Never Make Me a Girl Again!
On December 16, 2012, an unfortunate incident took place in the national capital region of India — The Delhi Gang Rape case. As a 16-year-old, watching the news on the television, witnessing the protest by the citizens and listening to the comments from various sources, I was struggling to have a clear perspective over whose fault it was! Some people went on criticising the girl for travelling late at night with her friend, some others started commenting over what girls should wear and what not and so on. And, this time it’s Priyanka Reddy!
I had never felt considerable discrimination as a girl, be it education or anything in my family. But, that terrible incident made me question myself if I would ever wish to be a girl again…
I had just started my flight
With dreams of soaring high up in the sky.
Delighted though I was,
But never knew the cause!
“You blemished the name of our family!”
“What was my fault in reality?”
“Alas! You’re a girl!”
“What did that mean?”, I wondered.
Independent thought I was,
Yet was chained down so fast.
I had numerous roles to play — a daughter! a sister! a lover! a mother!
Yet was despised and dishonoured!
One day, I was rendered helpless,
When a beast deprived me of my honour.
I sobbed! I sniffled! I cried for help!
But no human soul dared to melt.
Oh! I had just started my flight
But my wings were cut and I lost my pride.
“Oh God! Oh Almighty! All my prayers went in vain,
I pray, never make me a girl again!”
This was the first poem that I wrote in my diary and today I share it with you all. These unfortunate incidents keep happening all over the world every second. It’s not just Damini and Priyanka Reddy. There are many more females being subjected to such torture every second.
It was yesterday when I did not want to be a girl again. But, over the years I have realised that being afraid, begging for justice, flooding the social media with hashtags and escaping is not the need of the hour. I feel that instead of wasting our time and energy if we can fill the unforgiving minute with sixty seconds’ worth of distance run to empathise with the departed souls and their families by utilising the skills that we possess to come up with an innovation or invention that can put a full stop to such horrible incidents forever and a day then that would be the true homage to the departed souls as well as to all the girls of the nation.
Think about it. It really matters!
You can check out more work from my diary at “The Unpublished Diary”.
