Nip Not the Buds

 

I say no to child marriage :Sunita Mourya of Maryadpur village

I say no to early marriage :Sunita Mourya of Maryadpur village

 

While the world media is abuzz with the news of kidnapped schoolgirls in Nigeria, are we mindful of the girls in our homeland who are disappearing from school and subsequently from the arena of public participation and the formal job market?

According to the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) progress report 2013, while girls’ enrolment in school constitutes 50.9 percent at the lower secondary level, it falls to 49.7 percent at the secondary level. Who is responsible for keeping half of our girls out of schools even when there is no Taliban and no Boko Haram here? It’s us, the family members of each household, who decide for them, and the occupants of high offices who refuse to decide for them. We have become as dangerous to our girls as extremists elsewhere due to our cavalier attitude to the misery of girls who are manacled by marriage before their bodies and minds are prepared to face the blows of life, sans proper schooling, sans proper age.

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Fair Game

One day when you come home from the forest

My Hunter,

Don’t be surprised if you find the Den quiet;

Your Lioness has developed a taste for her own game!

Take a seat, love: Put your bundle of carcass aside,

No Cubbies are much fond of it,

Elixir from her bosom is often enough to make them up,

Why don’t you do

A little peekaboo, piggybacking

A little tickling the tummy

A little merrymaking with your mane?

For which they have stronger appetite for!

One day when you come home from the forest

My Hunter,

Don’t be surprised if you find the Den empty;

Your Lioness has developed a taste for her own game

And she is out to-

Bring enough toppings to go with the meat you caught

Or enough meat to go with the toppings you brought

Do not forget we will need

Some extra for the cold days,

And for cubbies’ birthdays!

Yes,

One day when you come home from the forest

My Hunter,

Don’t be surprised if you find the Den dark.

Would you mind kindling the dinner table, dear?,

And spreading the fresh table-cloth, the floral one

Arranging some china, if you may

For when I come home, wrangling with the fellow predators,

Blood-mouthed and exhausted

I’d like to put my feet up

Laugh as we eat together,

Yawn as we wash together

Chuckle as we cuddle together

And

Moan as we come together

A dry lily-petal

Water was everywhere

Root-shoot

Where not?

Didn’t it nurture ?

Gave life

Gave Blood

Gave meaning

But then

Why’s the petal dry?

Arms of leaves stretched…..

Eyes of blossoms sparkling…

The love that’s swarming within..

Why doesn’t it come out and soak everything for good?

Why’s love failing me?

Cheers to the new beginning!

Cheers to the new beginning

Cheers to the new beginning

Happy new year 2065..oops! 2066

Cheers to the new beginning!

But

Sometimes beginnings ain’t so simple

and sometimes goodbye’s the only way….

Goodbye 2065

take all the jealosy and selfishness and meanness with you

take away the fatigues,the lethargies,the scarcity

sweep away the hatred…..

welcome 2066

Bring the harmony,the integration, the peace of mind,

the little happiness that’s on my part

Let me wake up everymorning in your arms

with the tinglish hangover of the love

that reigns all night all over

Let life remain the same, crispy,wispy,syrupy

steal my loquacity,lemmi steal your reticence

Lets coincide

Let’s come together………!as 2066 steals in secretly

सपना हो यो भनेदेखी….

सपना हो यो भनेदेखी
सपनीमै मरुँ
अर्को जन्म पाएँ भने
तिमीसँगै परुँ

एउटा जून आकाशमा एउटा मेरो काख
जिन्दगीको पुग्यो धोको दैव दियौ लाख
हाम्रो माया चोखो भए यसको लाज राख
यसको लाज राख

जता हेर्छु उतै तिमी मेरो वरिपरी
निदरीमा झझल्कोले उठ्छु घरिघरी
तिमी बिना आखाँ मेरो साउनको झरी
साउनको झरी

जिवन मेरो के पो होला बिना तिम्रो माया
 तिमी  जान्छौ जतातिर उतै लाग्छु छायाँ
एकै मन एकै मुटु दुई हाम्रो काया
दुई हाम्रो काया

तिम्रो बेला मनमा बज्छ नरेटेरै पनि
टाढै देख्दा प्यास मर्छ नभेटेरै पनि
सपना हो यो भनेदेखी
सपनीमै मरुँ
अर्को जन्म पाएँ भने
तिमीसँगै परुँ

सपना हो यो भनेदेखी….