Author: aamy

It has been ages since Euphrosyne left the land

the sound of growling stomachs

And the call for survival 

echoes on the shattered walls

The city beneath the heap of dust 

Debris Everywhere and broken lives

Two women, one with command and the other fragile

A table full of cards upside down

 Waiting to tell one’s fortune

Let it be gaiety or despair

The commoner ought to believe the cards.

“Your period of dejection has come to an end

Now it’s time for felicity” she says with authority

as the nearing war of terror laughed at her. 

“Oh, May god bless us all” the lady sighed

What is lie and what is truth 

If the frightful woman find light 

When everything is about to fall apart. 

Little Tittle-tattle is inherent for ladies

But the fortune teller was focused 

Yet she is ironical and hopeful about the future. 

Never did the ignorance stop her

The four eyes waiting for her at home

Only made her stronger. 

She did what she had to

The face of truth is hideous

assassination and instability all around.

She will return home with a loaf of bread

And the other

With hope and forecast

For an assured tomorrow

by the fortune teller.

–Aamy (Inspired from ‘Fortune Teller’ painting In Leicester Museum and Art Gallery)

There I was waiting for Hypnos to embrace me

with oodles of thoughts flowing in,

Staring at the perpetual darkness, eyes welled up as the

 bruises began to hurt again from the deepest corner of my heart.

Memories flashed in front of my eyes and

Everything seemed like yesterday.

The agony it caused, Oh! No more,

No more can I take the ashes from my past, excruciating.

I see no light in tomorrow

I see no prosperity in tomorrow

only desolation, desolation my companion without fail.

As a tear drop paved its way down my cheek,

I saw a sparkle by the window

A firefly! With high spirits I watched it shimmer around

Spreading its’ light wherever it went.

For a moment, an instant gaiety pervaded the air around

It brimmed my heart, a joy that the tiny glowing worm could provide.

It was agitated and urged for freedom,

Freedom from the four walls, from the humid atmosphere,

 from the darkness the room concealed.

I opened the window and it flew out in a jiffy,

Sat on the window pane, I watched it flickered

After a minute or two, it flew away in tranquility.

Contemplating, I realized that I am no different from the firefly,

We both urged for freedom, for me

Freedom from the cage I built for myself

freedom from my past, freedom from the pain.

Though bitter, it is time that I endorse that I have not healed

But I can, now I see hope, I see light.

Instead of the ruins from my past, visions from my future grabbed me

Me lying in a meadow with the pink lilacs on the trees above

Like an embellishment to the light blue sky.

The view was splendid that I stood there oblivious.

Eventually, I went to sleep peacefully hoping for a better tomorrow,

The glint I saw by the window turned out to be

 the glint in my own life.

Deep in the woods there I was,

Hunting down a deer.

It was running for its life, oh! It was,

And I in great cheer to conquer it.

All of a sudden, there came a beauty

Was she the fairest maiden in the land?

I wonder, how couldn’t she be?

Her hair so fine, like the golden plates

Shining in the intense sunshine.

Oh! Her eyes like green blue pearls in the ocean,

Sure, it is, composed of secrecy.

Like the stem of the finest oak was her nose,

Cheeks glowing and glittering in pink like the berries

Lips that resemble the petals of deep red rose, a lovely sight.

Behold, you creatures…. what a beauty!

In her I found warmness, love and peace.

Never do I know where she came from

Never do I know where she is going

Never do I know will I ever meet her

But she shall be perpetuated through me and my thoughts

As an unknown beauty.

-Aamy

The nature has been muttering in my ears

the secrets of the day and night.

The eyes of every being have something to say

yet not revealed, leaving me anxious.

In every bit of the universe resides a secret,

left unexplored for eternity. At dusk,

up in the sky I see the little white maids with the Goddess of feminine beauty,

they twinkle at me every single day,

maybe enriching me with the secrets of the Sacred ‘Holy Grail’.

At dawn, when my eyes open, the birds receive me

with their melodious rhyme of tittle-tattles from the country-side.

Multiple lives, multiple motives.

The duty of my life being chanting, chanting the divine words of the creator,

The beauty of my life being the secret bearer of the humble abode,

I await for the enchanting secrets to divulge before me

ascending from the impediments as to perpetuate the secrecy of these mystic secrets.

