Bandit Queen 1994 -

The first time I held a rifle, it was heavier than any husband. The second time, it sang. The third time, I knew: a gun does not ask your caste. It does not check your hemline. It only asks if you have the courage to pull the trigger.

And when they caught me, when they stripped me and made me walk through the prison yard on my knees, I did not die. That is the part they always forget. You can break a woman’s bones. You cannot break her witness. bandit queen 1994

I am Phoolan. Flower. And even a flower, when stepped on enough times, grows thorns the size of daggers. The first time I held a rifle, it

I learned that a woman’s body is a country with no borders. Any man can march across it. Any man can raise his flag. It does not check your hemline

Now they write my name in the same breath as “bandit.” But ask the parched earth: when the rain comes, is it criminal? Ask the fire: when it cleanses the rotten field, is it evil?

So I became the flood.