Honour Killing Poem by Prathibha Nandakumar

(A Hindu boy and a Muslim girl eloped and got married and went into hiding. The families hunted them down and killed them both in front of their one year old child. None wanted the child and the police took her into their custody. It caused great public debate)

-1-

They had covered only half the distance
the mosque was on top of the hill
and the temple on the other side of the cliff

The story ended even before it started

What do you tell the little one?
That, once upon a time
a foolish man and the queen of scents
were butchered for giving birth to her?

Do not dare peep into the little one's eyes
You cannot answer the questions in them.
Leave it to the National Geographic
to capture the blue-green light in them.

God incarnates and sometimes
takes the forms of knives and swords.

-2-

If honour killing is sacred then
we are a very religious country.

If you say you have the answer and
ask what is the question,
you will be hanged.

The blood dries to make black stains
on the roads where once
we played hop-scotch

You can live here only if you are dead.

I am appalled
there is still love in my poems.

-3-

The scared Brahmin who stepped on the dirt
died of shock. Ganesh festival
can also trigger a communal riot.

I apologised to the dung-bug
sorry, we are only human.
It just continued to roll the dung.

The best friend is standing behind you
with a gun in hand ready to pull the trigger.

The news papers carry the story
of a displaced tribe caught stealing in the metro.

-
Translated from Kannada by the poet