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In the dead of the night, I was born with promises
I cried while the whole world laughed
They held me upside down, slapped my butts
I wondered what they were trying to achieve
Till the time my saviors came
Mom and dad took me in their lap and told me
You are one of a kind, you are our girl
I took it seriously
I ran on the lawns, danced in the rains, floated my paper boats
My saviors, they told me you can do whatever you want
You can reach wherever you want
I aimed for the sky and they didn’t stop me
I embraced the untreaded paths, they didn’t stop me
I challenged the male bastions and they didn’t stop me
But one fateful night someone did
They sapped the air under my wings
They held me upside down, slapped my butts
They pulled out my robe and left nothing untouched
I howled, I called out
The whole world went deaf
For few minutes, the whole world went deaf
I woke up with broken ribs and disrobed soul
The ribs will heal but will my wounds?
Will they ever?
I bathed several times to wash off their touch,
Their ever moving hands on my listless body
I couldn’t…
I asked my saviors, why didn’t you stop me?
Why didn’t you tell me there were jackals and vultures in the disguise of man
They will pounce and shred the every ounce
They will be around you in dark alleys, on busy roads, in crowded buses, in long queues
In days, in nights, in evenings, in every time lapse
They will be everywhere
Why didn’t you tell me?
That I was not your daughter
But like a lamb to the slaughter
Wonderfully Written. So apt in the present situation girls are in today.
Thanks Krupa. It is really heart rending to imagine what kind of pervert society we live in.
Jas, this is poignant and true! Ah my heart wriggles in pain for that girl in Delhi! Why? Why? Why? Brutes!!!!!!
May be we can make things better in our own small ways.
Thanks.
Poignant.Even the saviours telling and one being aware, every little lamb is at risk in this heartless cruel word.I see no way out despite all the rhetoric in this fast downward slide of morality
It is just getting worse and worse Mr. KP. It just scares me to be on the road now. Every , every single one of us is at risk and I wonder can we live like that?
echoes every woman’s sentiments! very apt, brilliantly put!
Thanks Meenakshi. Why are we so helpless today?
Very powerful words Jas. Really moved me. And yes, very poignant in today’s world.
Thanks PB. Such a sorry state that all this is so relevant today. I mean I could be that unsuspecting girl waiting for the bus. It just send shivers down my spine.
There are humans in disguise of jackals and hyenas. We are the worst this earth has seen, yet.
Destination Infinity
We are the worse DI. I don’t know where this part of the world is going.
Jas I am full of rage, don’t know what to say..
Me too Seena.. just feeling so helpless, disgusted, angst and these are just few words to describe my mind.
Numb… What you said is true, Jas. I feel many of us allow our children to spread their wings never ever telling about the risks. Never preparing them for any eventuality. One has to be prepared for any situation.
But I wonder even if she had learned martial arts for self protection, would she have been able to protect herself from such a gang of hounds.
Is it easy to prepare? I think we never can. I also wonder whether any self defense technique would have helped her but I think it would have still given her the chance to throw them out of the bus along with her.
These hounds need to face the same… You know what, she does not have an intestine now because of the rod blow … Imagine not having one for the whole life…
So true.
And close to reality.
It is Archana and I am shuddering literally.
I know. Its the most disgusting thing i’ve come across!
Whenever I think of what that girl has gone thru I shudder!!! Rod??? I can not even think…
Really. She is fighting for no fault of hers. She does not have an intestine and don’t know how many more internal injuries apart from mental trauma.
i am writing with tear filled eyes.. feeling helpless about being a women, a mother of a daughter.. can anything put back things to normal?? i really wonder..
Nothing can until the perpetrators get the punishment, a cruel one, fast. That will only restore faith or otherwise every single woman is vulnerable.
aah! aptly said! Yes!
Thanks Bhavana. Deterioration of morals and life.
your poem describes the pain that every girl is feeling..just a thought of what happened to the girl sends me into a shock..she is still fighting back..just a 23 year old girl…dammit..and now she wont be able to eat food for whole of her life even if she survives…I am full of anger and I am scared at the same time.what can we really do about it..I mean what is gov for??..why do we pay taxes to the government when in the end we are responsible for our own security and survival..is there nothing that we can do??..is this is the way it will go on??..still no real actions from gov and I don’t expect too..few days and then this too will become history for them in the pile of other cases..as nobody know what happened to Guwahati criminals..
Nothing happened to Guwahati criminals and that is why probably these hounds in the bus did the crime. They had the faith that they will get away and if this is how it is going to be, more like them will be born.
