Sunday, January 8, 2017

Sweet Vindication


"There goes the giraffe. Have you seen the eighth wonder of the world? Look, there she is. Hey, how's the air up there?"
Namrata's eyes stung with hot tears. She walked fast, past the gang of friends who seemed to have so much fun teasing her. They were her classmates but not her friends. She had only a few friends in the new school that she had joined after her father had been transferred to this city. In her old school in the city where she had grown up, she had never experienced bullying of this nature nor had she felt any different from the rest of her 'normal-sized' classmates.
However, ever since she had joined this school, Namrata suddenly realized that she was taller, way taller than her peers. It had started off as mild teasing - "Are you sure you are in Class 6?" "Hehe, maybe she has flunked the class several times." "Please don't hurt us, giant." Initially, Namrata had laughed along with them. Gradually, the tone changed from mirth to mockery. It was aided by the fact that she was really a gentle giant, as cliched as it sounded. Namrata began to ignore these derisive comments but it was not easy to be immune to the continual banter on her height. 
Her mother asked her if she wanted her to talk about it to her teacher. "No, Mom. I don't want to make this into a big issue. Leave it. Let them talk. After all, they are saying the truth. Wish I were shorter like everyone else. Mom, I really hate this school.""Namrata, you have to learn to stand up to such bullies. Your height is just an excuse for those bullies. How do you know that they would not tease you if you were shorter? I know it is difficult for you to understand now but there will always be people in life who will make fun of you, point out your so-called faults or ridicule you for your appearance. There will come a time when all these voices will die or recede into the background and will matter no more to you, when you realize that what they were mocking you for would actually turn out to be your strength."
Many years later, Namrata's phone rang one fine morning. Her manager picked it up, spoke for a few minutes and turned to Namrata. She said, "It's the Principal of your school. They want you to be the Chief Guest for the Sports Day. What shall I say?" "Block the day. I love that school and what it has taught me," said Namrata, with a smile, as she picked up the tennis racket and walked to the practice court.

Day 8 of Blogathon 2017

2 comments: