Masquerade the Face of Fear

She fought she cried,

She shouted she screamed,

She wept she ailed,

Was she not terrified…Was she not petrified?

Still we called her ‘Nirbhaya’

She pleaded she begged,

She was kicked she was dragged,

She was hopeless, she was helpless,

Did her life not give up…Did her life not give in?

Still we called her ‘Damini’

She cried till she was no more…

She wept till she had no tear…

Still you call her Damini…Still u call her Nirbhaya…

Why masquerade the face of fear?

Who is Damini? Who is Nirbhaya?

Give it a thought…

Think for a while…

It’s not her who succumbed to desperation…

It’s not her who but with hope gave in to frustration…

She was just the hidden silent tear… the masquerade on the face of fear…

Then,

Who is Damini? Who is Nirbhaya?

When the sun came up again…

The one who got up with a smile on her face, a tremble in her heart…

Who put make up on her face…Then hid the beauty coz of fear…

Waiting for her cab…Who stood on the roadside…

Silently praying to the Gods…Just be beside…

The mother whose heart could not stop twitching…

Just take care of my girl she could not stop thinking…

  

Sight of people made her shiver…

Just 2 more kilometers I swear…

Please let me reach my office…Please let me see my school…

Just few minutes to college…Please keep away who drool…

Every minute yesterday’s news flashed in her mind…

Every driver…Every empty lane…Every unknown turn…

Did nothing but remind!

Of the atrocities waiting at every turn

Of the evil arising with the setting sun…

The father…Who kept calling…

The brother…Who kept messaging…

Let me know where you are…Let me know when you reach…

Though the heart says… SHE was with her friend…Yet beyond all reach…

The everyday façade of a bold confident woman…

The everyday fight of survival…

The everyday masquerade of fear…

Is the Damini… is the Nirbhaya…

Mumbai only, does not live to see the day after blast…

It’s every Nirbhaya… Every Damini… who fight till they last!

Who is Damini? Who is Nirbhaya?

Every girl every day…

Hoping to put masquerade on the face of fear

~Saumya Srivastava, Member, SFA, Class of 2015