Am a caged bird,
For sure,
My gender for one,
Dictates my existence,
Every step taken,
Is apparently,
For my security,
For my good.

Am a caged bird,
For sure,
My religion for one,
Dictates my existence,
What I wear,
What I eat,
Where I pray,
Whom I marry,
Is all written down,
Precisely to the point.

Am a caged bird,
For sure,
My state for one,
Dictates my existence,
The language I speak,
The place I live,
The institution I study,
The caste am born into,
All these and more count,
To decide whether I belong,
Here or elsewhere.

Am a caged bird,
For sure,
Can’t love freely,
Can’t think freely,
Can’t express freely,
Censorship everywhere,
Bound by morals,Principles, laws,
Set by the society and the self,
To be followed,
Blindly unquestioningly.

What is this life?
Where each one of us,
Is born into a cage,
And lives there in,
Till the end,
Unable to breathe,
The pure air ,
Of freedom.

Each one of us,
Is willingly,
A caged bird,
And there lies the tragedy!

© 2016 Haseena Dudekula (Reserved)
Image courtesy: Haseenaaz personal collection