"My first Submarine"

While we all sit idle pondering how we can entertain ourselves during these tough times, I'm pretty sure we all take a walk down the memory lane. My stories have always been such throwbacks to either a mishap or an embarrassing decision I've made.

Today I bring to you yet another funny incident from my childhood. Writing has always been an integral part of me and I believe I'm good at it. This is about an incident that occured while I was in 9th grade. This particular lesson from my principal back then laid the foundation to my writing I believe.

It was winter '13 and I was an avid reader. I liked hitting the library frequently and always read fictional detective stories.

I was a guy who was doubtful on clearing tenth grade. I studied in an ICSE school and education was pretty tough for all of us (shout-out to all my ICSE peers). But our principal was an extraordinary lady who saw our potentials back in lower grades and used to predict if we could crack the boards or not. She was not the strict principal who assumed Math was essential for a child's growth. She was that person who believed that every kid was different and every kid was good at something. During a time where Math was practically hell for me and Science only added to my misery, languages and art somehow brought light into my life. All my English teachers lauded my writing back then and these teachers are the real reason I continue writing to this day.

One day, without any prior notice, my principal walked into our classroom and picked eight students out of the blue and took us to her cabin. She told that she's gonna send us to the bank nearby, that they're organising a writing competition and we all will be representing our school. She was always a supportive lady and she sent us to competitions throughout the year. The next hour, we're in the bank's meeting room with a pen in our hand and blank sheets on the table, a topic on the board and 45 minutes to write an essay. For the first 5 minutes, I had been thinking how to start the essay and I was pretty clueless for the first twenty minutes or so. I looked around the room and saw my friends had already written one entire sheet which motivated me enough to start writing and for the next 25 minutes, I did not lift my pen off the sheet. I had penned down everything that came to my mind. I was pretty sure that I wasn't winning because of my hasty writing. I waited along with my friends for the results for an entire week. We ended up believing that they won't send us the results but suddenly on an evening the results were sent. Our principal came to the room and started announcing the winners. She started with the third price first. I had a small hope that I might at least get 3rd price but she announced another name. I don't remember whose name it was but I remember putting my head down on the desk in disappointment but when the name was announced for the first price, I was awestruck to hear my name. I got up from the desk in an instant to hear the entire class clapping for me! I only wished they clapped more.

file photo

Source: Google 

Next day in the assembly, in front of the entire school, the results were announced for everyone and a small trophy was awarded to me along with a Submarine pen. I treasure the pen even to this day. I didn't know a company like Submarine existed until I received one. I was further informed that it was a premium pen company.

My principal called me to her chamber and looked straight into my eyes, with a stern look and said "Now are you aware of your capabilities? You're a brilliant mind. Please concentrate on other subjects until you're done with boards and then you can go on to do anything in life." These words are the reason I got better at Math and Science and passed them with great difficulty. Our principal was a fabulous lady who never discouraged anything in me, she's the reason all of my classmates keep continuing their hobby! And her name is Ms. Sarah Abraham, she's been a blessing to everyone who passed out from our school.

It's important for all of us to keep our hobbies alive. Don't judge people around you based on their hobbies. Kids can be bad at math, boys can cook, girls can play cricket, some can't speak English but can finish Math problems in a second. I've seen all of them. We've to come out of our conventional lives to live it a bit!