Caste, Class, Society And Gender India Poem by Bijay Kant Dubey

There was time
When one used to ask,
What is your caste,
What is your name and title?

Are you from a rich family
Or a poor family,
Wealthy and moneyed
Or not?
Our mentality and mind-set.

Which society do you belong to,
What your society,
Where are you from,
Upper or lower strata?

You are a woman,
A woman,
Live you under purdah,
Under ghumta
Lest they will see you!

Why did you, did you smile
On seeing the stranger,
The stranger,
Why did you, did you? , asking his daughter.

Though there is something cultural
But instead of,
Our pagletgiri, excessive punditism
We liked and admired we not,
Our untouchability.

Dharma-, adharma,
Papa-punya,
Karam-dharam concepts,
Too much of orthodoxy and convention
Admired we it not.