And we would not be able to step out of our houses alone.
and you know what is more scary..if men like fruit sellers as involved in this case can go to this extent with no fear of law then what will the men with even a slightest power in their hands do..
Her pain is unimaginable and just a thought of it makes me cry. I just want to see those retards to go through same pain..
Also Jas, I found out the contact info of United Nations Organisation for human rights and mailed them about this problem..Our sleepy politicians need some international pressure to make them react fast to situations..I dont know if this will help or not but I just can’t sit ideal..
This is their page : http://www.ohchr.org/EN/AboutUs/Pages/ContactUs.aspx
If you feel so, you can also write them a mail and ask for help. This might do the trick that we all want to see.
And I read on FB that the girl is no more, the news is not confirmed yet but yes I can believe this as her survival chances were minimal.
*idle
No there is no truth to the news of her death. She is stable but in ICU on life support. I will definitely check out the link. Thanks for sharing it here.
yes the girl is stable as per the news.
Searing. Very searing.
Thanks Visha. This is the rage that every single girl is feeling right now.. I just wonder what will happen on the streets if this will be the state.
Ohh…Jas…I wanted to write something…words pour for me when I am in anger, when I am in pain, when I am in love..this time..words stopped. I was dumb struck. My heart bled when I heard it, read it and is still bleeding with pain….you have put it all…poignantly…
I just put it out Latha but not out of my system and I don’t want to get it out of my system because I want that anger. I want it to do something, bring in some change.
Jas, I am crying … For all the acts committed all these years, to those girls.. who may be still carrying the wounds…Why we can’t do anything?.. why?
It is just so pathetic that i can’t even begin to describe. Day by day the courage of rapists is increasing as compared to common people. They are no longer afraid because they know they can be out on bail and again look for a target. And that is just the tip of iceberg.
Jas this one is very very very touching….. why is the only question that remains to haunt me after reading this
I wish there is one answer to this why. Why because we do not teach our sons to respect women, why because when our sons or husbands commit such crimes, we just think we are helpless and do not inform the police. I really wonder what will happen if these rapists’ mothers wives pick up the arms and shoot them in the head or come out in the open and inform about their whereabouts to police.
Lets all pray and hope that all this madness ends soon.
I hope and pray Amit but where are the rays of hope to cling on? Every time the crimes against women are becoming more and more heinous and every such crime shows how courageous these blood hounds are becoming.
I don’t know what to say. My heart bleeds and my mind is numb. It cries out for every girl and boy who wishes to reach out to the skies, whose only fault was walking on the road and being themselves. What a sick society we live in!
Sick, perverted, disgusting.. it is just hopeless. You unsuspectingly board a bus and within hours you are thrown out of the bus and the strange thing is the perpetrators of the crime get the time to wash the bus and remove all the evidence.
When I first read the news, chills ran down my body several times. This poem made me feel the same way.
I hope the world becomes a better place to live sometime soon.
I wish so too Nisha. Every time I think about that girl, it makes me numb and I feel a big pit in my throat.
This unprecedented rage was long overdue
Can it make a difference? I don’t know Pesto sauce but yes all have to join hands if something has to change. There is a downhill of morality we are all walking to.
Such amazing lines Jas, I am in awe !
I saw Jaya Bacchan in Rajya Sabha go teary eyed about the whole situation. And it made me feel so bad, I wish more of our ministers step up and do something about it
Even at this hour I don’t see all women ministers getting together irrespective of their party demand real justice and punishment.
Thanks Ritika.
Words drawn from the gut. Wrenching and searing all at once.
Thanks Zephyr. It feels as if someone is smothering you in your own body.
What a poem! It devastated me absolutely!
I felt wrecked while writing it. I am still feeling that throttling somewhere inside me. I wonder what kind of world are we building up for our children.
well, what to say…..its all so disturbing n unfortunate happening out there
may God give THEM good sense n understanding…Ameen.
Ameen. But I think good sense has to be forced into these people. It won’t come by itself.
so SAD .. I dont know what to say .. seriously and that does not happen everyday ..
it makes me feel sad saying i am a man.. MEN dont do this ever
It is so unfortunate and sad Bikram. Really the real men won’t do that… the cowards who want to prove that they can overpower do that.
Harrowing, Jas.
it is Kate.. a very sad situation.
So well written
Thanks Destiny Blaze
feel so touched with the pathos, though i am not into poetry, but this is so touching…
I am not into poetry either Renu… I just decided to torture myself and others this one time.
Thanks Renu.
I can feel your anguish Jas for I feel the same… deeply saddened
It just feels that things are just going out of hand or already have….
