** Draupadi is an iconic character from Mahabharata (great Indian epic) married to the five Pandava princes. Her disrobing by her own brother in law in the open court of Hastinapur , leads to the epic battle of Mahabharat. While the disrobing (Vastra haran)is not just about her modesty violated, it stands symbolic of the crippled fairness of a social system that could not uphold the honour of it's women. And, the grotesqueness of such a system crumbles in bloody battles, where Shakti rises as Kali!***
Us women , the way we cling on to the social fabric, just for conformity,
That we drape our honour and dignity, to worldly norms,
To see our worth ever in the eyes of others-
Their 'ayes' uplift us, and 'nays' banish us as the outcaste ,
We pull that fabric in tighter - just for acceptance.
Despite the iron fists of patriarchy that knuckle us down
Stifling, forbearance is a cursed virtue, you see!
A fleshed out Shakti, fatigued lets that fabric wind around our being like Draupadi's vastra -
Ready to give the slip, but not by a depraved man, this time,
There can be no _vastra haran,__ when a woman chooses to tear free from it all!
Bare, stark in her fiercest form, she's Kali
Stomping all modesty and the 9 yards of social fabric lies beneath her feet-
Shrunk to a strip dripping with her menstrual blood !
