Happy Teachers' Day 2k24!

Happy Teachers' Day!

But sorry, because this blog won't be a happy one.

So, until 2 years back, I used to provide tuition at home. I have been tutoring fpr about 5 years and there was this one student, whom I had taught for about 4 years.

Later her younger brother had joined too.

So, when 2 years back, because of CMI, when I stopped teaching, I still thought that at least these 2 students would always be a part of my life. Of course, our contact broke over the 2 years; no, not because of any fight or argument, but we just drifted apart.

Then, we reconnected during my sister's wedding in April, this year and they told me they wanted me to teach them again. I asked them to wait for a few months till my exams got over.

And I haven't started teaching again yet, but I at least thought they would send a Teachers' Day wish today.

I got none.

I thought maybe because now she's in standard 8, she finds such trivial things cliché.

Then I saw her story, where she was celebrating Teachers' Day with her new tuition teacher.

I understand, she's the teacher now. So, I have nothing against her celebration. I just missed her message.

It made me wonder if I am that easily replacable.

Even if I am, I thought we had formed a bond beyond just a formal teacher-student relationship.

It made me question the loyalty of everyone around me.

If someone, I have poured my heart out to, could so easily forget me, how will anyone ever choose me?

Will I forever be without love? Without loyalty? Without being someone's first choice? Someone's priority?

Will my at peace come before my in peace?🕊️

Golden Child Complex

Just came back, rummaging through my parents medicine boxes for sleeping pills.

A few days ago, during an argument with my mother, where she, as usual, had her voice unusually sweet because father was present, she asked me if she had ever taunted me for spending their money after my studies.

I said, "Yes!".

"When?".

I didn't remember. But I was so sure she had. But if I didn't remember, it must have not had happened, right? So, I hated my own mother so much that I had made up fake scenarios in my head?

Today, early in the morning, when I was still sleeping, I woke up to the sound of my parents talking. And just as they crossed through my room(I have a personal, not a private room), she said loudly, "If only she(She used my name) started providing tuition again, it would cover the extra expenses.".

I had told her earlier, that I don't want to tutor students because then I am left with very little time to focus on my other goals.

This started a chain reaction of my memories.

I remember how one day after I had given up on Bank Examination preparations, she had said to my father, "She wasted the money, na?".

Once she had said to him, "Let's wait for her to become something. Let's see if she becomes something at all.".

I remembered how father had told me, after I switched my tuitions in standard 12, that now he has to spend more money on my tuitions because of me. (It was less.)

I still remember how my sister said when we were in school("in", not "at"), that we are poor because I don't use her old course books. Tanu di is rich because she uses her elder sister's old books.

The Year That Broke Me

 28th July, 2023:

           28th July, 2022, I flew down to Chennai to join my college, CMI Siruseri, for my Masters course in Data Science. And one month later, I was back home.

            That one month stay in Chennai resolved a lot of things: all my smaller episodes of anxiety, insecurity, low confidence, hopelessness, my acute sense of poverty, my incapability of making friends, my dumbness, my low functioning brain that things I can do wonders but couldn't even survive a semester in CMI's environment, everything surfaced at the same time in that month.

            Everything that I low-key knew was lacking in me, came forth as a big black hole during my stay at CMI.

            Technically, it wasn't "in" CMI because Data Science students aren't accommodated in their internal hostel. I was at a hostel outside the industrial area housing the college, CMI. That was the first wound I sustained. Don't get me wrong, my roommate was an angel, but she wasn't from my college. In fact, no one in my hostel was. I, who had never stayed away from home, was now staying away from home, away from college, away from college mates, away from hope, away from life.

            But I don't think that it was just staying away from home that made me weak; it was thinking that I don't deserve to stay away from home, that I don't deserve to study in the best Mathematics College in the country, that I am wasting so much of my already poor parents' money through this college that demands Rs. 2 Lakhs per semester plus my fooding and accommodation expenses that mad me feel like a dam fell on me.

            Now, where did I get these thoughts from???

            Was it just an over-thinker's thoughts? Or was it a child suffering from Complex-PTSD? That needs another blog series, not about just a year of my life but my entire life.

            Obviously, the money was the most important factor for why I quit CMI within a month. If I were allowed to fail, I would have tried. But Rs. 2 Lakhs per semester, on didn't give me the privilege to try. Second was my Complex-PTSD suffering mind. But CMI too wasn't easy on me. If abstract reasons could be arranged in ascending order, here the are:

• The teachers there don't teach. True, they just don't. CMI simply provides a platform for genii to come together, study on their own, have some discussions and be by themselves. For a classroom person like me, who is a high functioning introvert, with no background help, with PTSD and money issue dancing on the head, it was the first shock.
• The students their, were just rude for no apparent reason, nothing like I have ever faced here in my hometown. You two, I don't even know your names, from Physics Major, but thank you for being mean to me out of nowhere.
• The seniors were helpful, true, but on their own terms. Dear Abhishek Bhaiya, I really wished you had not asked me to wait for the 'right time' when I asked you for the previous year question papers. I wanted to develop a study plan as per those.
• Friends form an important part of life and definitely for surviving away from home. I tried being friends with Nidhi but she was too self-sufficient for my lacking in everything soul and it didn't work. Then came Vaishali and Anwesha. They once left Mohit alone because they said they didn't want to be around him. And we four, were together that day. Leaving Mohit was in itself a red flag on you two's part for me, and that day and most days, you two left me alone too.
• The teachers said that we would learn more from each other than from our classes. And I found a discussion friend in Narendran. He needed help in Math, I needed in Computer. He agreed. The next day, he refused, saying, "It's too soon.". So soon that the assignments had already started pouring in. And then he stopped talking to me, not even as a friend. And then I saw him talking, discussing study related things with other girls. Dear Narendran, I wish you had told me the truth that I wasn't pretty enough to start studying sooner.
• Ascending, isn't it, huh? I saved the best for the last. RITIRUPA DI!

