Disclaimer: The article and the piece performed is not about the artist’s personal identity but rather a fictional piece that she has performed.
Sometimes the journey to finding yourself is marred by lost loves, hidden desires and a quiet revolution against your own parents.
Sriti Jha tells a story about acceptance, rediscovering love, and fighting ma ki mamta in this beautiful poem, that she performed as part of Kommune’s Spoken Fest 2019.
She uses lost keys as a metaphor to explain to the captive audience of all that her poem’s protagonist has lost, or rather hidden, in places that can no longer be opened.
Slowly, she tells the story of how when crushes turned out to be women instead of men, the mother turned into a ‘well-wisher’, but sadly, not a friend.
After losing multiple lovers to the mother’s judgmental gaze, she took a step to hide her own self instead.
And yet, the mother remained distanced, because she could not change her natural self.
Until finally, years later, she found her first love again. And with it, the courage to stand up to the mother she loved more than anything.
Because ultimately, if the lost keys let some closets come open, then it’s nice that those keys get lost only.
Watch the complete piece here: