DON'T CRY FOR ME, INDIA!!!

I write from a place where you’d never see me- Not that “I’m in heaven, you’d be in hell” or vice versa; But simply that the hell I’ve seen… I can only pray, and beg to the Almighty, that no one ever has to witness a thing like that! I didn’t know what were girls, I didn’t know what were boys, There existed no differences, When we played with those toys! I came to this world, Bringing smiles on so many faces, Little did I know, I’d have to struggle past so many races! I thought we are all one- and “humanity” is our clan; but they beg to differ- I mean each and every man! I was born- a daughter, a sister, a dream & hope in many eyes! I turned into a friend, and a hope for nurturing life- in the form of a mother!!! Was my being a girl reason enough for me to witness being feasted by sex-hungry men! Is that the sole reason a girl is born- to satiate the sexual desires of men? Don’t I have an identity, a life, apart from serving the purposes that are someway or the other merely confined to men! Why can’t I live the way I want to! Why can’t I walk freely on the streets, safely! Irrespective of the place, and time! Is it not my India, too? And before you raise questions regarding what I wear… It’s You- men, that have prompted me to do so! Why, am I not the most sale-able commodity? Most watched object? My being, my existence, serves as a joy for You! Gratification!!! That You- men, turn us into sluts, have laws prohibiting prostitution, but still want prostitutes to exist, and hitherto, have dragged us into this! And then there are men- from top to bottom, that take a cut from what we earn- our money! Our body! Men, You disgust me! I was born to live a life; to dream, and work towards fulfilling them! I WAS BORN TO LIVE A LIFE! And to die, yes, that remains an unaltered fact, but not this way! Keep your hand on your heart & close your eyes, and say what did I do to deserve this! My being a girl? My being out at night? My casual dressing? For God’s sake look at me in the eye & say why should I deserve what happened to me, & I’d be dead, forever, with questions buried with me! But if you do not have a reason for it, don’t let my death go wasted! If I didn’t deserve what happened to me, neither do those “men” deserve a life- every moment they live more, my death- what I had to go through… the pain I suffered, would go wasted! Give them death- A death that would serve a wake-up call to all such men that think my existence is at their disposal !!! But I know none of you would do this! Would You- all women, stop taking off your clothes because men want you to! Because they want you to entertain them!! Would You get out of this prostitution industry because men want you to satisfy their needs! Would You stop being hit and abused by men because they drink! He can beat you because he is your husband…. Says who?? MAN!!! Would You, for the respect of our womanhood, come together, just once, and tell these men that it has been enough! Weren’t the so-called righteous men the ones to witness the evil shaming of Draupadi? Men will continue to shame us, and men will continue to witness such spectacle!! Would You, for once, pledge not to act under man’s will and force! And live for Our freedom, instead? I don’t have faith in justice served anymore! But You- each & every one of You can change that!!!