Poetry

Harneet Bhatia photo

By

Ruth Pal Chaudhuri

Rebel

I’m not allowed to talk loudly,

I’m not allowed out late at night.

I’m not ‘girl’ enough, some say for

I’m rude and quick to pick up a fight.

I still do what I want to.

I know my mother worries for me.

Still, I’m reckless and don’t ease her tension

For I want to actually be free.

Not just metaphorically.

I don’t want my freedom to be an illusion.

I don’t want it to be just a phrase.

I get what I deserve, I fight yes,

For that’s how I was raised.

I was taught, by my father, to

Never bow for all are equal.

Everyone has the same rights,

We are human beings after all.

Still, gender divides the world

No idea when the rift will be gone.

Battles fought, countless wounded

Yet, the war wages on.

No, that’s not the only issue.

There are many more.

Making me question, are we any

More independent than we were before?

Girls are blamed for being abused

Boys are made to be emotionless.

Hashtags not all men, hashtag me too…

Still nobody clears the mess.

Corruption is the currency

Judicial system is a joke.

The current affairs of the nation

Makes me suffocate and choke.

Rules are broken,

Ethics are bent to fit the need.

If you protest, well sadness

For nobody pays a heed.

Still, there are people

People like me who keep shouting.

Yelling, when they see anything

Wrong, for we still believe in protesting.

We are called rebels.

For we don’t follow the herd.

And it’s one tag I wear with pride

As I protest, undeterred.

I don’t believe in bending

I’d rather break.

I never compromise on my ethics,

My conscience is still awake.

It matters to me,

What’s right and wrong.

I know, the world is mostly grey, still

All colours should get along.

I said what I wanted to say.

Go ahead, call me anti-national

I don’t care.

Time

I wait. I wait till

I cannot wait anymore.

And then, I sigh and wait some more.

Hoping, wishing. Pleading.

Time be kind to me.

Spare me, let me be.

I cannot smile another fake smile.

I cannot shed another needed tear.

I just wait, to be crippled with fear.

Time, I beg of you

Please, leave me alone.

I’m nothing anymore, just flesh and bone.

You smile a gentle smile.

You remind me of all the terrors,

That you caused, making me shiver.

Fear not, you tell me.

I’m no more powerful than you.

You created these cycles, your choice of what to do.

Your casual shrug, caused

A cyclone in another land.

The gun that fired in there?

It was in your hand.

Ruth Pal Chaudhuri

I’m a resident of Kolkata, West Bengal, India. Zoology student and poet by passion. I write short stories and novels too. Have been an athlete and played for the national badminton under 16.