bhenchodpatriarchy:

When I was born my grandmother cried because I wasn’t a boy

“My son’s life is ruined. He’s ruined.”
“To top it off she’s so dark.”
My cries were louder than hers. I was too eager to live.
An unwelcome troublemaker from birth

But that’s not where my story starts

A few hundred years ago, some men sailing on blue waters wound up on brown land
And they decided they’d walk on anything that wasn’t white

I remember scrubbing my face with a “formula” at age 12
3 tubes Fair and Lovely
2 tablespoon bleach
Countless years of colonialism shoved into my DNA
An old ancestral recipe

I’ve seen light-skinned become default beauty
I’ve seen makrani and bengali become an insult

Dad told me to wear a dupatta
Dad let me wear shorts on a different continent
Dad controls the length of my kameez

I remember being pushed around
My chachoo pinching all the fat he could find on me
“You’re so ugly”
Joke’s on him
I pissed on his bed when he was abusing the maid
I may not have a penis
But boy can I aim

My story started before ‘47
Even before the start of that century
I was born in rebellion
They called it mutinous
But we bathed in the independence of our own blood
I was born in that revolution
I hear the sword clashes every day

I have been denounced for colour
sex
and country

One time I flew a kite in New York
When it reached as high as I could take it
I let it go
I will not hold on to limits

I will let my hair remain dark
I will not buy lenses of a lighter shade
I will not paint my skin white
Brown is too fucking majestic to erase

I was born on the land of the poor
And I will not fool myself with the luxury of diaspora
I was born on the Earth of men
And I will not die with the gates of misogyny open

my name is Sana
and if you wept when I was a child

you will quiver when I am a woman

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tamilprongspotter:

@ lgbtq hindus affected by the tragedy in orlando and turning to religion:

• prayer options
  
• pray a shanthi mantram (words for several options here, sacred chants recording here).
• pick your favorite short/medium length prayer and say it seven times loudly, seven times quietly, and seven times in your heart. the repetition does wonders for making anxiety less of an immediate threat, and the closer the prayer is to your heart, the more effective it is as a calming technique.
• pick a mantram or phrase that matters to you (“rama” or “siva” are the most common i’ve heard of, but i’ve seen others use “om nama sivaya” or “om namo narayanaya”) and write it down. fill a couple lines, or maybe a page, or maybe a whole book. incorporating this into your daily routine or using it at moments of anxiety will help ground you and focus your mind on something good.
• gita quotes that i found helpful
  
• “the body is mortal, but that which dwells in this body is immortal and immeasurable.” (2:18)
• “the self cannot be pierced by weapons or burned by fire; water cannot wet it; nor can the wind dry it. the self cannot be pierced or burned, made wet or dry. it is everlasting and infinite, standing on the motionless foundations of eternity. the self is unmanifested, beyond all thought and beyond all change. knowing this, you should not grieve.” (2:23-25)
• “the lord does not partake in the good and evil deeds of any person; judgment is clouded when wisdom is obscured by ignorance.” (5:15)
• “the supreme self is without a beginning, undifferentiated, deathless. though it dwells in the body, it neither acts, nor is touched by action.” (13:31)
• “do not get angry or harm any living creature, but be compassionate and gentle; show good will to all.” (16:2)
• “our faith conforms to our nature. human nature is made of faith. a person is what they are devoted to.” (17:3)
• upanishad quotes that i found helpful
  
• “see how it was with those who came before, and how it will be with those who are living. like corn, mortals ripen and fall; like corn they come up again.” (katha upanishad i.1.6)
• “there is no fear at all in heaven; for neither old age nor death is there. passing beyond hunger and thirst and pain, all rejoice in the kingdom of heaven.” (katha upanishad i.1.12)
• “the all knowing self was neer born, nor will it die. beyond cause and effect, this self is eternal and immutable. when the body dies, the self does not die.” (katha upanishad i.2.18)
• “the human being has two states of consciousness one in this world, the other in the next. but there is a third state between them, not unlike the world of dreams, in which we are aware of both worlds, with their sorrows and joys. when a person dies, it is only the physical body that dies; that person lives on in a nonphysical body, which carries the impressions of their past life.” (brihandaranyaka upanishad iv.9)
• “those who depart from this world without knowing who they are or what they truly desire will have no freedom here or hereafter. those who leave here knowing who they are and what they truly desire have freedom everywhere, both in this world and in the next.” (chandogya upanishad viii.1.6)

may you be granted peace in your knowledge of who you are and what you want for yourself. your knowledge of you is the best knowledge of you there is, and bhagavan loves you for it, no matter what. 

hopefully this helps.

(Source: hammerhertls)

• 232 notes