Title: The Illusion Of The Choice Poem by ashok jadhav

(The speaker stands as if at a crossroads, eyes fixed ahead. Their voice begins measured, thoughtful, then grows charged with defiance.)
Monologue:
They tell me this was written.
That my steps were measured before I ever learned to walk.
That every loss, every victory, every wound
was sealed by a hand I will never see.
If that is true—
then why does it hurt like something I chose?
I am tired of being told to surrender.
To bow to destiny as if obedience were wisdom.
If fate rules all, then why give me doubt?
Why give me regret, hope, resistance—
why give me the illusion of choice
if I am only meant to follow?
(Pauses, voice tightening.)
I have stood at crossroads
where no sign pointed the way.
I chose, and the world answered—
not with certainty, but with consequence.
If destiny exists,
it hides behind my decisions
and lets me carry the blame.
Perhaps fate is not a chain,
but a current—
and free will is the way we swim against it,
knowing we may still be carried downstream.
But even resistance matters.
Even refusal leaves a mark.
(With quiet conviction.)
If my ending is fixed,
then let it say this of me:
that I questioned, that I struggled,
that I did not walk blindly into what awaited me.
If destiny demands my obedience,
it will not have my silence.
I will choose—
even if the choice breaks me.
(The speaker stands firm, neither victorious nor defeated, but resolute.)