Raw power

Nine yards of fabric

Around a petite frame

Valour personified, violence vindicated

As she steps up to slay monsters

Red becomes her, the Goddess compels

All to respect, to accept and bow

To power of the feminine

Raw are wounds on her soul

Instilling fear, inspiring awe, as blood oozes….

Note: A nine-day long festival Navaratri (Nav- nine, ratri- nights) to worship Goddess Durga ends tomorrow. There have been no celebrations this year other than worship rituals in some homes, in the lock-in conditions. But the red theme took me here.

Yes, the traditional color for the North Indian bride is red, though modern brides are adopting different colors. The vermilion on the forehead, red lips (betel-stained in the pre-lipstick era) , red henna on hands all carried the theme of passion and fertility. Sharing a pic here…

On a topical note, I wonder how corona virus memes and pictures are all swathed in red – the color of danger, the color of fear, the color of blood-baths in the stock market, the signal to ‘STOP’ ravaging the green earth …

Seeing Red!