Women's Day: Seema Jain

Seema Jain

Seema Jain is a bilingual poet, short story writer, translator, editor, critic and reviewer. Ex-Vice Principal & Head, PG Dept of English KMV Jalandhar, she has fourteen published books of English and Hindi poems, translated poems and novels, and two edited poetry anthologies (one for Sahitya Akademi). A recipient of many prestigious awards, with her poems published globally in 140 anthologies, Seema has been a Speaker for Sahitya Akademi's Sahityotsav, the JLF, SAARC Countries' Litfest FOSWAL and the Washington DC South Asian Literature Festival.

 

Women's Emancipation

A swollen eye and a gash on my grandmother's beautiful face
My childhood memories are often haunted by my grandfather's fit of rage.
My mother too suffered immensely but rock-like stood by me;
She wanted me to be free and script my own destiny.

Whether it was choosing my clothes, my career or my groom
It was she who provided me enough room.
She wanted her daughter to live in such a world
Where she could fly freely like a bird!

Where none stopped her from taking birth
None put tethers on her flight and worth
Where none viewed her as a plaything for pleasure
Where she could explore her inner treasure.

Where she was not being cast in a fixed mold
Where none else could the key to her happiness hold
Where chains were broken and nectar flowed
And her entire being with divinity glowed.

She wanted my canvas to be the limitless sky
Everyday mutinies of countless unsung sheroes like her enabled me to fly
She knew the era of emancipation doesn't come overnight
It takes centuries for this sun to shine bright.

---

Setu, March 2025