothing more than a male’s pleasure toys
This is the real coldwave, the real freezing point
Not the one in January that brings aches to your joints
But this despicable act makes my soul ache
That society can be so lop sided, it’s values so fake
Ah! You can’t save your girl child, can’t stand up for an angelic doll
Men who can’t save future mothers, shouldn’t exist at all
Sex ratio, what a sad story it tells
Of berating little girls and perpetrating hells
Sadly I belong to that beautiful north-west state
A grandeur of dunes but also a land of contemptible hate
I want to be proud of the terra firma of my birth
And revive the fair attitude that restores its worth
Vinita is a Mumbai based writer and poet. Her poems have been published in Asiancha, Raedleaf Poetry , Wordweavers, OpenRoad Review, Constellations, The Fox Chase Review, Spark, The Taj Mahal Review, CLRI, SAARC Anthologies, Kritya.org, Touch- The Journal of healing, Museindia, Everydaypoets.com, Mahmag World Literature, The Criterion, The Brown Critique, Twenty20journal.com, Sketchbook, Poetry 24, Mandala and others which include several international anthologies. Her poem was nominated for the Best of the Net Awards 2011 by CLRI. She received a prize from MuseIndia in 2010. Her debut collection of poems titled Words Not Spoken published by Sampark/Brown Critique was released in November 2013. Her poem was awarded a prize in the Wordweavers contest 2013.
Pic by fotalia
How wonderfully you have woven the warp of these pains and this harsh reality in weft of your lines Vinita! A beautiful creation indeed! How true, this despicable act makes my soul ache…….