I am the woman of your masterpieces,
Your novels, your poems, and your sagas
And I am still a piece of pariah…

Your unforgotten rape victim
Your traitor in love,
Your alleged inspiration
And your all-time favorite- a prostitute in love…

Read your novel lately
The ending was good
But will I have it too?
Mirrored the pain I went through in your stories,
Let me tell you
My name’s a shame,
My soul is for sale,
I am everything you have written
I am everything you have forgotten to mention…

Your triumphs through my name,
Your acclaim- a passage through my pain
Aren’t I a fascinating tale to tell?
Widen the horizon Sire,
There are things I have to tell and sell…

Forlorn days have traded my body for Rupiya and Sikka,
Rupiya and sikka for food
Trade to sustain the livelihood,
Have starved for water
Have lost dreams for sleep,
I have lost things
I must have something to keep then.
No, I don’t have anything
I have lost everything…

Have traveled an era in days,
Miles in seconds and fears in crusades
Have always traveled the forbidden roads of the brothels,
The light is too dark there
Eye me there, I am a walking dead,
Very different, and not your friend
We have no friends, we are only told to sell…

I paint my face,
Wear glistening makeup
Kajal, Tika, Chura and Maybelline Eyeliner,
Yet I don’t look beautiful
I cover my body with a piece of cloth,
But inside out I am naked for you
Met monsters and men line up for prey in the streets of our brothels,
My glistening face and smirk to those are fake
Their quench and lust,
Their wrench to annihilate my trust
Some tell- Everyone is not the same,
This- a myth to out sake the frame of their wrecked face
The face is only wrecked,
The soul’s a shame…

You picture me to be a lover, a dreamer and a woman
Lovers love, dreamers dream and women sacrifice,
I am the woman of the wh***house,
I am only a woman
And other women of house not home, if you don’t know are dreamers and lovers
I am pictured stronger and fouler than them,
Let me tell you iron rusts when exposed to excess air
I am the same rust,
Difference- Exposed to dreamers and lovers men…

Heard your husband comes drunk home
Rebukes you with my name some days,
You outrage, slap him, curse him and cry for your fate
Once upon a time, I was addressed the same name,
And I am the same name every day
Twenty years of having this same name,
I am called the ‘R-word’ everyday
My name’s a curse, isn’t it?
Well, but I feel no pain,
Once, I got raped five times,
Raped is a small word, give me one great word
I get raped more than ten times,
Rape is not a small word!
Five times was a small word, I gave you one great one…
The double!
Did the shimmer of my acquaintance capture you?
Was sold when twenty, now forty
I, a replica of twenty years struggle,
Replica needs no definition
We, the women of wh***house don’t count years as fiction
But a true definition…

Sold and choice are two different things,
Sold reflects deception
Choice mirrors compulsion,
I represent compulsion first, deception second
Compulsion for survival, deception for naivety

You can find me in the creeks of the broken streets of Kalapaahad,
I am present everywhere!
Beneath the moonlight, beneath the scorching sun, beneath the monsoon rain
I sell my pride like an insane
I heard some come to rescue
Some come for stories to share
I don’t think this is true
If it were, why would I be here?
Mucky skies don’t let us flee
Only if they knew, I long to be free
Not flee…

I fight everyday- with myself and people,

Sometimes, I bruise myself and sometimes people bruise me
My face swells and body aches from the storms that hit me in a day,
I have nothing to lose, yet death is a scare for I have to pass era in days
Some days I long for death,
Just like many who poisoned themselves
That’s scary!
Not scary enough to me who gets chocked everyday…
I heard heaven is a good place,
Tell me, will I get a safe place there when I am dead?
I’ll die a bad death, but if I do,
Take me back from Kaalapahad to the land of snow…

Let me tell you,
My name is a shame,
Called cheater, hooker, and grifter
My soul is for sale,
I am everything you have written,
I am everything you have forgotten to mention…

Widen your horizon Sire,
There are things I am compelled to tell and sell.