Poems – Ashwini's Perceptions

Poems

Personification of ‘Sorry’ (Poem)

May 9, 2018 by ashwini 10 Comments

I am hesitant

I am a courtesy text

I am measured politeness

I am naive

I am an empty grand gesture

I am a balm veiled as a suture

I am rare

I am a pearl of sincerity rolling down a cheek

I am the solace that both seek

I am powerful

I am the first step in the right turn

I am your faith restored in the world

Reading time: 1 min

A-Z of Feminism (Blogging Challenge 2018 #Blogchatter), Feminism, Hindi, Poems

ज़माने को चलो बदलते हैं (Zamaane ko chalo badalte hain) Hindi Poem

April 30, 2018 by ashwini 12 Comments

Essence of the Hindi Poem in English

Come, let’s change the world, let’s walk towards a new era

Let’s accept that some lives are incomplete

Let’s listen to every voice, let’s give courage to every scream

Let’s not hide our differences under the blankets of tradition

Let’s ask ourselves what our gender has got to do with our dreams

Let’s differentiate between ‘My truth’ and ‘The truth’

Let’s work continuously towards creating a world without any differences

Let’s not compete, let’s work together. Come, let’s change the world

Join me. Let’s undertake the journey to equality together.

Reading time: 1 min

A-Z of Feminism (Blogging Challenge 2018 #Blogchatter), Feminism, Poems

Visage

April 25, 2018 by ashwini 28 Comments

VISAGE

She looked in the mirror

And searched for signs of beauty

So futile, she reminded herself

When her strength was her vanity

The attack had melted the veneer

But her face was not her only identity

Her spirit was recovering

She refused to live like a faceless entity

The world had turned its back

Judging her for the blisters of vengeance

But she had done no wrong

Then why was she begging for acceptance?

Her damaged eyesight didn’t impair her vision

Her crinkled body was now thick-skinned

Her scarred lips didn’t quiver anymore

Her shriveled ears tuned out the din

She will put on her game face

And contour a winsome future

She will pursue justice

For she was not a Victim but a Victor.

Three Acid Attack Victors that inspired this poem:

Reading time: 3 min

A-Z of Feminism (Blogging Challenge 2018 #Blogchatter), Feminism, Poems

Possibly a system that emerged out of insecurity,
An attempt to protect now is authority.
The father is supreme and the son gets the property.
Rules and norms further intensify the disparity.
Independence and equality shall be doom, is the prophecy.
As they whistle and stare they also preach morality.
Rape is the culture that worships virginity.
Can’t see the gaps in rights, pay or opportunities?
Humiliation, guilt and blame are tools to tame the temerity.
You know we are talking to you. Spare us the insularity.

*The above poem has been written in the Acrostic style of poetry where the first letters of each line spell out the word.

Patriarchy is an invisible monster and as a society we need to put an end to the power struggles it propagates. When we trust and believe in one another, we will all be able to grow. It’s not idealism, it’s practicality. More women in the workforce will only lead to more prosperity.

As per this year’s Economic Survey, we have made significant improvements in gender inequality in a lot of aspects. But on close inspection, we still have a deep-rooted gender bias against women. This is reflective in our “meta preference” for sons. Parents have children until they have a desired number of sons – taking the number of “unwanted” girls to 2.1 crores according to this year’s Economic Survey. Mind you, before you begin to think that this happens only in impoverished rural families, the Survey pointed that it prevails also in middle and upper-middle class families as well.

Sex determination is an offense. No problem! We still have a way to circumvent it…keep having kids till we have a son!

Our workplace statistics are startling:

a. The labour force participation rate for women is falling: from 37% in 2004-05 to 28% in 2016.

b. The Pipeline for Women Starts Small and Continues to Shrink

c. Women earn 57% of what their male colleagues earn for performing the same work with the gender pay gap widening with her education and advancement in her career.

d. Read more about the pay gap issue in Women’s Cricket here.

I have already spoken about the representation of women or lack thereof in our films and the Indian legal system.

Whether a woman has the right to go out or the right to raise her voice against assault or name her assaulter or change her name, it is not a decision for the system to make – it is hers and hers alone. We need to abort the growing sexism.

My fight against the system of Patriarchy, makes me an Incorrigible Feminist. When will you become one?

Reading time: 2 min

A-Z of Feminism (Blogging Challenge 2018 #Blogchatter), Feminism, Poems

One for all and all for one: Feminists & the Queer (Poem)

April 16, 2018 by ashwini 24 Comments

Equality does not discriminate.

The rights of the woman or man

Or the queer one’s fate

Is not for the supreme power

To calculate.

There is need to educate.

Being born as a girl

And not a boy, does not make you inadequate.

Being queer is natural,

It’s not a joke or illness, so don’t humiliate.

We must contemplate.

Why the queers are not allowed

To procreate.

They also can’t marry or parent

Lest they contaminate?

Accept, don’t differentiate.

Let her race wearing her spikes

Or lead in her heels in a corporate

She can choose to marry or not

Or celebrate her same sex soul mate.

Recognize talent that’s innate.
Why stare at her assets

Or laugh at his effeminate voice to subjugate?

Equal pay for equal efforts

Should be a basic mandate.

Victory is but a stalemate.

Misogyny and Homophobia

Reduce us to slave state.

The same traditions and customs

Also make you suffocate.

Time to embrace and liberate.

Aren’t we all

Just as ‘queer’ as we are straight?

Ditch the binary. Adopt the plural.

Let us give our gender norms an update.

We won’t yield. So don’t dominate.

We are unified against oppression.

We won’t let you manipulate.

Feminists and the Queer- we have but one aim,

Patriarchy, soon you shall disintegrate.

The destination of a Feminist and the LGBTQ+ community is the same, then why should our journeys be different?

Note: When I use the word queer in quotes, I refer to it being strange or odd. But when I use it without quotes, I refer to the umbrella term for sexual and gender minorities who are not heterosexual and/or not cisgender.

Reading time: 1 min

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Personification of ‘Sorry’ (Poem)

ज़माने को चलो बदलते हैं (Zamaane ko chalo badalte hain) Hindi Poem

Visage

Patriarchy’s Deep Roots

One for all and all for one: Feminists & the Queer (Poem)

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