I am the Extreme you Don’t See, When will you Design for Me?
You realised you had missed me
Only when I was featured on your TV
Walking from one state to another
Barefoot somewhere inbetween
But you see- I was always missing
Have you seen me at the voting
Ever since I left home
To be a migrant at eighteen?
I live on the margins, on the fringes
I am the extreme you didn’t see
And you never designed for me
Much like your chappals I was wearing
Which didn’t last my journey.
—
You term it as a co-morbidity
Only when we face an unknown disease
You acknowledge my asthma
And my regular breathing difficulty
But you see- it was always occurring
Even my granddad was suffering
While being treated for a tumor
He lost the battle to his breathing.
He wasn’t the mainstream patient
He was the extreme you didn’t see
You never designed for him
Much like your claustrophobic spaces
Where he couldn’t breathe.
—
You say you couldn’t have foreseen
The silent pandemic, my muffled scream
As I got locked in my house
Where abuse was routine
But you see- I was always hurting
Did you ever hear me say, I am working
From home, today?
Not during period pains or rains.
I live in the shadows you never reached
I am the extreme you didn’t see
And you never designed for me
Much like your productive remote meetings
Where my perpetrator sits behind the screen.
—
I don’t influence the larger numbers
I am not the mainstream
Invisible until exposed
I am the extreme you don’t see
Will you ever design for me?
