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A poem around the recent floods of Assam and Bihar - with a story from another devastating disaster, the 2018 Kerala flood.
A poem around the recent floods of Assam and Bihar – with a story from another devastating disaster, the 2018 Kerala flood.
A story from the 2018 Kerala flood is presented for us to reflect on the devastating effects of this disaster, especially for those who live in bone-breaking poverty.
A reminder that the tragedy does not end with the flood, but enfolds slowly and painfully for some, long after its memory diminishes in the mainstream psyche.
When December Comes
I sat naked on the wooden bench Waiting to be drowned in oil Waiting for all my worries to be punched and pounded out of me By the two women masseurs
Both, from Kerala. One massaged my head, the other sat with her head resting on her arms. Waiting and looking at me. Smiling.
The smile so warm, even my cold hearted self smiled back.
She tells me, Her house fell. A few months ago, when Kerala flooded. Her two daughters and husband live there.
Did they fix the house? I ask. Somewhat, but not really, she says. The money has to go for the girls educational na.
Her grandfather’s grandfather had also not seen a flood like this. Then, why now. Why us. I have no answer.
I ask if she’s been home since the flood, She hasn’t. This job – it must hold. 1200 kms away her family is putting together bits of their house and lives. Half the house was submerged. Many things lost and damaged. Trinkets, memories – the least of them. Cupboards and text books, A table and the masalas kept stored under the counters. So many things lost.
She smiles again. She doesn’t get a day off every week like me. She works from 6AM to 10PM. Massaging away pain. All her clients come back and ask for her. She tells me to do it too. Not because she gets paid more then. But just because. She gets leave once a year.
When December comes she will go home. She will pick up the pieces and live her loss once again. Weep again.
When December comes.
Stuti is a queer-affirmative psychotherapist based in Mumbai. read more...
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UP Boards Topper Prachi Nigam was trolled on social media for her facial hair; our obsession with appearance is harsh on young minds.
Prachi Nigam’s photo has been doing the rounds on social media for the right reasons. Well, scratch that- I wish the above statement were true. This 15-year-old girl should ideally be revelling in her spectacular achievement of scoring a whopping 98.05% and topping her tenth-grade boards. But oddly enough, along with her marks, it’s something else that garners more attention – her facial hair.
While the trolls are driving themselves giddy by mocking this girl who hasn’t even completed her school yet, the ones who are taking her side are going one step ahead – they are sharing her photoshopped pictures, sans the facial hair, looking nothing less than a celebrity with captions saying – “Prachi Nigam, ten years later”.
Doctors have already diagnosed her with PCOD in their comments, based on photographic evidence. While we have names for people shamed for their weight – body shaming, for their skin colour- racism, for their age- age shaming, for being a female- sexism, this category of shaming where one faces criticism for their appearance has no name. With that, it also has zero shame attached to it.
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