THE PARK

The green leafy tree,
With a stroke of breeze,
Sweeps so free,
As it's trying to unfreeze.

The crimson petals slowly fall,
Swinging slowly to the ground,
From the leafy tree so tall,
The petals were earlier red and round.

The wind around the trees,
Like a satin blue cloth,
Blows cool enough to release,
The farmers suffering from drought.

the little blue birds come,
To perch on the branches,
And keep staring at some,
Love birds on the benches.

The floor clothed with grass,
Gets bathed with dew drops.
Jolly faced kids in a mass,
Play without fearing the cops.

When tired after a game,
The kids take a nap,
As cuddled into a frame,
On the caring mother's lap.

Some smile, some frown,
Some lives are in dark.
Some are never let down in this glorious park.

                                                                             -Somya Mishra

THOUGHTS AND THEIR IMPRINTS

 Some call it a 'dragon'; some call it a 'flying serpent'. I chose to create my own rather than just giving it a name.

 I sat back and thought, "What is it about lips that fascinates people so much?". I thought of figuring it out on my own and woah!!! Now I get it!!!

This penguin truly knows how to pose. ;)

When aggression and beauty come together, the end product is always  magnificent.

SAINTLY PEACE

With a tedious search for peace and a slow instrumental, the only image that struck my mind was this. This seemed to be the best way to end a stressful day. I, finally, find myself at peace after looking at the results.

THE SHELTER THAT REMAINED UNSHELTERED

                                                              A summer inspiration

While I was sketching it out, all my focus was on making the last branches perfect. One thing it made me realize is that we really never look at the root because we know that it's strong enough to hold on to what comes out of it. We generally look at the end-result and appreciate that. It's actually the strong root and the base stem that is giving all the strength to the standing tree but picture-wise, the branches beautify it more. Anyways, I love what I have sketched :P

DROP OF ILLEGALITY IN A SEA OF LEGALITY

                She was a girl of 14, innocent and unaware of the world she was going to enter. She was trembling with fear when she realized that she has lost her family in the huge bus accident. There was nobody she could approach for help. She begged and ate and sat on the footpath. Her pretty face attracted many but the rags took back the attraction. This lady of 48 spoke to her, picked her up and took her to a place where she assured her of food and life security if she co-operates. Her co-operation demanded a lot of patience and silence when men touch her wherever they want treat her however they want just because they paid for her. Her co-operation also asked her to be quiet and not disclose to anyone about the bruises on her body because of getting whipped. That so called secure place was a brothel, the lady was a pimp and the girl was a prostitute now.

               This above situation is an imagination of a place where brothels and prostitution are illegally run. Now, let’s just imagine it prostitution was legal, what the situation would be.

                     Section 2(f) of the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act, 1956 defines “prostitution” as “the sexual exploitation or abuse of persons for commercial purposes”. This act and all its implications would come into effect only if the acts were complained of. The prostitutes are not kept in a position, physically or mentally, to go and complain about such issues. Even if they are confident, that happens at a stage when they are used to this life and don’t find any reason to move out of that lifestyle.

                 If prostitution is legalized, the money that they earn can be taxed upon and this will ultimately benefit the nation’s Government and the country’s economy. On the other hand, these prostitutes will be recognized and will receive a certain respect for contributing towards the country’s economy. This will eventually reduce prostitution or completely eliminate it because the people running this business would reduce doing it as they will be aware that now the whole of income is not going to be with them and they need to pay taxes. Now that there income will reduce and they will need to be more careful about the prostitutes’ safety, they will not do it as they have been doing till now. This is when a woman in this profession can claim her safety as per Article 21 of the Indian Constitution which mentions about right to life and to live with dignity. They are not being able to do it now because they know that what they are into is illegal in nature and they will be sacked in the first place for doing it.

               In order to substantiate the contents of Article 21, Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013 came into force. It may sound weird to see a woman involved in prostitution complaining of “sexual” harassment, but a woman in such profession consents for sexual act and doesn’t allow anyone to harass her in this process. There is huge wall between consensual sexual act and sex involving harassment. Section 2(g)(i) of the Act mentions “appropriate Government” while defining a virtue of an employer who falls under the purview of the statute. If the statute considers units of appropriate Government or local authorities to be an important criterion for the security of women against sexual harassment, then making prostitution legal and brothels to be enterprises or units subject to Government will definitely secure women and bring down prostitution eventually.
There are some known fifteen countries which have legalized prostitution. Out of these, Greece has also included prostitution as an actual job in society where the employees get equal rights and have to go for health checkups at required intervals. Apart from Greece, Ecuador is a place where everything related to sex work is legal. This 'everything' includes selling of one's body, running a brothel or even being an employer there. They say that prostitution in itself is not illegal in India but running a brothel is. If running a brothel gets legalized then forced prostitution will completely eliminate. In this case, the 14 year old would have fought for herself under all laws protecting a minor and a woman.

I have just put up the way I look at things. Any other opinion or different point of view will be well-appreciated and accepted.