My Daughter's Wedding: Poems on women, patriarchy & more.

Sangeeta Kampani

Mar 2023 · Notion Press

About this ebook

What happens when your daughter is getting married? Surely, you are happy but somewhere down, you are deeply nervous too. ‘My daughter’s wedding’, the title poem of this collection delves into the heart of a mother who, in the midst of celebrations, worries about how life will treat her little daughter after she ties the knot. The poem looks at systemic patriarchy that allows no notion of equality even when a woman is educated and financially independent. A number of other poems highlight the conscious and unconscious bias against women and talk about the way patriarchy shapes the many contours of her existence. There are yet other poems that are soaked in nostalgia, colored with sepia-tinted memories, wistfully remembering the times gone by. By turns thoughtful, moving and provocative, the collection is a fascinating potpourri of different themes.

About the author

Sangeeta Kampani is a former IRS officer and retired as a Commissioner of Income Tax after putting in twenty-five years in a job that required her to decode and deconstruct balance sheets. Interestingly, a lifetime in the Tax service did not diminish her interest in words. In fact, very often she was found lending a dash of color to hackneyed bureaucratese, finding fulfillment in playing with words. Into her sunset years now, she writes frequently about gender issues, something she is passionate about. Settled in Delhi, she still revels in the scents and smells of the dusty small towns she grew up in and many of her poems are dedicated to the shrine of the dead past. She contributes regularly to the LiveWire section of ‘The Wire’ where a number of her pieces have been published.