Poem by Shivani Gug

I tried to put everything down on one piece of paper about my identity and I couldn’t.

My mind scattered between the dance at primary school, and the guilt I felt when I left India to come back home to England,

Not knowing when I’d be back again,

My community being small and safe until it became chaotic and overwhelming,

Others being familiar with people who looked like me, but that being a shock to my system, 

Embracing the open bar at Indian weddings as the women in the generation before me did not, 

Remembering the girl that told me she was better than me because she was a higher caste,

Seeing people still too afraid to fall in love beyond their caste, religion, culture or ‘home’ country,

Breaking the stereotype of getting married at a young age, 

Breaking the stereotype of taking time out after your education, 

Breaking the stereotype of being the eldest sibling and shaping these decisions for the others, 

I am so proud of my culture, my identity and who I am; but that doesn’t take away from the fragments of hardship it took for me to get here 

I tried to put everything down on one piece of paper about my identity and I couldn’t.

But I’d say this was a pretty good start