My Sister, My Soul Mate :A Poem for Gauri by Kavita Lankesh
She raved, she ranted,
Many times she burst out….
Uppercaste this… Brahmincal that…
At the inhumanity of it all…
At the injustice of it all..
Wait a minute..
Is it the same woman?
Who spoke soft words, and tenderly hugged
And embraced
Little kids,
The untouchables,
The Muslims,
The women,
The minorities…
The Maoists..
Few Rabids barked she is a bitch,
some even called her prostitute,
just because she was single
and lived her life the way she wanted to…
But hundreds called her sister, thousands called her mother
a million now are saying
‘We are all Gauri…”
She blasted when someone threw a
cigarette butt from the car window
Lest it would hurt a two wheeler rider..
Her house is a garden
Where many a snake wandered
And she would wait patiently
For it slither by,
Not stopping , not harming , not killing it
Waiting patiently for it pass and continue to live…
But finally a snake came which didn’t slither away,
A human snake
on a two wheeler
to stop the fire out of Gauri …
and silence her..
Silence Gauri?
Ha ha!! What a joke!!
She burst like sunflower seed
scattered all over
In India
And across the seas…
Now the silence is chanting ….echoing, ..
“ We are all Gauri!!”
Editor’s Note: Sabrangindia pays tribute to the sister of a friend and comrade in arms we lost to bullets of hatred on September 5, 2017. Kavita has borne the loss with courage, grace and fortitude, not allowing herself time for personal healing nor grieving. She has in every way possible kept Gauri alive for us. Tributes to two amazing women who are also sisters.
