Volume - 1 Issue -2 March 2025
The
Man in the Mirror
They call me gravity—
the pull of the earth in every step,
a body bent beneath the weight
of labels: lazy, weak, regret.
My shadow stretches
long—
a map of neon-lit drive-thru nights,
of aisles where sugar wears a crown,
and fresh greens flee to richer ZIP codes.
These bones bear the cost of a world
that sells me fries but shames my size.
My heart? A tangled
garden—
thorns of “Have some willpower!”
blooming into silent feasts of shame.
Even doctors see a chart, not me—
a number, red-inked, screaming risk,
while the why gets lost: stress,
genes, a system built to drown
the poor in empty calories.
But today, the
mirror speaks a softer truth:
“You are not a problem to solve.”
World Obesity Day knocks—
a key turning in rusted locks.
We rise: not with scales or scorn,
but hands reshaping cities, policies, plates—
planting gardens where guilt once grew.
Watch me shed
centuries of should,
not pounds. My worth isn’t measured
in inches lost, but in the fight
to heal a world that starves and stuffs
us all. Let’s walk, not from blame,
but toward a future where health
is a right, not a waistline.
- SIVAKUMAR RAMAN
