I hate pink.

I hate the way pink walls of my room welcome me home.

I hate the sheen of pink eyeshadows, nailpaints and lipgloss.
I hate pink like I hated my first crush.
Never wanted to be linked to him.
Being linked to pink

Is embarassing.

Somehow people never take me seriously
When I wear a pink dress with pink heels.
I hate how the red love for myself
Mixes with peaceful white oppression
I hate pink because,

I love the way pink is humorous

I love how pink insults.

I love how pink stereotypes,

Reducing everything to gullible,
To naive,
To woman,
To me.
I hate how pink needs pepper sprays to walk on lonely roads.

I hate how my pepper-spray is canned in pink.

How all the times I am supposed to love pink, want pink, smell pink.

I think pink works like black.

It changes all my colours to one colour.

I hate pink like I hate hues of invisibility.

Invisibility, the colour of my history, my misery.

I hate how you always need lockers
And A grade protection for pink… panther.
I know it’s not pink’s fault.

Pink was different when pink was for man.

I know I oppress pink too.

I know…
I know it’s the fault
of human eyes of human minds.
But pink is the only thing I can hate.

Arushi Aggarwal is an upcoming poet. Her poems are an attempt to link her own experiences to the academic perspectives she is exposed to. Her journey as a performance poet began from National Youth Poetry Slam, India. Since then, she has performed, won prizes and earned admiration on various occasions.