BY SANIKA KAJAREKAR

He tries to hold back his glistening tears,

tries to hide his deepest fears.

For he is a man, forbidden to feel insecure.

The fearless, dauntless, brave-hearted man;

In the end it’s all just a scam.

For he is after all a human,

whose very nature being to feel pain, hurt and grief.

To conceal all this, there is but one solution, a dash of toxic masculinity;

Draining himself of every delicate emotion.

“Man up,” said father a lot more than once.

Pondering about this, myriads of sleepless nights were spent.

Did being a man signify everything he could never have dreamt?