Why are you here?
I ask a boy from my class
The girl staying opposite me
A student sitting across the table
One from another hostel
“For the tag” is what each one answers.
Why did you trod into these muddy waters?
Why did you lose yourself while finding ‘success'?
Why did you give up everything, including your own spirit?
Why did you let them kill your will and voice?
Why did you become just a number?
Why did you become one of them?
This is a marathon, not a journey
This is a pursuit of package, not of knowledge
This is a factory producing goods, not thinkers
This is self-inhibition, not self-discovery
This is imposition, not interaction
This is imprisonment, not freedom
I am not your investment
I am a thinking, feeling being
I am not your property
I have my voice and identity
I am not your asset
I am a young mind with ideas and free will
I shall not be commodified and sold for profit
I shall not be displayed on your shelf
I shall not be valued by my rank
I shall not be weighed against my grades
I shall not be discarded if not valuable for you
I shall not be for sale in your showroom
I refuse to be labelled with a price tag.
Aishwarya Bhuta
[Aishwarya Bhuta studies MA Development Studies at Indian Institute of Technology, Guwahati]