I don’t understand why men chase for sex from women every time. just for pleasure, they had spoiled the girl’s life. when I heard the news,something passing into me which is mixture of fear,anger and pain.something should be done. they should be punished in such a way that their pain should be a lesson for every man.
For pleasure for, ego satisfaction, for lack of self control… reasons can be many….
Let’s hope that this happens. Thanks Vinny for dropping by.
Your poetry is brilliant, Jas! And the anguish is so well conveyed. Yes, there are animals walking around in the guise of men and they will not even find a place in hell for themselves. Indeed the heinous act of such men makes one look at all men with suspicion which again is not fair.
Thanks chattywren. Oh yes, it feels now that every step you have to be on guard, against every single person… which is not fair for anyone.
I am linking this post on my blog. Please do have a look.
Thanks so much Vibha.
Powerful and veracious, I completely relate to it. There has been a time in my life, when I held the same thing against my parents, why did you bring me up to believe I am equal and I am the same as others. The world reminds me ever so often, I am not.
Great blog, my first time here. Thank you for the beautiful poem.
Thanks Nomad. Welcome here.
Our society is a male dominated one and no one can deny that. Now that more and more women are stepping out, it is a difficult space for the whole society to understand and digest it and I believe this is also one of the reasons for the increase in acts of oppression. Not that they were not happening earlier, they were but they were not as brazen and without inhibitions as they are now.
Police: Why did you dress that way?
Victim: Its my body. I have the privileged to reveal what i want to.
Accused: Its my private part I have the privilege to place it where I wish to.
Court: Is it? then I have the privilege to put you where I must
Politicians, men(pretending to be eligible/good bachelors), Media : WIN!!!!!
This routine happens in many other countries as well not just India. BUT
Why should there be so much outrage for this incident. I didn’t see this uproar when an elderly woman was killed beneath wheels of the bus when she was pushed by a younger women in the bus! (well this doesn’t happen often but the culprit was scoffed and let off and it became an ‘accident’ right in front of my eyes the people in the place was shaken but news didn’t appear in a couple of local dailies!)
I didn’t see this outrage when a bugler broke into a 80 year old’s house and killed her mercilessly with a melee weapon and made her bleed to death!(this happens too often and conviction rate is a mere 13%) and
the teen who was tied up raped and castrated on 14th dec previous week in bangalore. At least the last one turned up in media in some page just because crime against opposite sex especially young has so much scope to benefit from in media! My point is even the media bases its respects on incident only after looking at amount of appeal a news gives to its readers! Had it not been for media watchdogs and women activist Delhi incident wouldn’t have even found a place in media as much as coverage it enjoys now!
Now forget the farmer suicide(which are about 0.5 times the rape cases in India every yr) but what of crimes against elderly women! even there the culprit target specifically women cause they are weak and easy and those hardly get attention, AIDWA wth are you doing?!!! I am cause some sections of media telecast all the rallies done as though this only cause of this Delhi incident.
Also majority of people are biased or so believes some sections of electronic and print media. And they cater its base! They never allow you to reflect on that incident and miss out on genuine news that re-instills faith in humanity.
These are clearly hate crimes. The culprit clearly wants a person to suffer either cause of direct hate or indirect hate. While people may find stringent action necessary there is always and always a history involved if a person does something wrong how he was and what has become of him. I said kasab should not be hanged but it happen otherwise and India never let the person reflect on what he did and he never knew what he lost! Now you still haven’t changed.
If anything all we can do ethically is to ask police to release the faces of the culprits who did that heinous crime that sunday so that we can instill shame on them and to some extent reinforce fear of law apart from convicting them. All these crime against women happen cause of insecurity within men cause by some factors there are numerous but everything is related to women so they try to use the chance they get and exploit women as much as possible. Primary factors could be that they reached a low point so they ll make sure the person who brought them there suffer, if that happens to be women they take to sexual violence. second reason is I am in a discrete place i have a girl close by i ll exploit this situation I could get out without anyone finding this! The mere reason he looks at the women that way is because he doesn’t have respect for others(not just women!). Such people never see a women sitting there as a potential social friend rather view them as objects to exploit. True they are very culpable! but isn’t it the collective responsibility of our society that has not thought him of respecting individuals need not be specifically women here cause given a chance a man could be exploited (in any other ways you know what i mean -.-) He will exploit him as well. Its just the social standard in which he has been brought up, its his ignorance to see a potential to be respected by another person that drives him become a mad bad socially inept!
