For Adults Only

I am a worker, I seek employer.
I am a skilled worker:
If not Marx, I know Vatsyayana.
Desi, English, American- Chinese,
I know French, too.

I am a worker, I seek employer.
At evening, I make up
I am a widow but apply vermillion on parting of my hair too.
And apply kajal - bindi.1

It’s time for the business.
I have set out without breast- feeding to the baby-
If the milk overflows,
Spit it out considering it a pan spit.

Women’s empowerment is in the air
And in the era of feminism I am fully liberated.
Let me tell it openly
I am a worker, I seek employer.

I wander on Relief road, Ritchie road, and streets of Ashram road.2
I wander at the entrance of Rupalee, Advance and Natraj Cinemas.3
There is no one in circuit house, the conference is on,
College hostels are empty, students are on vacation.

Poets are flamboyant but empty-pockets
like Guru Dutt:4
They say that the fresh couplet has been stolen
And now promise an epic.

I am a worker, I seek employer.
I am secular, socialist.
I am not racist,
Do not believe in color, caste and creed.
Rama will do, Rahim will do.
Clinton will do, Kalidasa will do.

The employer is my god
And the customer satisfaction is my motto.

Orders readily served.
Cash and carry
Home delivery? Yes , sir!
Hotel delivery? Yes, sir!
The position yours, orgasm yours.
Whip me if you are sadist.
If you bring wine, I will serve it.
I am untouched, like a lotus in pond like Yogini:
Bid me farewell when you finish:
Daughter is waiting at home, to be breast-fed.

The economists say that
with liberalization and globalization
the nights are dazzling.
All industries are at a standstill
The entertainment industry is up, at peak.

ILO 4 says that by definition I am a worker
And am worthy of labor laws.
I have a dream, not at a brothel or at kadiya naka 5
but in a posh commercial complex
I open a corporate house.
Construct a website, book by e-mail,
with network of loveline or chulbuli chat-line
Do global commerce.

I do not wish to offer condom, but Viagra in every street.
Who cares for SITA.6
Now I do not wish to give periodic bribe or free service to the police
Who harass me behind the board of ‘May I help you?’

I am not a servant not a devdasi,
I am a respectable worker,
I am a specially skilled worker,
If not a blue-collar
If not a white-collar,
Give me new status of red ribbon worker.
Not only the new name, give me self respect.

Now, let there be pay commission for prostitute,
Sorry, sex worker.
For the benefit of apprentice
Like astrology
Teach kamashastra and kokashastra in the universities
Rather than gifting STD/ AIDS
Give gift hampers of condoms.
For each and every worker along with
Bed and attached bath
Give crèche and KG,
LTC and maternity benefits.

Now I am revolting.
On the pitch dark night of Women’s Day
I call:
‘Sex workers of the world unite.
We have nothing to lose
Except your chastity chains’.

Notes:

1. Kajal-bindi , symbols of shrigar, done by married women with husbands alive
2. Roads in Ahmedabad
3. Cinema houses in Ahmedabad
4. Famous Hindi cinema Hero of Pyasa who falls in love with a prostitute
5. A place were daily wagers wait for employer
6. SITA: the poet uses pun: SITA is Suppression of Immoral Trafficking Act