The wish for a Boy Child
How in anticipation
I waited for your birth
The first cry to fill my world
And when I first held you
Wrapped in blood
My eyes filled with tears
And on your fragility
Tears I shed
From birth Unscathed you were
But could I shield you from tears
For a boy you were not born
As you grew
From head to toe
I covered you
Was it to protect you from the world or
distance the world from you
My values I shared and my knowledge too
But what was the use
For how few of us really knew
Women were equal to men too
Fearless in the house you grew
Sheltered, the worries were few
And for the first time I saw you cry
How I wish it was for a toy
For the revolting hand was no stranger to you
And in shame you and I grew
For I had not the voice
For in reality
I was frailer than you
And with time
Your beauty grew
For you learnt
the art of hiding nicks and bruises
And the gaping wounds too
Despite what they taught you
You realised that girls were equal to boys too
However generations of oppression
Was your burden to bare
And no matter how hard you tried
The dips in the holy water
Nor the visits to Sabrimala
Could cleanse you
And one fine day
Far too soon
It was time for you to fly
A Captain they called you
And into a brand new world
You flew
Years later
when I looked into those hollow eyes
Things had changed but hadn’t changed too
The shadows of your holocast
Were writ large
For you were a mother of a daughter too
In asking you to become them
Had I lost you
And when the end came
For your mom and me
You were by our side
As you lit my pyre
You thought it was the end
Of an era of subordination
of women’s desires
And as the flames roared before they died
The spark – a catalyst flew
And spread wide
To burn down another generation
Of girls desires
-Vijay Jain

About the Author

Vijay Jain  Co Founder and CEO Orra Fine Jewellery Passionate Photographer, Occasional Writer and a Believer