Wednesday 22 May 2019

The Girls of Badaun

They were hanging from the tree
Brightly clothed puppets
Their square shoulders jutting out from thin bodies
And as it happened, arranged more artistically than a Calder mobile
The perfect angle for photography 

They were puppets, randomly chosen 
Suitable by gender, caste and age
They,who were done to.

And those who did to them
They were puppets too
Suitable by gender, caste and age 
Doing what they were conditioned to do 
By centuries of normal
With added layers of new normals.

And shall we all be puppets too? 
See without seeing? 
React without thinking?
Absorb and do nothing?
Move on with forgetting?