17/9/2016
Dear Dream Girl,
I know you too might have been impatient and waiting since the day I told you Priyali and I, were called in the staff room. Oh, I am sorry to keep you waiting. Let me tell you what a great day it was! As Priyali and I, entered the staff room we saw all the staff members were present there. Before Ms. Sharma could just say anything I asked anxiously “Ma’am did I do anything wrong?”
Both Priyali and Ma’am exchanged a little smile seeing me nervous-
“No, dear you did nothing wrong” she said.
(I got a sense of relief listening to Ms. Sharma)
“I have called you both so that I can tell you how well you both performed in the class today. I have noticed that you both have keen interest in English Literature. So, I with the fellow staff members have decided something. As you both know, that our school publishes an in-house newsletter every fortnight in which we give recognition to the works done by our students following with some updates about the school. We want both of you to write a column for our Newsletter in the upcoming edition. You are free to choose your topic and for starters the word limit could be 300-350 words.”
‘Column writing’ can you even imagine Dream Girl? I was speechless. We both didn’t even had a second thought and with exhilaration said: “Yes, of course why not?”
Dream Girl I thought this was the start of something which was solely mine. I could start achieving my dream from now. But, in seconds the happiness faded away from my face. I got stormed with the thoughts about telling my parents. They are adamant about a thought that literature things won’t take me anywhere and I should focus on my studies rather working on literature.
Coming out from staff room seeing me a little worried Priyali asked me “What happened to you? Few minutes back you were so excited about writing a column. Is there anything which is bothering you? If you want, you can share it with me.”
I told her everything, the tension with my parents and story of how I have ended up here; why I was tensed.
“Don’t worry you would convince them”, she said with such a serenity as if there wasn’t nothing to worry about. She was so confident about me and was sure that I will find my way out.
Dream girl, do you know how assured it feels when someone trusts you so much? Priyali was that person for me. She gave me strength and convinced me to talk to my parents and start writing for the column. We both sat after school talking about our lives and people around.
Dream girl, you know, it’s like we start by being scared but in the end, we realize that it was worth doing. Same way after I came home I had decided to talk to my parents at the dinner table and convince them for my writing. As the dinner was served mom and dad were briefing their whole day to each other just when I said “I am going to be a writer for our school in-house newsletter”
Both were stunned for few minutes till the time I told them about the whole scene that happened in the school. Seeing their perplexed reactions, I got worried. Dad just kept listening whereas mom kept asking me questions about how I will focus on my studies and score well. I was waiting for my dad to say something but he didn’t, he just finished his dinner and went out for his daily walk in the lawn. Mom’s expression were trying to convince me to understand his silence as a NO for this.
Dream girl, I was clueless about what to do. This opportunity was the one I was waiting for. The anxiety gave me a sleepless night with gazillion thoughts, until when I came up with an idea “Why not write anonymously? What if my identity remained hidden? No-one would ever come to know” I slept thinking about all this and with a thought of talking to Ms. Sharma in the school the other day.
Today, I got ready for my school I knew it was a big day. I had to talk about me writing anonymously. I reached school and talked to Priyali about it. She thought it was a pretty good idea and I should convey the same to Ms. Sharma in recess. As the bell rang for recess, I ran towards the staff room. I reached and heard a familiar sound coming out from staff room. I was trying to recognize the sound dream girl and then I heard my name, I tried peeping in a little bit and what I am seeing is unbelievable…It’s none other than my DAD!!
By Bhavisha Makhijani
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