Blot Of Ink

Someday, Someday Maybe

Author's Note: This article and poem was inspired by real incidents and stories. Oh and yes, this article was published in TTIS (The Telegraph In Schools) in the year 2011. 

SOMEDAY, SOMEDAY MAYBE.

She looks in the mirror,

And prays she didn’t look the way she did

She looks in the mirror,

And prays she didn’t sound the way she did

She turns around and sees her brother,

And prays she was more like him

She watches her mother caring for her son,

She watches her father being proud of his son,

She watches them behave differently around her,

She watches how nothing here belongs to her

She turns around and sees her brother

And prays she was more like him

She is too fragile, too small,

To understand the society’s cruel gender fall

She is too innocent, too clean,

There’s lots more that she hasn’t seen

But every time she sees her brother,

She prays she was more like him.

She doesn’t know why they would worship the goddess,

When girls are subject of unwillingness

She’ll never get the love, and she doesn’t care

All she wants is to be treated just and fair

But every time she sees her brother,

She prays she was more like him.

Someday she may understand how this society runs,

But society may never understand how the heart burns,

Someday she is gonna grow up, and become strong

Someday she is gonna make you realize you were wrong

Someday she’s gonna turn and see her brother,

And be glad she was never more like him.

For centuries we have seen the importance of a ‘son’ in a society. If a family gave birth to a boy, the family was considered ‘blessed’. Previously, in many backward villages, giving birth to a girl child was a crime. The new born baby, who had committed no sins, was burnt to death.

Even In today’s modern world, not just villages, but in modern and upbeat families, people still desire for a son than a daughter, and it has many social as well as financial reasons attached to it. The importance of a son is pivotal in building a complete family. But why? Why do people think that only sons can carry forward their generations? Why do they think that it will be only because of their sons that the society will remember them?

That’s a really wrong mentality and certainly not the right way to think. Do we remember Gandhiji because he was a son or because of his role in bringing freedom to the country from the clutches of the British Empire? Mother Teresa, she devoted her life to the service of the poor and became a global icon for selfless service to other. She was a girl, and is still remembered by every citizen of this country for her noble work. There are many more examples of great women who changed the world, who despite tremendous odds outshone others.

The world remembers you by your achievement. Indeed, if we do something great, something for the world, we will be remembered for generations, irrespective of the gender. As someone rightly said, “We all die, goal isn’t to live forever. The goal is to create something that will.”

The idea of society finally bringing down the difference between men and women seems so far away. But we can only hope that someday it will. Someday, someday maybe.