The following are not just words to me, for they created the person i'm today. I had no idea then of the effect they would have on me. I still remember my first day when i was told i would be the only girl occupying the ladies hostel, an incident that took place eleven years ago. I was there without a warden for few hours with my parents for company. There she was then, with a sullen face for being made the warden while her home was not more than a few minutes drive from school. The entire academic year was far away from ordinary for being the only girl hosteller, not only that, i was also double promoted that resulted in a struggle with maths, but then i didn't know it was nothing compared with what lay ahead.
One fine evening, after the school hours i was with her,roaming about having nothing to do while she had to stay back for her work, when a colleague of her commented that i was good looking in my school uniform. Till then i had never had anyone say something to me like that,let alone whatever attire i was in. On reaching hostel, there was the most embarrassing thing i had to listen, that it was my fault for his flirting comment. I didn't know the literal context of the word flirt then. Moreover when did "You are good looking" become a flirting comment? I had a taste of her ethics soon when she gave me a disgusting look for being in my sports attire- jersey and shorts, for my practice session. What else was i supposed to wear... a salwar kameez ? I didn't know then these were just the trailer for a movie yet to release.
Following years gave me lessons such as hormonal changes were against the rule, one was not allowed to be aware of even the presence of the opposite sex, no matter what happened i was the default wrong answer, which i did manage to cope to some extent for a period of seven years.Then came a fitting climax to all of this where i was blamed for someone interested in me by the so called 'elite' of the school. This led to a state where i completely locked myself. Had i raised my voice at the appropriate time, i wouldn't have visited a psychologist for looking good !!
A child is supposed to climb the ladder to a place that can nurture her dreams further and not take detours to places that mend anything inflicted earlier. Today, my friends admire me for standing up to my thoughts while they have no idea of what drove me to be like this. Maybe incidents like these are designed my nature to set us on our path to achieve our purpose in this life, maybe everything happens for a reason.Now when i look at the bigger picture the one thing that stands tall is.. no matter what happens, never stop fighting for what you believe in.