Cursed Beauty

Trying to look into the mirror, 

A small little girl stands on her tiptoes

Loosely draping her mother's saree

Otiose try to disguise like her beneath a long veil

Filthily polishing her tiny lips with red lipstick

And her fingers colored with the rest of it

Managing the almost falling off oversized bangles

Like a veteran, while grasping her sweeping 'pallu'

A resembling face scolds with a hint of 

Conceding laughter, to come to sleep soon

Two decades later..trying to look into the mirror

A young lady barely stands on her stilettos

Sumptuously draping her saree over 

A glittery bodice divulging her bosom

Elegantly coloring the lips, conceding 

The darkened, bitten lower flap

Managing the almost bleeding off the wrist

Like a veteran, while wearing the lilliputian bangles

A familiar voice scolds, with a hint of 

Voyeuristic glee, to come to bed soon...