Wake up, Mrs Bangladesh

There's an acute lack of philosophy in this land.

Basics haunt us, secure us, insecure us, and rule our cramped identities.

Our fears have gotten bigger than us.

Breakfast at 8, lunch at 2, a cuppa at 5, dinner at 9: It's as if food's running out on us.

We never skip meals and simply eat because we have to keep the routine alive.

The routine of routinely complaining about weights and looks

The routine of routinely blaming Atkins and our thyroids,

The routine of 'Dhuro' has done us all a great disfavor.

A dog or a cat in a car, a quick trip to the nearest video store,

A bite at a Korean restaurant nearby,

Kids leaving for school after High School,

All fall under: Routine.

Last night, Hanufa bua's brother who's a loyal caddy

At the golf club has been arrested …

At 3:00 in the morning, they woke him up, tied his hands,

Shoved a gun into his pocket

And took a picture.

Under Routine, this is the perfect arms case.

A photograph will prove it too.

Remember:

Amra kotipoye amlar stri. The old poem on the wives of the bureaucrats?

With diamond studded lives,

Children graduating,

Working abroad,

Joining your empire,

Taking your grand children to the club for a swim,

Or a gelato in summer,

Is not what 'Desh needs right now.

Your nightmare has to cease.

The picture perfect scenario.

Is unreal in this land.

If my bad poetry doesn't get to you,

Disaster will.

Wait till your kid gets kidnapped,

Wait till you are taken hostage for a ransom,

Wait till your area gets bombed.

Woman, what are you waiting for?

Wake up, women!

'Shadharon' is not your land,

You have been raped in 71,

You have been violated all your life.

With nothing more to part with,

Defy Routine,

You were meant to be an epidemic.

So be it.

Pass it to the next voice lying in your next room.

Invade her heart, teach her the langue of freedom,

Be brutal in the process

Wake her, shake her up and tell her

That all that you have taught her for so long

Was simple Routine.

She needs to change her Major from Business to

Development,

Walk in the crowd,

Get arrested,

Beat the shit out of the bastards that wear the garb of

propriety and preach intolerance.

Get there, woman.

And help me get there too.

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Himal Southasian
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