On the eve of Women's Day...A Tribute to a Great Woman! (Written on behalf of her daughter)

They call me Nirbhaya

And I call myself Nirbhagya

Till that day I was one among you

Today I am alone, I lost my life

I’m alone but not so far

From the sobs of my Dad and Mom

How can I leave you in your grief

That’s killing you alive each painful day?

How can I tell you that I am here

Free to choose a hell or heaven

Home is where I first saw love

It’s in your arms I first felt safe

The daughter who brought you smiles

Turned to a scar in your heart

They took my life, my home, my joy

The monsters born of another woman

What bled me the most wasn’t the rape

But the shame and pain that my parents bore

Rapist is a name they call

The person who commits the crime

What can I call them, the others,

Who blindly live when my home is hell?

I am just a name for them to discuss

Never will justice dry my tears

I fought for life to save the rest

Who else can save them, if not a woman?

They left me to the mercy of justice

They think I’m a hero, but I’m not

They killed me, I didn’t die for a cause

I tried to live for a cause, I couldn’t

They sleep when my Dad keeps awake

They laugh when my Mom wipes her tears

Now I see the truth so clear

I can hear each word they utter

Nothing is changed, nothing will change

No justice can undo the injustice done

Women still live as makers of men

Care takers, cooks and tools for them

If they could kill me and yet feel fine

No human justice can ever be done

A day should come when women know

That they aren’t made by a lesser God

Empowerment is realising power

Within one self and fighting one’s fight

I didn’t win, but my Mom is fighting

Her own battle, with grit and faith

Ma,I lost the life that you gave me in your womb

And now I live in your heart as a sad memory.

I salute you Mom, for not letting go

The right to fight for your little girl

Mom, I call you Nirbhaya

As you change your silent tears into a voice heard

You stood there, you never gave up, you fought for justice

I wish you ‘Proud women’s day', you are my Hero, my mother