My Religious Odds | Shabnum Khanum

I have always wondered about religion
About mine, about yours, about everyone’s
I have wondered where the Gods went
And I have wondered about the ones still in making
I have wondered why I feel angry sometimes
When someone talks against My God
And I have wondered why my best friend now sees our religion odd.
Where did I get all this from?
Maybe from people who followed religion as the most convincing fraud?
They were friends, family and near ones
They sought solace
What other best way could be
And they gave this same habit to me
This habit now travels everywhere
And vents out as fear
It vents out as anger
It vents out through me in all ways
And I wonder why I don’t feel like a human in these matters
That’s because I feel like a tribe
I walk on what has been laid down
No religion of mine, it was of the crowd
The fanatics were searched and sometimes they themselves came out
Killed each other in their own God’s name
They emptied out the blood of those which on the sidelines remained
As were the God’s the people too became
In my country the people were now just their names

Shabnum Khanum is a poet, writer and an IT & Marketing Professional. Born in a faraway town of India she has closely looked at the life in both its freedom and inhibitions. Her above piece is a result of that observance and she continues to affect the life of those around her to hit them with reality time and again without disrupting their worlds. Apart from this she is an avid runner, reader and social activist she now writes actively for various women issues fervently among other things. She has been published in various magazines and journals. Her chapbook “The Violent Veins” is up for release in February 2017.