Pakhi Chauhan, Class: VII, Cambridge School Srinivaspuri, New Delhi
In whispered expectations,
girls are told to be,
sweet hymns of kindness,
gentle as much as can be.
Their playgrounds should be doll house,
not rough and tumble green grounds.
Their colour pink, not bold,
their laughter silent sounds.
Their hearts should flutter like butterflies
not soar like eagles high.
Their dreams should bloom like flowers,
not bloom like wildfires in the sky.
And boys, oh boys, should be brave and
strong, their hearts like military men.
Where emotions don’t belong.
Their grounds should be battlefields,
no gentle green spaces.
Why can’t they dance to their own rhythms,
and shine with this own design?
Let’s shatter these stereotypes
like mirrors on the floor
and emerge with our true selves,
like sunbeams Evermore.
Nurturing Creativity – Keekli Charitable Trust, Shimla
