Unfazed

Where my curvaceous body isn’t a subject to body shaming

Where my peeping out brassiere isn’t the talk of the town

Where a blood stain on my back isn’t a taboo

Where minds don’t weave stories around the length of my skirt

Where rape is an alien from outer space

Where people don’t jump to conclusions on my decision to stay single

Where my virginity isn’t an eligibility to get into a wedlock

Where eyebrows don’t raise on ditching my married look

Where a single mother raising an adopted child is no big deal

Where I can breastfeed publicly without wolfish eyes drilling into my breasts

Where a ‘Yes is Yes’ and a ‘No is No’, without any faulty inferences

Where I can disown the copyrights of do’s and don’ts preset for a girl child

Where sons are taught morality rather than daughters being taught self-defence

Where I can travel in a metro without worrying who’s beside me

Where I am not objectified, abused or owned like a possession

Where I am not humiliated as a widow since I didn’t opt for it

Where my identity doesn’t confine to being someone’s daughter, sister, wife or mother

Where child abuse is a term yet to be coined

Where I can step out of my cozy nest in the dead of night

Into that promised land, my Lord, lead my fraternity unfazed

Leela Satyan