What is this country that I live in? asks Farhan Akhtar

Zeenews Bureau

Mumbai: The latest in a series of Bollywood personalities to speak up against the Delhi gang-rape is actor-filmmaker Farhan Akhtar. The incident mentioned is about the young woman who was gang-raped in a bus in South Delhi on Sunday night while returning from Munirka to Dwarka. In a tweet, aided by TwitLonger in order to exceed the 140-character limitation set by the social networking site, @FarOutAkhtar (the actor’s twitter name) posted a moving poem that stirred the readers. The poem goes as follows: “What is this country that I live in? With no equality And the quality of life Differs from husband to wife Boy to girl, brother to sister Hey Mister, are you the same? Contributing to the national shame Replacing your mothers With the bent ideology of another`s perception that women have a particular role in society Fills my heart with anxiety Where is all of this going? What will emerge from these seeds that we`re sowing? It makes my head spin But I`m not giving in Will keep asking the question What is this country that I live in? What is this country that I live in? That takes away her right to love Brutalises her with an iron glove Rapes her without fear of there being justice for her tear We`ve demeaned our goddesses Gone back on all our promises Become a gender distorted nation Given our conscience a permanent vacation what do I tell my daughter? That she`s growing up to be lamb for the slaughter we`ve got to make a change Reboot, reformat, rearrange, and never give in no matter how much our head may spin Just keep asking the question What is this country that I live in?” Stars like Amitabh Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan and Salman Khan have already come forward to vent their ire with the issue, but Farhan’s two stanzas have put the issue in a greater humanitarian and nationalistic perspective.