Dr. Shruti Shankar Gaur

“Who are you?”

asked a friend, concerned.

“What do you mean?”

I replied, alarmed. 

“I follow your posts, 

Your range is too broad,

for me to gauge.  

And I am not sure, 

What do you stand for?

What do you propagate?”

She suggested, in all honesty, 

“Why don’t you focus on one consistently? 

Choose among the many hats you adorn,

and you will succeed far more, 

I am certain.”

“Decide if you are an 

educator or a researcher? 

a poet or a writer?

a cultural disruptor 

or an inclusion advocator?”

You are absolutely correct. 

That’s the way it should be. 

However, I am unable to box myself, 

despite trying sincerely.

I can’t be bound by labels, 

and live a narrow version. 

To tone myself down, 

and forget my own core, 

so as to match the image perceived.

But, if you persist.

Let me try defining, 

for the world to see. 

I am a human who is free.

I feel from the mind,

and think from the heart.

I have a lot to say, 

On a range so apart.

If you wish to label me, 

I am inclusion manifested, 

I am kindness personified, 

I am the grace alive, 

I am the love found in a beating heart.   

That’s how I wish to be called.

I am the wind that blows, 

I am water that flows, 

I am green earth below, 

And the blue sky above, 

I am everything,

the universe encapsulates. 

Don’t ask me to choose. 

I am gifted with divinity,

just like everyone else is.

The only difference is:

I choose to celebrate it.

Suggested reading: I have met God; Deal with the Devil, Providence – A Mashup