Snap Button
By Anamika
My brother explained this to me:
Stars
are the snap-buttons sewn on the jacket of night.
In my part of the world, snaps
were called chutputia
because with the click of a ‘chut’ one snapped into the other
They only worked when all four eyelets on both sides matched up.
They had no faith in the high and the low
Advocates of equality
neither hooking nor getting hooked up
came together without a fuss
In my part of the world
snaps were called ‘chutputia’
but even the people from my part of the world
behaved liked snaps.
No chutputia here in this alien city
like sweet gourd, satputia jhigune
you just can’t find them, can’t find them anywhere.
chutputia people and chutputia snaps on sari blouses,
tailors in the city sew on hooks, not snaps
and there’s always a gap
between the hook and the snare of the eye.
No matter how hard you try, they’ll be no click of ‘chut’ and no
‘put’.