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Monday, 18 July 2022

Inclusion Elevates All

 Don’t tolerate me as different. Accept me as part of the spectrum of normalcy.”

- Ann Northrop 

Be it that our skin is fair or dark or hair is short or long or are attracted to males or females, at the end of the day, it does not change the fact that we all are Homo sapiens, or to say, human beings. Literally meaning that nobody is an outsider or a misfit. It is just made to seem so. Accordingly, marginalizing and/or ostracizing of a certain group of people just because they are too different does not make any sense. Rather, the truth is that we all are different in one way or the other. It simply depends on how we slice the pie. 

Now if one gets the smaller end of the pie, that still does not mean that the pie could be complete without that piece, however small it is. So, no matter however the bigger chunk tries to obliterate the smaller segments, the smaller bits have the right to exist happily and peacefully with utmost dignity. This is rightly expressed by the honourable Judge D. Gregory Geary through his words in the Orberti v. Board of Education case, “Inclusion is a right, not a privilege for a select few.” Nonetheless, ‘better’ for the smaller piece would mean better for the bigger one too. That is why, appreciating and acknowledging the intersectionality of the dignity of various lumps of people, like in a Venn diagram, provide an insight into how inexorably interlinked we all are and how the support and love of one could serve as their life’s building block for another. 

Nevertheless, the road to dignity is a long way ahead and should start by valuing oneself and accepting the fact that if someone does not accept you as you are, then it is because they do not deserve you which is their loss. Once you learn to value yourself, then it is about the rights you are rightfully entitled to. Though the road to obtaining these rights might be full of uncertainties, that does not mean that you got to beg for mere crumbs because that will only get you even lesser than those crumbs. Rather, through this journey, another integral mission of life needs to be undertaken. 

It is often not realized how unlearning is as much a mission of life as learning. Unlearning is a crucial tool to be efficiently used to achieve the dignity one deserves by eradicating the age-old beliefs, people are conditioned to put their confidence into, stemming out of and fuelling patriarchy, misogyny, bigotry, etc., with no definable scientific basis. Unlearning and relearning can be achieved by sharing personal experiences, rather than facts and figures, as the heart is the road to the mind. These values were effectively portrayed in the struggle against Proposition 8 in California, USA in 2008 for marriage equality. 

Then again, this road from someone’s heart to their mind might be full of hurdles and blocks and getting hurt sometimes becomes inevitable. Even then, those tears, trickling over the traces left by those personal stories, are a sign that something inside is healing and never should it be let for anyone to plant the idea that it is a sign of weakness. In lieu of this, healing can also emanate from talking out one's grievances. Having someone who merely stays beside and listens wholeheartedly without offering any unwarranted advice can be the greatest boon through that journey of personal storytelling. 

Thus, happiness is something of our own making but at the same time, it cannot be a lone deed. It is the result of coming together of like-minded people who understand that nothing in this world can be ascertained for sure and that conversely, we all live in a vibrant spectrum, striving towards the same goal. In that journey, many small pieces of the pie collaborate to build a far happier and more inclusive world for the posterity while hoping to share a part of that happiness before we leave. And this is the only way we can get the pendulum of progress moving forward again. 

Friday, 8 July 2022

Choked Desolation

 Abstract

Being in the closet is never an easy thing. It might look like turning away and avoiding the struggles of being different might be a better alternative. But to hide oneself over long periods of time is a lonely and challenging thing to do and an extremely solitary place to be in. This poem is a window towards that bleak solitude which many of us has experienced atleast once in our lives, irrespective of being queer or not.

Poem

Locked in fog,
So thick it looks painted on me
In the color of dread,
That even I can't see myself,
Trembling out of fear or frost
In that jolly-looking mask of paint,
Hiding the ME
In that pretty little cave
Actually, the leaky little cave.

The Mask? The Cave? The Fog?
All so cold and dry,
Except for the tears, bitter in torment,
I never knew,
Choking and leaking off ME,
Blanketing and stinging my fingers
Smeared in cold

Numb in the chill, 
Closing on ME,
Coloured in terror,
Dimly longing for warmth
For home...
But afraid all the same
Afraid to leave the Fog
Out of the Cave, 
Called the CLOSET.

Locked in fog painted on me
In the color of dread
Conditioned to hide in the leaky little cave,
Unbeknown of my right to venture beyond,
Of the light beyond
I stand weary and drained
From the agony
Of the rejection of ME
Chaining me to the Fog,
Remote and deserted

Obscuring ME, forsaken and despondent,
Trembling in that jovial mask of paint
Only to ask, "Why?"
With an answer as foggy
And blue as the CLOSET,
The only home for ME,
Ever...

Friday, 15 April 2022

Beyond the Obscurity

 

Abstract 

From the moment we are born, we are constitutionally given the right to freely express ourselves. But is this what is really happening? In this month of Pride, I'd like to address the superficial facets of "Freedom of Expression" which is tainted by homophobia, transphobia and much more. Being conditioned to be cisgender and heterosexual from the moment one is born forces a lot of us into a dark, painful and ugly place called the Closet. This place is so terribly excruciating that words cannot even begin to describe it. Only utter silence signified by "..." can stand representative of it for all of us to pour out our festering wounds out of simply being who we are or loving another human being. 

Poem

“Freedom of Expression,”

A right said to be inherent in all

But is it really?

That inherent right,

Isn’t it often curtailed

By the social constructions of gender?


Am I so wrong for feeling suffocated

For not being able to be who I am?

The pain pulsing in my heart,

Waiting to spew out

To dirty that “society” with its

Ugly and slimy arms

Is it really dirty?

Is it that ugly?

 

To be who I am

To love who I want

To wear what I want

To walk my way

The way my legs & hips take me

Is it really that ugly?

 

“Freedom of Expression,”

A right often said to be inherent

But is it really?

That inherent right,

When am I to feel it

Removing those chains,

Shoving my words back in my throat.

 

Those words brimming and brimming,

Waiting to overflow

And let everyone know my “ugly” secret,

Is trembling like a thin leaf

As if it’s ready to fall off

And leave the way it came from,

Silently…

 

Silence, dark as it is,

Surrounds me.

Loud as it is,

Makes me lonely,

Begging for some warmth,

Waking that pulsating pain,

Showering me in salty, salty tears,

Silently…

In the name of “Freedom of Expression.”

 

Expression…Isn’t it to be colourful and vibrant

So vibrant that it looks

Ugly but runs deep and beautiful,

Coming in different shapes and sizes

To embrace all and all

Even in those salty, salty tears,

Sharing vulnerabilities

And calling for inclusion in its warmth?

 

That “Freedom of Expression,”

Inherent in all,

Is it equal for “all”?

Is chains for some and freedom for others

What equality means?

What “Freedom of Expression” means?