POWER DYNAMICS AND SOCIETAL SCARS: VOICING THE UNVOICED

Why those who are already privileged are given more opportunities of recognitions and respect than those who are capable but less privileged? Why can't we think beyond the confines of convention and honor the unsung heroes, the poets, artists, and thinkers who enrich our world with their creativity and wisdom?

- DR. SHALINI YADAV

As I sit to pen down my thoughts, I try to listen those all whispers that echo within me or I can say that these haunting whispers force me to sit and pen down even though at times I try not to voice through lexis. The soft voice than starts knocking on the door of my heart, day and night, commending me to give expression to the unspoken, to shed light on the societal ills that plague us, hurt us, are the hurdle in holistic growth.

Folks often perceive my writings as a personal catharsis, a therapeutic release of emotions, and some have even dared to say it directly to me. But I see these writings as an awakening call to wake up our conscience; a light on the dark recesses of our collective psyche as society. I generally seek to probe the very frame of our society, to expose the loopholes that disseminate inequality and injustice.

A tiny, soft voice within me has been growing louder, refusing to be silenced from past few months. It kept asking the questions that we often shy away from what our heart and mind wish to speak about. Why do we discriminate at every turn? Why do we reserve our respect for those in positions of power, neglecting the inherent worth of every individual? What kind of education we have gained if we discriminate and disrespect?

In a conversation with a poet of unparalleled prowess from Punjab, I came to know about the cruel irony of fate how he has suffered throughout his life, the discrimination at various levels. Despite an incredible range of around two hundred books into his credit as an author and poet, this literary luminary remains sidelined, denied the recognition, he deserves from the Punjab government and literary associations of Punjab though he has been widely acknowledged by global literary societies.