Painting by Debashish Saha

Break the Idols

Break the idols,
propped up on props
of women —
female item numbers,
the monstrous feminine
underpaid actresses,
casting couches,
‘cooperating artists’.

the demure daughter
the sacrificing mother
Rani, Lakshmi, Devi
And then dont forget the dialogue:
“Nee verum pennaanu!” *

we never had penis envy.
For a culture industry
built on rape threat?
memes for
women in collectives

Break the idols for whom
‘industry’ meant
mass production of items

This time,
we shift the gaze:
you will be spectacle,
and we rename the organisation
in lowercase
“amma”

#womenincollective #hemacommissionreport

 (* “You are only a woman!”)

Autopsy of a Doctor

When you perform
autopsy of a doctor
you find shards of glass
in her eyes
that once held
promises of
shattering glass ceilings
a broken pelvic girdle
that once was to be
support of her parents
disfigured limbs
that longed
to take long strides

On this land,
you become a case
only after you are dead,
and termed psychotic
as you carried
150 gm of semen.
Luckier ones
remain statistics.

placards,
candles,
slogans
conch shells

How can you reclaim the night,
when it shall never see
light of the day?

Bete ko padao: Beti ko bachao

Warning: You are under CCTV surveillance
because you are a woman.

Who will save the doctor now?

 #KolkataRape

Sindoor

I never knew
your vermillion word
with which you
promised to protect

would turn to blood
on someone else’s forehead

to a smear
on somebody’s name

I never knew-
a hair-line
could part two nations

The Art of Pronunciation

W.E.B. DuBo is pronounced his own name Du-Boice. *

I taught my students,
Jaques Derrida is actually,
Zhaak Dhereeda

I taught them
Simone de Beauvoir is really
Simun dhi Boova

I taught them
Jean Baudrillard
was Zhaan Baudhreeyaa

I taught the students
Helene Cixous is
Elene Cixoo

I taught —
Ted Hughes was actually
Ted Hyoos

At the end of the class,
I, “Ruqayya”
learnt
from a message
received from them:
“Rukheeya Miss,
you are poor.
We love you.”