In Memoriam — Keki Daruwalla: A Tribute, by Mrinalini Harchandrai
Wit in appropriate measure, sarcasm at the right moment — Mrinalini Harchandrai…
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From ULR
Issue 3 – Voice
Paper Backed Fiction
Unpacking how official forms erase identity, yearning for recognition beyond traditional names and gender roles
December 15, 2022
Government forms tell half-truths
after putting down the surname
your father bequeathed
where is the line for
the maternal legacy
that outlines you,
find the invisible checkbox
untagging you as his
possessive pronoun
they omit the right
for other halves to fill
the dash after
husband of_________
his-and-her hyphenation
is a squeeze, falling
off the page
like a maiden name
appellation options fail
to reveal our
millennial tattoos
instead of square-pegging
us in roundly hole roles
of Mrs, or miss
the human being,
sexing our thumbprints
beyond self-recognition.
📖
PART OF A COLLECTIONBattle Number and 2 other poems
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Mrinalini Harchandrai
Mrinalini Harchandrai is the author of ‘A Bombay in My Beat’, a collection of poetry. Her poem won first prize in The Barre (2017) and she was a finalist for the Stephen A. DiBiase Poetry Prize 2019. Her unpublished novel manuscript was selected as Notable Entry for the Disquiet International Literary Prize 2019. Her short fiction has been longlisted for the Commonwealth Short Story Prize 2018 and Columbia Journal Spring 2020 Contest. Her work has been anthologized in RLFPA Editions’ Best Indian Poetry 2018 and The Brave New World of Goan Writing (2018, 2020).