To Leena Manimekalai

leena manimekalai
Leena Manimekalai

In a very holy land
In a very pious place
One hundred thirty crore people live
Sensitive, religious, courageous and non-sensuous.

We get hurt
And rightly so
When a polymorph smokes
And a strange man named Zubair
Says the truth

We are very decent people
We kiss in private
We kill in public.
We worship our goddesses.
We are fine with female infanticide

We are very tolerant
No one ever has been lynched here
for their names!
We are champions of freedom of speech!

We never celebrate violence.
Three days of peace conclave happened
In Haridwar
Under the holy presence of some
Holy men
No one has called for genocide there.

We, one hundred and thirty crore people
are very soft-hearted,
You must agree, Leena!
We boo our girls for being a lesbian
and we are the highest dowry payer!

This is the story of a noble country
You must understand, Leena!
How dare you, Leena!
How can your goddess work in a pride march!

About the poem: This poem is in solidarity with Leena Manimekalai who is getting a lot of flak for the poster of her movie.

Moumita Alam is a poet from West Bengal. Her poetry collection The Musings of the Dark is available on Amazon

Support Countercurrents

Countercurrents is answerable only to our readers. Support honest journalism because we have no PLANET B.
Become a Patron at Patreon

Join Our Newsletter

GET COUNTERCURRENTS DAILY NEWSLETTER STRAIGHT TO YOUR INBOX

Join our WhatsApp and Telegram Channels

Get CounterCurrents updates on our WhatsApp and Telegram Channels

Related Posts

Sundays

I sit still, lethargicAnd add new wordsTo the great tapestryOf female sorrows From a distant cityOver the ruinsOf a war he never foughtA boy cries, there is no wayBack to…

Operation Gold Rush

It's all about the gold.Hasn't it always been?The allure, the beauty of goldin whatever form it takes —wealth, power, fame, ironclad security. In Gaza the rush is on.Tanks, bombs, missiles,…

IN the HUMAN WORLD

In the human worldwe have heroesand villainsand cowards. Those who defend lifetaking risks aboveand beyond self interestthose who destroy lifeand those we do not carewho play games ofselfish detachment and…

Faces

The world is full.Filled with hardships.Filled with courage.Filled with suffering. EverywhereThere are human faces.Everywhere the pathosOf conscious mortality.Everywhere the pathosOf human faces. The world is full. Filled with struggles and…

The First Stone

If it were me in Palestineand I found you on a stretcherin a shell-shocked hospital,I would kneel beside youand take your hand in mine,wipe the blood from your faceand pray…

Join Our Newsletter


Annual Subscription

Join Countercurrents Annual Fund Raising Campaign and help us

Latest News