Is She Just a Mannequin?

What happens when we commodify and perfect beauty? It ceases to be human and is transformed into a mannequin, says Harinder, in this poem – exclusively for Different Truths.

She was born a moon-faced doll,
And grew up into a maiden tall
Everyone around her made a great fuss
And she grew up picture-perfect, thus
She was taught to walk with grace
She used a beauty scrub on the face
She was not given the freedom
To go alone to the mart
And a planned diet was made for her
According to the diet chart
She was asked to smile in a particular way
And given instructions night and day
Even if a lock of hair dared to touch her white skin

It was punished and caught in a hairpin
The mirror would call out her name
It longed to have a good look at her
While she looked at herself in its frame
Over time, she looked like
A painting on the wall
Cold, heartless!  She wouldn’t respond to a call
She had feeling organs but on a silent mode
And she had become as stiff as the cardboard
She was delicate and thin with a perfect chin
A lady who wanted to live like a woman
But it was reduced to just a Mannequin.  

Picture design by Anumita Roy, Different Truths