HONOUR KILLING

Every years hundreds of girls in south asia are killed by family members when they want to marry a boy who does not belong to her caste or religion, a dialog between a father and a daughter

Father,,
For me you are the star of my life,
the jewel of my turban, the kohinoor,
For what purpose did I send you, o daughter,
Education is for enlightenment,
Not to defame a family s pride,
You have caste out all norms,
and stamped on our family s honour,
How difficult it will be for me to find,
Matches for your siblings and walk with pride,
The only thing I can save is either my honour,
Or a daughter who wrongly decides,,

DAUGHTER,,
You are the creater of my existence,
Not only a father but also,
A guide and god like figure,
When I was a child, you were
my protective shell,
your hands were there to save from falls,
To my wishes you always complied,
what do you want? Colored pencils?
fairy dresses? Or dolls?
A freedom to choose,
A freedom to decide,
And now here is my life s greatest wish
You want the voice of my desire to fade,
Once you said, o father,
Educated minds are enlightened,,
All world has same blood,
if not caste and color,
Same god created us o father,
Choosing a soulmate is my human right,
What other will say is your only fear,
You want to put my love to an end,
the color of my blood on your hand,
Will not let you regain,
The greatness of a father,
Being human is a superior thing,
Think again, think again, think again,

Reviews

[Prabha Salimath]

Very sad concept you have revealed in the poem. Yes Hardeep it is the bitter truth. Till today it is hotly debated issue I should say. I can't take any decision of this matter it includes many oddities, for girl is accepting a new religion for the rest of her life and for father its accepting his own blood in different way. The most difficult things ti accept. But my only wish is everyone should find their humanity.

[hardeep sabharwal]

very true, humanity should not be lost, and we should not forget others human rights,
Thank you prabha for reading and reviewing

[JJHII]

This Poem. I say on my page
"A misspelled word is never useless, just need to know where to place it and it may mean more than you'll ever know."
Anyone could nitpick the grammar and talk about viewpoint on poems but it is poems like this that I love and it is the mistakes ;in my eyes; that I find give the poem life beyond the person who wrote the poem. It is part of that persons soul poured into the poem that gives it , its own life.
With the broken up words shows that the world is broken. to fix a perfectly written poem doesn't always fix the world or families but a raw unfiltered, unedited, poem in which you can see, hear and feel that part of the persons soul no matter the cultural differences ,having a heavy bi-lingual accent, or now days computer translation. This is a very sad occurrence that should not happen any more.
I love this imperfect poem.
Just wish it is as easy to change some of the worlds viewpoints as it is as easy to "fix" a poems spelling and grammar.
I would not change anything on this but that is just me.

[hardeep sabharwal]

Thanks a lot, :)

[Avinash]

Thanks for penning something on socio political realities of the place.
Second, caste is nothing but bunch of lie to control money and fate, another form of slavery. As per most sacred book of Hinduism. This what it had to say about caste:
http://www.eaglespace.com/spirit/gita_castesystem.php
If you believe a lie for thousand years it does not become truth. There is no glory in a socially acceptable lie. It is just greed and control. The early we do away with it the better.

[hardeep sabharwal]

Thanks Avinash for telling about caste system, but we all know that we r still deeply merged in this caste system in india, and if all have thinking like u, we will have a better india a better world

[Avinash]

This is the same place which burned 8 yr old along with her 80 yr old departed husband. Women in some places belonging to lower caste were molested for covering their body. At least we are opening our eyes to them and seeing the truth and that matters. Change is not far away but it would be a difficult road. Answer is growing stronger than their circumstances, specially women.

[Ashira Macy]

This was very different, I like that it is a dialogue between two characters, not just one character speaking to another.

You have caste out all norms,

The word play in this line was brilliant.

I am so glad that you spoke out about this, especially on here, since not all of us know what is going on there to its fullest extent. You make a really important point, choosing who we want to marry is in fact a human right, and why is it so wrong to want to marry outside of your caste. In reality the caste system is so oppressive, to want to take away love from its people. Well done.

[hardeep sabharwal]

Thanks Ashira Macy, I want to add that we have given daughters a right to choose dresses, to choose carrier but not given the right to choose a life partner beyond boundaries, but it is not parents or family members who r responsible but the social system, hope the picture will change soon

[Ashira Macy]

I hope so too.

[PloughBoy]

Although my knowledge of wedding traditions is primarily steeped in European and American culture, I do have some very basic knowledge of of Hinduism, arranged marriages, and honor killings when a male family member feels a female member has betrayed the family's honor and trust. I heard of one woman recently, from one of the Middle Eastern countries, who was stoned to death for committing adultery, simply as a honor killing.

Your poem shows both sides of the proverbial "coin", if you will.

Well done, hardsheep sabharwal...

[hardeep sabharwal]

Thank you very much Plough Boy, hope world will change soon and we will grow as better human :)

[Norah]

Very interesting piece of poetry, good job..

[hardeep sabharwal]

Thanks norah a lot

[hardeep sabharwal]

Thanks norah a lot

[hardeep sabharwal]

I need some reviews friends