Veil

My sister and I

and my mother

and her mother

and my grand-mother

and all, us, women

We had curtain

In our lives

to cover thoughts

emotions, people,

dignity, and to disguise

My sister got allowed to learn driving

And I, to pursue graduation in another city

And mother, to wear suits, not just sarees

And her mother, to take care of her maiden family’s needs

And my grand-mother, to be at home without a veil

A veil, you see

has grown thinner in our family

and we are asked to take pride in that

hiding our deep discriminations behind it

Maybe, an unseen injustice is easy to overlook.

The veil, you see

has been here through ages,

it might have been used to hide the signs of forced sex

or the burnt marks caused in kitchen because they like their rotis perfect,

their shirts ironed, shoes polished, legs massaged and the sex, STRONG

…

In our home,

we used to have a large curtain

hung between the main lobby and verandah

so that the outsiders can’t know what is happening inside

and the insiders can’t know what is being done outside