Groping fingers
Groping fingers reach
To pinch her bottom in a bus
Surreptitiously,
A chance brush
Against her breasts
In a crowded street
A whistle, a catcall
In a college campus
Laughter at her harried shame
Molest her privacy in lonely stairwells
And now on desterd sidestreets
On public roads
Restrict her sense of independence
While the onlookers look the other way,
This is not their fight
It is not their mothers, sisters, friends or wives
While the perpetuators expand their territory
Of where women may not walk freely.
--shubha
P.S. A few lines written before but ones that I felt a need to share after the shameful incident of mass molestation of women in Bangalore on New Year's Eve.
Groping fingers reach
To pinch her bottom in a bus
Surreptitiously,
A chance brush
Against her breasts
In a crowded street
A whistle, a catcall
In a college campus
Laughter at her harried shame
Molest her privacy in lonely stairwells
And now on desterd sidestreets
On public roads
Restrict her sense of independence
While the onlookers look the other way,
This is not their fight
It is not their mothers, sisters, friends or wives
While the perpetuators expand their territory
Of where women may not walk freely.
--shubha
P.S. A few lines written before but ones that I felt a need to share after the shameful incident of mass molestation of women in Bangalore on New Year's Eve.
Yes very well put up n it scares me whenever I think nirbhaya's incident
ReplyDeleteThanks Saradha for reading and commenting. Yes it is scary , particularly the blatant way it was carried out expecting no repercussions and our "leaders" inept and sad responses .
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