
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.