Yellow Glass Bangles

I loved wearing glass bangles. I had a whole collection of them, in every colour. I would match them with the saree or dress that I was wearing. Then I met Anshu, Goonj’s founder in 2003, who told me how these glass bangles were made at Firozabad, near Agra. Young children are employed by the bangle making factories because their hands can mould the bangle better. I stopped buying or wearing glass bangles that day.

Wrote this poem then … found it today while searching for something else.

Yellow Glass Bangles...

The rainbows are out
After the pangs of birth
And my smile is wide
I choose yellow
And all that goes with it
Clean water to bathe
And perfume to keep fresh
…. And bangles to match
in glass with cuts
 
I move and they jingle
“How pretty they are !!”
I bang against a wall
And a couple of them break
The glass shards draw blood
I wash them away
And spare no more thought
… to the matched bangles
in glass with cuts
 
 
The rainbows were out
After the pangs of birth
But he had no smile
He chose yellow
But nothing else that goes with it
Choking smoke and a raging fire
Three year old hands to lift
……  the matched bangles
in glass with cuts
 
To wake up before the sun 
Opens a sleepy eyelid 
No broth to keep the growl away
A couple dozen to complete
Before a morsel sticks to his throat
The glass shards draw blood
Hot glue is poured over
…. No thought is spared
to the wound or the cuts
 
 
The rainbows still come
Yellow is still chosen
I still smile
His grave is still
His song never written
Few years of coughs and fights
A few miles apart
….. the unmatched lives
in glass and with cuts.

Also read – What is your name ?