“Shhh! Keep quiet”, said her mother. “Shhh! Keep it low”, said her teacher. “Shhh! Women don’t need to speak for such matters”, said her husband. No one listened. No one heard. No one knew her resounding word. It rang in her head over and over again. She tried to say it, she tried to string … More When a woman is told “No”
“Marriage”, is a word that brings joy and happiness, but it comes sounding as an alarm to any Indian Father who has a daughter to be married off. The dowry system in India perpetuates the concept of the girl’s parents sending gold, money, vehicles, residences, and other material possessions to the boy’s family, in exchange … More The Stubborn Parasite : Sale of Grooms aka the system of Dowry
Remember the words—“God bless the couple with children”—that family members and religious heads said and prayed on your wedding day? Remember being told, “Don’t wait too long”? Remember being asked by family, friends, and acquaintances a year or two later, “When are you planning to have a baby?” Well, if these words have not been … More Stop! Do Not Force Pregnancy
She is pink, she is pale,He is rich, he is hale,Grooms and bridegrooms –Are for sale. Bed, almira, fridge, car,Forty once, fifty thrice,He was sold nicely priced. Years passed, tortured for more,T’was not love, mere greed.Soul butchered, there she lay. Customs, traditions, relatives didn’t save,A transaction indenture left,Burning brides, dying parents’ pride. Trauma, depression, suicide,Are … More Just let her be.
“Ente kutty!” was what a man said as he wailed about his younger sister, who was found dead in her husband’s house in Kollam, Kerala. For those unversed with Malayalam, “ente kutty” means “my little girl”. The word ‘kutty’ shows how much you love the girl, in most cases your sister or your daughter. As … More Vismaya Nair Is No More. Who’s To Blame?
“I’m going to say I never knew you.” These words still ring loud in my ears. Each time I hear it in my head, my heart still drops to a deep place where questions and grief meet. These words were spoken in court, by a young girl who my husband, a few friends and I … More When Justice Went Wrong
When the world began, the first Elements were separated – Water. Land. Air. Still our lives these attach us to our Mother Earth. The umbilical cord cannot be severed lightly, For pulsing through it is life itself. Water. Water! The last cry from the lips of those dying of thirst. When the colonial powers taxed … More Water! Water!
You can cage the singer, but not the song. you can douse the embers, but the ashes are hot. The dancer is still, but the dance lingers in the heart, in the mind’s eye. the wind carries the sound of the dirge, but the clouds see from aloft. They weep at the sight of the … More Red
The 23-year-old Jyoti Singh from New Delhi had been gang raped in a moving bus in 2012. She later succumbed to her injuries. “I want to survive,” she had written on a piece of paper she handed to her doctors. The Supreme Court decision upholding the death sentence of the rapists is yet to be … More @MeToo In The Light Of “Justice Delayed Is Justice Denied”
I was seventeen when I gathered the courage to confront my abuser and all he simply said was, “It was a childish mistake. I am sorry.” I kept screaming inside that, ‘sorry’ wasn’t enough to undo the horrors he had put me through. Nonetheless, I forgave him believing that he must have changed, now that … More If Only: The Price of Unspoken Shame
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