Skip to main content

My Birthday

  


Today is my birthday. 

My father surprised me with a huge cake

And gifted me many presents. 

When he told me to make a wish before blowing candles, 

I said loudly I want to be like that Lady on the television, 

The lady that wears the red blouse and 

Who says about things like war, politics, and in some other places difficult to pronounce. 

Father told me I can be like her when I grow up

And then I can also learn everything about the places the lady says. 

But I didn't know, I will be homeless on my birthday, 

To step out of what I told my friends 'my home', 

To abandon the tv where the lady appears, 

To leave my birthday decorations, 

To lose the space in the bed between my father and mother. 

We were made to move out to nowhere, 

There were thousands like us, 

I don't understand why we are made to leave our place, 

Father says it is because they see us as different, 

It is because they don't see us as friends but foes, 

Just like the girl in red bun sees me at class, 

But she didn't tell me to leave my home.

I asked father where we are going, 

He smiled and told me, 

To somewhere where all these people of ours will be seen as humans, 

With flesh and blood just as others. 

He told me that I can watch the lady in the red blouse there too. 

But I didn't get it, 

How come she will be there? 

We left her on the TV at our home, 

Which faces my little chair. 

I think maybe a father will come back to get TV, 

Maybe we all will return, just like I returned from summer camp, 

And then I can tell my friends again, 

'This is my home, this is where I live'. 


A. C

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Laapataa Ladies aka Ladies Lost in Patriarchy

Kiran Rao’s “Laapataa Ladies” is a social satire that offers entertainment as well as empowerment. The movie humorously portrays the grave realities of a patriarchal society with the help of a simple story and background. As the name and the trailer suggested, it revolves around two newly married brides who get lost on the way to their in-laws’ home. While Jaya, whom Deepak accidentally brings home instead of his wife Phool, seizes this opportunity to follow her dream, Phool undergoes profound personal growth during the time. This period shows multiple women discovering themselves. Some learn to do things that they love for themselves while others learn to explore and embrace their talents.  Even though Jaya and Phool are two contradictory characters, they are both equally victims of patriarchal conditioning. While Jaya is ready to break and act against all the norms of society from the very beginning by uttering the name of her husband to everyone’s disbelief, Phool learns to do t...

Twenty-Five

They say twenty-five matters,  25 is the age where you are asked to be responsible,  You are supposed to bring home food,  It's an age where your uterus has to be fukcing good,  It is an age where you have to be fair And good as a nymph,  It is when your wallet should have a five-figure sum.  They say at twenty-five,  You will be twenty-five times purer than ever,  To breed and nurture,  No dear not your dreams, but your children's.  But that's not it.  I SAY THAT IS NOT IT.  It is an age where you realize,  You no longer have the desire to live the monotonous life,  You no longer feel alive at a celebration,  You find yourself as the perfect company,  You don't care if you die today or tomorrow,  You want to puke at people who restrict you from doing things.  You no longer want to be surrounded by people,  And your skills are your only saviours.  At 25, you no longer care if people love ...

The Lost Daughter - An Ode to Motherhood and Flawed Mothers

 Mothers are always praised and glorified for the sacrifices that they make and are called supermoms, if they find a balance with their family and work life. Movies have always portrayed mothers as either sacrificial or supermoms. But do all the mothers choose the same road?  Maggie Gyllenhaal's 'The Lost Daughter' speaks for all the flawed unnatural mothers. People who become mothers at an early age, who feel traumatized by the whole new version of themselves, who live in fear of losing their original identity in the run for creating one for their children, who make choices selfishly regardless of their children's needs. Leda in the movie, in fear of losing her individuality in the love for her children, takes a decision to focus on her career. She finds it as an amazing experience and embraces everything that she desired, peeling off the perfect mother image that she is supposed to keep.  When women are considered to have innate motherness in them, people don't re...