Musings: Attending a talk at Lamakaan

Musings: Attending a talk at Lamakaan

A nonconformist

Right from childhood she was a little fearless devil. Not afraid of catching the insects, frogs, climbing walls or staying calm in the dark when the power failed.
She had many friends and because of her confidence and daredevil attitude everyone was in awe of her. Not very bright in studies because she hardly sat down with the books they just didn’t seem to interest her except for the story and comic books. Although she would be out playing with her friends and climbing the hills that were at a hand’s throw from where they lived, at school she didn’t participate in any of the games the PT teacher made them play. All those organized games did not interest her. Catching the ball, throwing it back to the opponent team; the drills and the relays did not interest her. Just like the dances and skits in schools. They all seemed so boring. Rehearsing every day after school for the school annual day – not her cup of tea.
Her friends near home were not from her school either. They were from different schools and different backgrounds.   “Don’t let me catch you with them” kind of warnings from her elder brothers had no effect on her. Even in school her friends were those whom the rest of the class avoided either because they were shabby or too poor in studies. These girls were friendless so she became their friend.
It was as if she had decided not to go with the crowd even back then. If everyone said they liked the flower rose, she would say she liked lilies. If all the girls liked Cinderella and snow white she liked Puss in boots. It was never clear if she really liked all the different things or said so for the heck of it. Or to rebel against anything that was common.
But however after finishing school and growing up she had softened and blended in with others though she still did not get along well with her text books and her choice of movies and clothes were still very different from the others. She still retained the distinction although she managed to blend in the crowd. Other girls knew she was different but still one among them.
Despite all these outwardly callousness she had a soft heart that melted on seeing others in trouble. She went out of the way to help people even though she did not know them. She could never learn the street smart ways despite being so well read, outgoing and different. And thus ended up being used because she trusted easily.
Perhaps it was because she had not been with the regular group she never managed to learn or imbibe the ways of the world. She had been in her own world. As a teenager when girls her age were smitten by the love bug she was smitten by the huge volumes of English classics and biographies. She had no business reading those when all other were reading Mills and Boons. But that was how she was.
And paid a price for it for she had no one who could understand her or why she was unlike from others. She became the odd one out. And as a result became broody and philosophical. But there was a bright side to it. She took to writing and more reading.
Because she was different she had developed a different perspective of things. There was more to life than finishing college and getting married. While other girls wrote “to be a good wife and good mother” in the ‘my aim in life’ column of the autograph books in college; she was the only one  who wrote: “to do what I want without being ordered and choose my path to be a good person”.
The others laughed when they read her line but it made no difference to her. She had decided she was not going to be a ‘good wife or a good mother’ without first being a good human being. 
  ‘This post is a part of Write Over the Weekend, an initiative for Indian Bloggers by BlogAdda.’ 

And this blog has won the WOW badge