-Aamy

 #1

“Papa, I got into St. Stephens.” She said with full excitement in her eyes. “No, beta. You can’t go there, it’s too far from home. You are a girl! We will go to a nearby college.” Replied her papa.

#2

“Malini, go clean the dishes, help your mother in the kitchen.” Yelled her father from the other room. “Papa, I’m studying. I have exam tomorrow. That boy, my “so called brother” is playing video games let him go.” She said back. “No! you have to go; you can study later. You have to raise a family in the future, because You are a girl.” Replied her Papa.

#3

A woman stood weeping, seeing her husband being cremated. “Can I do the rituals?” asked their younger daughter to her uncle. “No dear, You and your sister cannot do the rituals, neither does your mother, because she is a woman and you both are girls.” Said their uncle to both the girls. “But Maa, he loved us the most, and so do we.” Said the little girl to her mother with her eyes welled up. It left her mother speechless.

#4

“Ok, now do what I say.” Ordered her husband. “No! I cannot do that.” She rebelled. “It is a wife’s duty to satisfy her husband, c’mon do it.” He ordered again. “No, I said I can’t.” she said frustrated. “Whether it is bedroom or Kitchen, you have to obey my orders because you are a woman.” Said the husband.

These are some of the typical conversations that we hear in a middle-class family in India. When a girl is born, she is taught to idealize these stereotypical concepts. All she has to do is, go to school and be the topper and later a nearby college so that she could get a degree to become a teacher. Before she starts building her career, i.e., one month after she gets a job, her marriage is fixed. Then she is married off to have kids and then a cliché life. Every girl’s life is not the same, in this era we can see a lot more understanding people around us, but still majority shows this tedious behaviour.

Ok, we are girls. Does that mean, we cannot have a dream? We cannot have “choices”? We cannot have opinions? People say, “Hey, you should be proud that you are a woman.” But WHY? Because one among us is getting molested somewhere on earth, every day? Because we sacrifice our dreams for our family? Because we are never treated right from the person, we give our life to? Or maybe, we suffer all the pain in the world, give birth to a child and at the end he throws us in an old-age home?  If it was “Dwaparayuga” or “Threthayuga”, Ok we must admit that women are given some respect and treated good. But you may ask, “What about Paanchali? She was disrobed in front of all.” Yes, but it was because even though she had five husbands it was of no use to her. She was sold to the Kauravas, her five husbands stood helpless and speechless, they should be ashamed not Paanchali who has to be. But then, Lord Krishna came for her help, but now, in this era who is there to help a girl who is being disrobed and maybe later, people will fight for her justice and talk in favour of her but can we prevent this from happening? It so a depressing factor that victim blaming is still a major issue in this technological booming era. Gender inequalities have not been irradicated from the face of earth, but when we address the problem, the society makes it looks like there is no issue at all and all are being served right. Nobody is trying to see the fact and to solve the problem, covering up the issue can only make it worse. If a girl tries to make her dream come true and fails, that is it for her. The next option is Marriage. But for a boy, “that’s ok. You have all the time in the world, so try as much as you want.” Now-a-days, men are more eager to get married than women, whatever. If she fights for her basic rights then the society will stamp her as a feministic bitch. If she comes home late hight, then she is definitely doing “THE SIN”. If she doesn’t want to marry, the talks will go like, “Does she have some problem?” “Oh, Is she a lesbo?” “Maybe she is a feminist.”  Wait! Who told, a feminist doesn’t like men. All the misconception and blind beliefs have affected the minds of the people.

But, don’t you think that this stereotypical method; of thinking and assigning jobs and status on the basis of Gender; is over-rated. This indiscrimination should start from our homes, our first school. Both girl and boy should be taught to do all the chores, so that in the future he will respect his wife and also treat his children equally. In schools, girls and boys should be made to mingle. They should know how to have a conversation and deal with each other. Women are in all areas of work now, but are they treated right?  However, they should be. We may not be able to change any customs or our parents, but if we are determined we may be able to bring up a generation where these toxic thoughts are not injected, where both girls and boys are not questioned for staying out late nights, where women and men are equally respected, where gender equality is maintained. It’s NOW OR NEVER.

(Inspired from real life incidents.)

-Aamy