We are the Same!

Dear girl from India,

Salam, Hello, Namaste! I’m sorry that I don’t know your name,

Dear girl from India, Let me tell you yours and mine, They’re the same.

You ask me if I ever crossed the border and I smile, Because at night when I sleep, I cross that border time after time. I go to ancient corners of the land, The ones which live inside me, And despite 69 years and reasons for hate, Those wondrous places still remain.

And yes I am not anything like what Salman Rushdie or anyone else describes, I am fighting my daily battles, Just like you do on your side.

I hang out with friends and create pathways for others to follow. I am also beaten, raped and forgotten And feel empty, thrashed and hollow.

There, my dear self, my dear Indian girl, When you sit in a cafe and laugh and joke, I sit here with a cigarette in my hand I think of the same crazy hope.

And I hate the soaps as much as you do, Love to eat a thousand calories of street food, And I twirl and dance and sing, And oh, I am very filmy too.

I wish to meet you half way, Not on your side or on my side, I wish to meet you where there is no divide.

And when we meet we won't need to know our names. We won't need an introduction, Because We are the same.