            First, you yourself kept calling me and pretending to be the sweetest person on Earth when you needed me to move in your apartment. And all I said, was I need time to think as I have never been to Chennai and you were a stranger. Obviously, you didn't know that I couldn't afford staying at an apartment. But you were in PG, you should have realized people can have a lot of issues going on in their lives. We can't just wake up one day and decide upon a thing. 

            Then when I came to Chennai, you up front, not only ignored me in public, but also treated me like a beggar on road. And then when I was facing problems at my hostel and your roommate told me that she was leaving, so to move in, in her place, you straight away resorted to scolding me like I was trying to break into your house??? You said that your class fellow will move in in your roommate's place, then why had you called me in the first place? 

            And I don't even wanna start on how mean your words were that day! Do you know, you drew the last blow on the coffin of my better future? Do you realize that you ended my life? That you destroyed me? And all this because I just said that I needed time to think? That too in the most polite and humble and soft way possible? We even talked that if you get new roommates, you shouldn't wait for me because I don't want to cause you any trouble! How could you not trust my intentions after all this? Because I too was stranger to you? But you had no problem asking this stranger to move in with you!

            The only conclusion that remains is that you are just a selfish person who uses and then throws people.

            Aditya, this is the girl you said is "Okay"?

            Adarsh, when I was leaving, you asked if someone has done anything. Now, you know the answer.

            Now, I know the number 1 reason I failed was that I wasn't emotionally and mentally strong. But it has been a year and I think I have only turned worse.

            But I can't conclude CMI without the good things that happened.

Sadhvika: My only roommate ever. You are the best roommate anyone can ever ask for. And thanks for                   helping me on the escalator.

Aditya: I still don't understand how you can help a stranger for placement interviews. You are the first                 senior I knew from CMI and know that I'll always have respect for you in my heart.  

Ujan: We could have been good friends if I were stronger. You are a good person, Ujan. And I know               your father is proud of you.

Sulagna: Another angel on Earth. I wish I had met you sooner in life.

Saptarshi: Though our views don't match on a number of topics, I was lucky to have you as a friend.

Nidhi: Thanks for talking with me when you saw me crying. Thanks for guiding me to study when you             saw me distressed. I was my fault that I was preoccupied with what I lack than with what life is             giving me.

Jassim: Thank you for being my study partner even if it was for just a day.

Abhishek: You are helpful, no doubt and you have this positive vibe about yourself. But saying that we                   are from two different worlds, would be an understatement.

Mohit: You are a good friend.

SLD: You came back alive.

Counting My Blessings : Part 4

My college opened after vacation today and I might not be able to post anything for some time now.

So, before going, I am adding another article to our series, "Counting My Blessings!".

Yes! Our, because these aren't just mine, but your blessings too.

Let's proceed(speaking like my standard 9, English teacher).

1. I am grateful that I have received a second chance at life and am continuing my education again.

2. I am grateful that my parents and sister are alive and healthy.

3. I am grateful for my English education that is helping me to write this blog.

4. I am grateful for the Blogger application and in general, for Google, because it gave me a platform to share my views and feelings.

5. I am grateful for Pallavi who has been a shining spiritual light in my life, especially lately.

6. I am grateful for Priya who has promised to teach me how to ride a cycle and a scooty.

7. I am grateful for Ankita, MSc-Mathematics student from RU, who sent me some previous year question papers today.

8. I am grateful that God always forgives my mistakes and keeps giving me second chances, even though I keep messing up.

9. I am grateful for Deepa Di who has helped me a lot in my M.Sc Journey.

10. I am grateful that I have a working conscience that helps me to do the correct thing most of the time.

These blessings are a tad different from the previous ones and I hope, you guys are also counting your blessings.

I want to conclude with, "Have courage and be kind."

Counting My Blessings : Part 3

     After a few difficult days, where I made a few mistakes, I am back with the third part of Counting My Blessings.

1. I am grateful for my knowledge of right against wrong.

2. I am grateful that I am always trying to improve.

(Whoever put these traits in my nature, did me a great favour.)

3. I am grateful for my backbone that helps me sit straight.

4. I am grateful for my clothes that help me cover my body and the warmer clothes that I wear in winters.

5. I am grateful for my parents who protect me against all hardships of the world.

6. I am grateful that I have roof above my head.

7. I am grateful for my sister who has helped me a lot throughout my life. She has helped me in my studies, my projects and once saved me from my mother's anger. She even bought me a laptop, my wireless earphones and is now buying me a phone.

(Thank you, Sisi!) 

8. I am grateful for the stole(dupatta) my sister gifted me today.

9. I am grateful for my birthday that makes me the happiest person on this planet.

10. I am grateful for being able to write this blog.

     While writing this part, I had the feeling that most people would find these blessings silly. But that's the point, well, not to find me silly, but that there are so many smaller blessings in our lives, that make life easier for us but we totally ignore them. The sun, the moon and being alive are all our blessings. 

     They Sun is everyone's. Not like just the rich can afford it. That's what we, the not so privileged, have to remind ourselves, on a daily basis.