Discrimination

Did you wish I were not born?

Tell me my dearest mother,

Because I can see that clearly

More than me you love my brother.

 You make me work in the kitchen,

Sweep the floor and tidy the home,

And even wash his clothes for him

While all day he is free to roam.

He’s the last to wake up

And the last to leave for school,

Yet you wake me so early

Why for me a different rule?

When he comes home late at night

You wake up to open the door

Help him stagger to his bed

And weep and watch him snore.

Yet when my body burns with fever

I don’t feel your palm upon my head,

You made me do your household chores

Even on those days that I bled.

When you put away your jewellery

It’s seldom as a trousseau for me

It’s for the wife that he may bring home

I’m lucky if you buy me a sari.

You tell me dad’s provident fund

Is earmarked for the day that I wed,

But Ma you know I want to study some more

Why not save it for my education instead?

Though I’m the one who wipes your tears

It’s his future and his education

That robs both you and dad of sleep.

                     is house you keep

  You’ve always treated me like a stranger

A guest at best, or a burden when you weep

You say I’m someone else’s property

That you carefully in your house do keep.

I’ve heard dad tell you last night

That for me he’s found a groom

Why the haste to marry me off Ma?

Dirt to be swept away with the broom!

Why do you do this to me mother?

I too was born from your womb

Of your kind I am a woman

Sumaitri