Olivia TuckKhushi Bajaj’s poem ‘My School has 4.4 stars on Google Maps’ was highly commended in the Best Single Poem category of the 2025 Disabled Poets Prize.

The Disabled Poets Prize looks to find the best work created by UK-based deaf and disabled poets.

My School has 4.4 stars on Google Maps

my school has 4.4 stars on google maps

5. i see flashbacks of parent-teacher meetings about how i have potential but refuse to apply myself (and instead focus on asking too many questions), i see my principal’s office where she called my entire class to discuss my depression (an approach that seemed to confuse all the eighth-graders, finally resulting in me having something in common with my peers), i see christmas celebrations that start a month early (and no mention of diwali), i see my bag being held hostage till i arrange a hundred-rupee fine (for being late- which i used to be on purpose), i see my name on the chalkboard under ‘bg’ (or bad girls)

4. i touch the curly hair that a friend would hurriedly turn into a braid (right before the uniform inspection), i touch the eyes that would read books under the benches (once i realised that the teachers were not going to answer my questions anyway), i touch the mouth that had to ask permission to drink water (because letting us drink it at will could have caused a mutiny), i touch the point of my waist where a teacher put her hand in my skirt’s band to pull me closer in the middle of scolding me (a totally normal thing to do)

3. i hear hushed whispers about the existence of a ‘lesbian’ (a mystical creature that is at once omnipresent and invisible in an ‘all-girls’ school), i hear proclamations of how girls with a convent education make good housewives (to a good businessman from a sanskaari family), i hear the bell signalling the end of the day (and my feet against the floor as i rush to leave the classroom)

2. i smell the sweat on my forehead when a teacher said that being gay is a biological defect (that was the only time i did not raise my hand to argue with an authority figure), i smell the plants outside the staff room (that i often hurried past- afraid that teacher would spot me and use me as entertainment)

1.i taste nothing (maybe it is time for a palette cleaner)

i press the 1 star button

my partner (who has never set foot in my town) presses it too

my school has 4.3 stars on google maps

About Khushi Bajaj

Khushi Bajaj (she/her) is a multilingual poet and writer whose work has been published in two Penguin Random House anthologies and on the platforms of Diva, FII, Gaysi Family, Gay Times, Metro UK, and more. Awards won by her include the Switchboard Poetry Prize (2024) and the Briefly Write Poetry Prize (2021). She is passionate about intersectional feminist politics, supporting local communities, and radical kindness.