All i wish to ask here is one thing next time you see a person standing in a buffet serving you food or person lending/on-ticket-duty in theater or anywhere else helping/serving you be it a woman or man, a thank you or an appropriate welcome goes a long way. I think its time we should stop listening to our adrenaline and start listening to what could be just! Asking for stern punishment is nothing more than making the forbidden fruit more sweet for the culprits who will try later.
Hate crimes they don’t stop easy. Only instead of being against a caste this time its against women! Lets learn to respect ourselves so much that you come in terms in understanding you need to respect other people to be respected back! and we never ever ever stoop to a low level of conduct in our lives! have you people wondered why countries like japan has low crime rates they have a strong touch of ethics in all entities they subject their children to. Even their cartoons have a very good ethical messages and they teach people to uphold their respect and other people’s respect and dignity. Those are actual very distant things to us. We are driven by our adrenalin throughout our lives so even a person who is so social turns antisocial quickly and people as quick to scorn and make a scare out of the person so deep that the can never retrace her/his life back. Our society doesn’t help a person be resilient making situation very dire sadly!
Lets be more generic in our support and stop instilling any insecurity into other sections of the society be it gender, caste or religion!
Lets respect all!
If you don’t like my views I ll respect that as well
First of all thanks kitha for a detailed comment. Even if I like or don’t like your views, I respect you for expressing it. We all do and that’s what blogosphere is all about.
There is no doubt that it is actually a failing of the society on larger level that such crimes happen and at such a brazen level. The angst is more because though it has been happening all along – killing, raping, assault but the guts with which these crimes have started happening is indicating that the fear of getting caught and meting a punishment is totally lost in the culprits.
Have you ever heard about last straw on camel’s back? such incidents become one to brought out the hidden anguish.
I have always said that until we start changing the societal norms, start teaching our sons along with daughters that it is not ok to belittle anyone, the police starts doing its job, the administration starts taking collective steps and the law becomes firmer, then only change can happen.
Few years in jail never deters rapists. They often turn into habitual offenders. They needed to be stopped with counseling with more rigorous and faster punishment so that it acts as a deterrent.
Yes and Thank you so very very much for the poem, other posts such as anna’s stand and many many others(its posts like these that help society realize to take the right stand and sensitization happens) and your reply to every commentator who has expressed his/her opinion. Its up to people like you who puts inputs to the community contribute building consensus and make build a more responsible society.
Our rape conviction rate in our ‘rapecapital’ is a mere 26% we must improve this! Even for a murder it is a lot better(37% conviction). what good is a death penalty when the convict is roaming in the streets! Our protesters should have used this as the theme rather using stringent death penalty and police will just get even more softer and let go of the criminal as they already belittle/ridicule crimes against women and dismiss them to be too strong. I have been there I know of their attitudes!!! nothing more cruel than to be talked down by someone who should protect us! Its the police which should face the wrath! you know about the woman who faced the wrath of the Gujarat riot which butchered her entire family and then gang-raped her some perpetrators of that crime are still at large sadly!!
We all are responsible for building a community that is sensitive and really does something about the pain – at our own level, in our own capacities and in our own small ways.
This is really a sad situation and for things to be on track, this has to improve. Especially the police needs to be more sensitive, needs to have more empathy. Things have to start happening from grass root level.
Thanks Kitha. I hope we begin the change however small it is.
Very powerful and touching. One can’t even begin to imagine what the girl or her family is going through now.
I didn’t get the last part of your poem, though – why didn’t the saviours save her? What did you intend to convey through that?
Thanks TGND. We really can’t imagine how much pain, hurt, whys they must be carrying along.
In the last part she is asking her parents (in the beginning, I called her parents the saviors) that why didn’t they prepare her for the calamity, why didn’t they tell her that she is being brought up in a place where she is not considered a daughter but is likened to a lamb who is fed and is then unsuspectingly slaughtered.
@Jas
Oh, okay. Got it now.
I am glad
Beautifully written Jaspreet, but how I wish you did not have to write this.
Me too Shivani.
Thanks.
And they hurt like hell.
I felt a lump in my throat as I kept reading on. At least God relieved her of her pain now, we shouldn’t let that go in vain
I felt the same thing. She is relieved of the pain. It would have been a hard life for her.
I hope so too.
Pierced through the heart! Only a woman could fathom the agony behind the meaning of each word you had written so eloquently, yet “pungently”. Wonderful to know that you carry a pen which bleeds a “humane ink”.
Very well put. It’s hard for alot of people to think about hard topics but you worded it nicely. Keep up the great work
Thanks Kaerri.
Sometimes words just flow out, you just need to direct them.