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How do we learn what is okay and what is not? This chilling poem explores the roots of domestic violence.
Flat No 101
Father hits mother
Mother stays silent
Goes back to kitchen
And cooks silently
Ram is 4
He watches it all,
Hits his doll.
The doll stays silent.
Ram learns his first circle of wrong lessons,
Violence is okay.
Flat No 102
Maria is 14,
Her boyfriend pushed her over a fight
Everyone told her-
He loves you hard, so he hurt
Its okay
Maria stays silent
Flat no 103
Sapna screamed at night
Her live in partner hit her one more time.
Everyone smiled –
She deserved it.
She is a slut.
She lived with a man without a knot tied.
For a SLUT,
Flat no 104
His friends were watching the IPL match.
He hit his wife with a rod,
For the food was not piping hot.
Everyone heard but kept quite.
It’s “Ghar Ki Baat.”
So, when it is ghar ki baat,
The Building
The building heard the screams and the cries everyday,
But acted as if nothing happened the very next day.
Just like Dhitarastra, Gandhari and Karna, everyone knew to look down, without a frown.
In Sita’s building too, just like Doryadhana, everyone knew one lesson,
That violence, when against women, is always okay!
Top image via Graphicstock
Proud Indian. Senior Writer at Women's Web. Columnist. Book Reviewer. Street Theatre - Aatish. Dreamer. Workaholic. read more...
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