A Poem
The Sanskari
Rapists and the Raped
They raped, yet
they did not
even if they did,
as they certainly did,
they didn’t.
They murdered, yet
they didn’t.
They smashed a
child to the ground, yet they didn’t.
That’s why they
were garlanded
feted with
sweets, the sacred ladoos
by their men. By
their women too!
How can the Sanskari
brahmins be guilty?
What they do is
beyond reproach.
Their deeds are
not subject to human scrutiny.
The courts had no
right to arraign them.
That’s why the
celebrations
to honour their
missionary heroism.
What about the
raped?
Of what
consequence
is the life and honour
of a woman of the other race!
And her pain
that has pierced
her innards
each cell, each
pour and settled there
like pulsating, stabbing
poison
that doesn’t let
her live, let her die
let her forget!
The silence all
around tells all.
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