Many Men


Streets go empty
excitement in the air
Pak versus India
the World Cup is here

will India make it to the finals
the men in the house worry
women worry for feeding those men
hot chapatis and curry

he stops all work, is glued to the TV
bites his nail and perspires for the game
her day unchanged, she cuts cleans and cooks
her routine of drudgery, all the same

home-maker she could be, or a coporate lass
but it's on her the responsibility rests
of keeping the house clean, supplying nourishing food
and children's school work and tests

men remain engrossed, in tall wordly matters
at leisure and convenience, they indulge the kids
women remain absorbed, in zillion homely work
and when their baby craps, men don't clean the shit

he gets the car serviced, he even buys his clothes
for such little work, he praises his own knack
the wife has no time, from his socks undies and ilk
she toils through out the day, almost breaking her back

freedom has brought her, car and communication
now added to house-work, is outside shopping
her man's freedom however, is in gadgets and playstations
he's plonked on the sofa, while she does veggie-chopping

worse than the modern woman, is her village counterpart
fetches water from miles, tends to cattle and field
but man takes the pay, for all her hard work
she endures his drunken beating, to his abuses she yeilds

visiting her mother, is her occasional solace
much to the objection of the man and his parents
men of course are free - to drink, dine, and roam
they decide unlike women, how their time is spent

"cleanliness is your concern", say men to avoid work
they deserve to be left with cockroaches and rats
but she bears it all for the sake of children
"why should kids pay for their dad's lazy ass?"

"women prefer petty work", men often say
"since intellect demands reading and research"
but women know too well, that for big and bold work
you cannot be trusted if you leave the small in lurch

painfully but surely, she climbs up the ladder
through talent and toil, of management and maturity
while men scheme of being, catapulted to the top
fraught of inexperience and full of insecurity

hardened by injustice, steeled by disregard
she's stomached everything thrown at her face
but the day she resolves to give up on her chores
the world will stop, it'll be the end of feminine grace.

Comments

  1. gulluApril 10, 2011 at 7:30 AM

    This is an excellent write from you!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. vandanaApril 17, 2011 at 10:02 PM

    I think you read this to me...excellent!!!beautifully penned down...

    ReplyDelete
  3. Sonal SinghApril 18, 2011 at 9:46 AM

    Thanks guys. It was written in one of my furious moods...the inequality agitates me for sure.

    ReplyDelete

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