We will be celebrating our 71st Independence this year
A lot of fuss over it will be made
A medley of programmes,
Great lectures on our accomplishments will-
Boldly be publicized on air
But have we really achieved genuine freedom?
At first we were slaves to foreign rule
And today desolately are of our own people!
Where do you see independence?
Who are the lucky ones enjoying it?
Our babes, young girls, women- young and old
All are victims in the clutches of prowling wolves!
Is this what freedom and achievement mean?
Some people have terribly misunderstood these words.
Today our women are free from foreign skulks
Only to fall a prey to our own native hoodlums
How very pathetic can that be for a country!
No female is safe anywhere,
Not even within the four walls of her house
Ruthlessly she’s hounded, abused, raped—
And the best joke is-
It’s always ‘she’ who is blamed, slandered, shamed-
Only because she happens to be a ‘woman’!
She’s told not to wear this or that type of clothes-
She mustn’t venture outdoors at night-
As if she isn’t molested in broad daylight
At times even in front of-
An unhelpful, unsupportive frightened audience
Of whom some brazenly shameless witness the horrendous act!!
Audaciously it’s proclaimed ‘Boys will be Boys’
Does it mean being a boy
They have a license to butcher someone’s honour
Just to test and prove their masculinity so atrociously?
Does it mean lechery endorses manhood?
It’s height of absolute nonsense
Such spineless statements are just to save their progeny!
It doesn’t matter whether a boy/man is rich or poor
He just needs to prove his rotten guts!
For heavens sake wake up and make –
This country and people especially women safe-
Before eulogizing about independence and progress!
Only females don’t have to be taught
Lessons of honour, respect, morality –
We must teach the same to our sons too
They must learn the difference between-
The honourable and dishonourable acts of manliness
They should understand it doesn’t lie in
Displaying their strength through obscene obnoxious acts
But in protecting the innocent and punishing the evil doers
A very significant lesson from the animals we must learn
To honour this precious life- A blessing of God, the Almighty!
Jai Hind!
~Anuradha S. Bannore
Vadodara, India
yes, we brag about our independence with blaring speeches, devotional songs about independence and achievements when really, really its a flimsy show of the puffed ones.
Brag, brag and brag… the reality is beautifully portrayed in this poem by ms anuradha, men are still clutched in the stone age with their immoral attitude towards the so called weaker of the species as she is so slandered
Shame on this animal species called MAN
An outburst of reality!
Even after 70 years of winning our freedom from the foreign yoke, we are still talking about the safety of women!
The mere talk of being cultured will not suffice unless and until the erring community of men change for the better!
May we help in bringing out the real meaning to our hard-won freedom!