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Mere existence

An Employee of Our Times
A woman i saw
Sorry,A working women i saw
Not very different from all
Middle-aged and illiterate
Yet the only provider for the family
With wages low and discriminatory
Timings prescribed as compulsory
Bindings without negotiations
With a job- warranty for eternity
Within a repressive culture that forces her to
Follow a practice banned by law
(of which by the way she has no clue)
Moulded to fit in and
Conditioned not to question
Forbidden not to think
Barred from opting out
Excluded from progression
Controlled to check empowerment
Chained to docility for a lifetime
Doing the job of "MANUAL SCAVENGING"
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Statements often make points
They hit you hard that
You realise your incompetence.........

I recently read a book which had a testimony of a dalit women who says that :
She cannot say when the times are harder on her;
In summer when water scarcity leaves her with no options to wash her hands
or
In rains when the load on her head spills on her face and body.............

Till date i have never read such provoking/disturbing statements.......... and these statements have disturbed the equilibrium inside me that i am not able to comprehend the happenings around me, nor understand or attach importance to problems or realities surrounding me!
The privileges that surround me, seem to only question me continuously about my IGNORANCE........

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