In homes, in offices,
in schools, in universities,
on roads, in neighbourhoods,
in villages, in cities, in streets
women meet and talk
quarrel, get annoyed,
even shout at each other
they say whatever they want to each other.
In a train full of stranger passengers
even in the bus
they talk about their lives with unknown women
whom they may never see again
still listens to another woman like an old friend.
Their great ability to listen is a quality
which is made in years
during and after listening to the cries of the family at their birth
Be it from any province
be it from any place
Everyone is crying on their birth
and on the condition of their
Not being able to give birth
They have also been made to weep
in the situation of not getting the headship of men.
while crying; they have held the lap of a woman,
while laughing, they dance with women
on sawan’s songs to Karthik’s mourning music.
They are women who didn’t give up on each other
in quarrels, in happiness, in sadness
Women repeat names of their late mothers,
from sisters to aunt in the memories
In a world of patriarchs
This is how women keep women alive.
Aashika has graduated in Political Science from Miranda House, DU, and is currently working as a freelance writer who loves to write poems.
Featured image: Quinton Coetzee / Unsplash