#WorldDayOfSocialJustice – Who Will Speak For Her?

WHO WILL SPEAK FOR HER?

Its been a tired year

It is a tired generation

The first engineers and doctors

The first graduates of a family

All tired

Like a broken shell waiting to fall apart

But

There is always a but

But on the way back home

Waiting for your shell to break softly on the bed

There was this small girl

Knocking on your car windows

Holding what seems to be colour pens

‘You don’t need them’

You think

Then you think again

But this times your eyes are stained with tears

You pay her more than what she asked for one pen

Because you remember

You remember walking to school barefoot

Your family’s poverty hidden by a sheer veil of honour

But as days grew, things got better

You remember your first flipflops

No that sounds bizarre

You got your first chappals

Then days went on

Like how time always does

And soon you family saw their first graduate

While the celebration lasted

You knew in your heart

Your extra ‘x’ chromosome

Would be a problem

Since women were always paid less

You hid this ugly truth from your family

And worked with joy

Why worry about equality

This is your first time ever being outside

Independent

the joy lasted a short while

today you are returning home

your hair in a messy bun

tired from the injustice

tired from running

but you are still stuck

in the memory of that little girl

“why must she work, she belongs in a school”

“who will change things”

You think to yourself

“maybe I can”

“maybe I should”

Nandhitha Babuji is a 18-year-old aspiring poet from Tamil Nadu, passionate about using her words to show solidarity against children’s issues.