A powerful and an intense woman-centric protest poem, by Dr. Roopali, exclusively for Different Truths.

They frowned at the shorts. 
Women’s legs are immensely desirable.
Undesirable hairy legs belong to men.
So, I chose to become a gypsy.
Silver earrings, jingling bracelets, the paijeb 
hugging my ankles.
The chunky necklace around my neck 
The long ghagra and the bandhej scarf.
The leather chappals…sequinned and upturned.
 
Ah! Such freedom in tradition. 
Feminism wrapped in colourful cloth. 
So homegrown so exotic. So ethnic they said.
The nose pin, the earring the neck piece,
the bracelet, the anklet the red sticky kumkum
and the kohl lined eyes. 
The cloth bag hanging from the shoulder, 
twinkling myriad mirror pieces embedded 
in the desert colours of the Rann of Kutch.
A red herring.
Marx and Raymond Williams, Terry and
Mary Eagleton, Simone de Beauvoir,
Germaine Greer and Toril Moi and Franz Fanon
hide in its soft interiors and a lunch box of pasta and cheese! 
Regions and borders all merged into
an infinite kaleidoscope of colours.
Tree green, sunflower yellow, red flame of the forest,
blue sky, emerald sea, purple passionflower.
A life of freedom camouflaged in sartorial rebellion. 

Visual by Different Truths

Dr. Roopali Sircar Gaur

Dr. Roopali Sircar Gaur is a poet, travel writer, and social justice activist. A former professor of English Literature at Delhi University, and a creative writing professor at IGNOU, she is a widely published academic and creative writer. Her book Twice Colonised: Women in African Literature, is a seminal text on women’s socio-political empowerment. In 2020-21, she co-edited two poetry anthologies – In All the Spaces: Diverse Voices in Global Women’s Poetry, and Earth Fire Water Wind.

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