RING……………
“Ok class…. You may go back now. Don’t forget your homework.”
A girl with two long braids carried her worn out school bag out of the class like all other kids though right before she was about to leave she heard her name being called.
“Nikkita”
“Yes, mam.”, she acknowledged keeping her head low.
“Don’t forget to finish your homework and this time no more buts or else I’m sending you to the special class with the rest.”
“Ok, mam.”, was all she could say.
Nikkita was used to being in the “special class” or which is commonly known as detention, till all those last benchers became her friends. She actually realized that they are at times far more polite and better than those who achieve outstanding marks out there.
Nikkita comes from a poor family and her parents were unable to hire a tutor to coach her. She always wondered why the school ever placed her in the first class. The principal of the school was the one person who was persistent of her being placed in there despite all the other teachers “NO’s”.
So, today the teacher gave all of them a picture to describe. It can be more of a story or just writing one or two paragraphs describing it. Right when she was thinking about it and walking towards her home her friend Preeti ran towards her.
“Hi, Nikkita. Did miss scold you?”
“No, Preeti but as usual she warned me to finish my homework.”
“Do you have any ideas on how to do it?”
“Seriously I don’t. I’m actually quite fed up of writing what I know and the teacher reprimanding me for that inaccuracy I’m achieving especially in this so-called English class.”
“Nikkita, I know it’s hard but if you give up now then you’ll never be able to measure your level of ability. It’s not about being perfect but it’s more on learning, believing on the journey and completing it. I know that you’re used to being in detention but why not change the trend for once? Just give your very best and let’s see how it turns out this time. Feeling better?”
“Ya, a little better Preeti. Thanks a lot for your encouragement. I’ll see you tomorrow ya.”, she said waving her friend goodbye.
At times, Nikkita does wonder how on earth Preeti befriended her despite her braided oily hair and big bindi. Everyone will cast that look, which speaks that she never belongs in the so-called civilized class where tradition is disregarded and the focus is more towards competing in the next beauty pageant. Who cares, the best beauty she knows is just being herself and she felt blessed for Preeti accepting her for who she was.
“Amma, I’m home!”, announced Nikkita while closing the door behind her.
Her mom came, smiling like the morning’s sunshine.
“Amma did you ate your medicine? Appa said you were under the weather.”, said Nikkita while placing her hand on her mother’s forehead. It felt slightly hot. She reached for the medicine in the top shelf.
Right before she has even handed to her mother, her mom started to shake her head.
“Ma.. I won’t take no for an answer. I know you don’t like medicine but it’s better for you if you take it.”
Still, her mom remained stiff. Slowly, she reached out for her hand and took the medicine.
“Now, isn’t that better? Now, you take some rest. Will call you when appa is back.”, said Nikkita and her mother nodded with a smile.
After a few hours, she heard the front door being unlocked. She knew it was her father.
“Pa, I’m in the kitchen.”
“You prepared dinner?”
“Why pa? Can’t I? “
“You usually do that when you are stressed.”
“Oh, I’m busted.”, she sighed.
“I can never cheat you pa.”, she added.
“So, what’s up?”
“My English teacher who seems to be a perfectionist gave me this picture.”
“So, what’s your task?”
“To write a paragraph describing it or maybe a story and it’s going to be like hell.”
Her father just smiled and left to call her mom. Meantime, Nikkita took the chappati and last night’s leftover curry to the table. Her parents entered the room and sat at the table. All the while they were chatting she just admired her father’s patience.
Then her father turned to speak to her.
“You know your mother is the most beautiful girl I’ve ever seen. She was crossing the road with a basket of flowers. She was then selling some flowers to a young couple and when I approached and ask her name, there was no reply and I started to get angry thinking she’s being rude. But right then she took my pen and wrote her name on a piece of paper and walked away with a smile. We shared the mutual feelings so here we are today. It’s actually pretty cool to use sign language and I enjoy communicating with her using it. I got to learn an extra language but more than that I believed life didn’t just stop there when I saw her true identity instead I just paused for a minute let it digest and fell in love more. Life is beautiful.”, with that, all of them started eating.
After dinner, Nikkita wished her parents a good night and went to her room to work on her homework. She started writing with determination and after nearly 2 hours she went to bed. Next day, she submitted the homework and got an astonished look from her teacher.
Miss Sandhya was shocked and at the same time, she was interested to know what Nikkita has written. Right after class, she went straight to her room with a cup of coffee and started reading what Nikkita has written.
STOP! Cool, just PAUSE.
A full stop and comma are known as punctuation marks and it’s looked up as an important note in grammar but maybe when we look deep into it, it holds a lot more meaning than that. My parents are married for 15 years and I never saw a moment my father failed to pause instead of just stopping it right there saying it’s the end. Her inability to speak and hear never felt like a weakness instead it’s embraced not only by my mom but by my father too making him fall in love with her more and more every day. Each of us put a stop right there when we meet the end of the road turning ourselves miserable instead of just pausing for a moment and think of another possible way out. When there’s a comma a word can be placed behind it and there will be a continuation but when there’s a full stop the sentence comes to an end. Every beginning has an end but it does not have to come immediately. Pause for a minute and look around. You’ll see so many different things and you can learn as well. It may start from a simple matter such as accepting a person for who there are till allowing yourself to be alive after going through a whole lot of hardship. Even yin and yang is made up of two commas to make it a whole as a symbol of balance. So, life is beautiful when you learn to pause for a minute before thinking to just stop.
Miss Sandhya became speechless seeing the 12-year old’s work. She gave her an A+ and knew that she has another job to do.
The next day Nikkita entered the class feeling nervous about the outcome of the homework she has submitted. Miss Sandhya entered the class and called everyone’s name except for hers. She was holding her book and it made Nikkita’s palm sweat.
“Class, I want all of you to listen to Nikkita's work.”
After Miss Sandhya has read it there was a huge round of applause. Right at that time, the principal who was on her rounds paused for a minute near the classroom door and dropped a smile to her. Nikkita felt happy that at least out of everyone in this school the principal believed in her and had paused for a moment to notice her presence and potential. Later that day, Miss Sandhya apologized for her behavior all this while and also her friends in the class took the effort to stick a line at the classroom door.
“STOP! Cool, Just PAUSE.”
Nikkita just smiled and realized that she’s grateful to Preeti for pausing and talking to her the other day. She thanked Preeti again when they were walking out of the classroom and she believed that from this day onwards things will change for the better and if it doesn’t it’s not going to STOP her instead she’ll PAUSE for a moment and then continue her journey.
Picture: Google images
