A Rajnish Rai video Does it really matter what I wear?
I wear a crop top top and you stare at my belly button.
I walk down the alley after a late night party wearing a knee-cut one piece and there you stand
There you stand across the street, not just staring at my legs, No!
You strip me bare regardless
So tell me, does it really matter what I wear?
I walk quietly, trembling ferociously from head to toe, clutching tightly the shawl my mom handed over to me while I left the house in inappropriate clothing.
I get into a bus and find an empty seat and there you stand.
There you stand beside me silently praying for the blowing wind to just shift my Pallo
Shift it by an inch as your eyesight borders hungrily over my neckline.
How does it matter what I wear because no matter what I wear, all you search for is bare skin to stare!
But ranting about the male species is not my purpose
For there are people who I trust.
My brother who embraces me even when I'm flopping around in his t-shirts
My friends who stare at my face and tell me I look stunning in the knee-length one piece my father gifted
My best friend who thinks I'm tall, dark and beautiful even when I'm lying around dressed worse than a drug addict
My classmates who didn't show my away when I crumpled on the floor with my skirt all stained and tainted for the very first time
My school's bus conductor who dropped me off at the very last bus stop every single evening
And all those strangers!
All those strangers, who are not really strangers
Well, it's not all I'm talking about, not everyone
But everyone.
For every night, every night I lay there staring at the sky
Not at the moon and not the stars
But those few dark places in between
poetry by - jaya iyer
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