Now, what they did was
all in reverse
They gave me a
name even before I could converse
I didn’t know who
I was or what should have I been called
To begin with, I
was nothing, and then I was supposed to be all
And of course, I
was not yet sure of my type
For I wasn’t born
out of a box, never fitted in, so what was the hype
I imagine that I
must have been alive and kicking and breathing
So why call me
something certain even before I started teething
I am still not
sure of my colour for it has multi shades
I am not sure of
my tongue, if it is kind or sharp like blades
I am not sure of
my skin, if it is soft and smooth enough for you
For I am in love
with my unevenness, and I am okay with a scar or two
I am not sure of
my hair for they are black and brown and rough and wild
They have their
days just like I do, sometimes harsh and at times mild
No, I’m no surname
or a class or a gender
I’m more, much
more than just a countable number
I am not sure of
my religion for they never introduced me to God
I just clench my
eyes and teeth and fists when fear strikes me with a rod
The mind runs
like the chicks in the barn until I stumble upon a – calm
The orphan in me
begs until ‘a Nothingness’ brings ‘the end’ as alms
That’s how I
learnt about faith, and I am glad that it has no name or brand
And I am not sure
what caste is mine for I am still foreign to my land
Or how far back
in time goes my history,
For how far back
does it really go is still a mystery
But my (known) history
did give me some roots to follow
And trust me,
it’s not just as narrow and hollow
As thinking that “I
have no choice”
Because I am
still trying to find my own voice
Now they tell me
that I’m grown and I still insist,
No, don’t call me
sweet and nice, just yet
For I might take
you by surprise when I’m upset
No don’t call me
fake and phoney, for all you know
I might just be
there to hold you in your lowest low
Don’t call me too
strong or uptight or weak
For I am my shyest
when bold and loudest when all you see is someone meek
Don’t go on
predicting what ‘I’ would say or do
For I am not sure
if I am the ‘I’ as per the ‘You’
I still haven’t
made up my mind about my name just yet
How would I turn
out to be? Oh, there were so many bets!
I thought that I would
tell them once I found out
And since then I’ve
been wandering with countless burnouts
Sometimes, I
think if I am ‘the one’ for me,
Or that who was,
and is, and will be
Can you imagine
what all then I’d have to survive to just be?
Perhaps a wanderer
and seeker is what I am at the most
For these have all
the limits, and are still life’s limitless hosts
Now, I dearly
hold my choice to still remain nameless
For you might
revere or chase after me for being limitless
Oh no, don’t call
me a human just yet for that’s one decent thing that I am still striving to be
But I know that I
am me and you are you, and hence you will still call me as you please
