This is my entry for Indie Ink Writing Challenge - Week 7
No, I am not talking about Role Models, the movie dammit! Although, I really did like the movie.;)
But we are here to talk about more "serious" stuff. You know things like who inspired you, what in them inspired you and what became of you as a result..such and such. Hopefully I won't bore you. But as always I have little nuggets of events revolving around that, so it shouldn't put to sleep:)
Now, I can't pin down on one role model. I think I am just as wavering in real life. I liked a whole bunch of people as I grew up, haha.
The first one I remember was at, you guessed it, school! I did really really bad at Math and Hindi (India's official language) as subjects so I avoided them like the plague. I understood, appreciated and built my entire primary school life around English and Literature. Ya, I know. Genius kid I was. But all that was for one reason. To impress my beautiful looking personable and charming English teacher at school. Sophie was her name. OMG, I would do anything to impress her. I somehow felt if I grew up I should be like her. I would secretly read and re-read and re-re-read all the chapters from my English textbook weeks ahead so I could impress her. She was impressed with me too. I was quite the charmer, eh? I took pride in my highest marks on English, only the Math and Hindi screwed me over and over. My report card would read
English - 99/100
Math - 34/100
Hindi - 16/100
And I would sob over...you guessed it right...that 1 mark I missed before I hit 100. *Sob*
My dad never understood my obsession with English. I never told him till date it was because of Sophie. LOL. He always thought he seemed to have inspired that in me. BS.
Anyway, so a day came when the whole world around me shattered. Apparently, Sophie HATED my handwriting. That day she had given up on me. She called me straight to her desk and almost said that she couldn't take it anymore. That's not what she said, but I could read her eyes. She apparently had a tough time reading through all my wonderfully scripted answers on the exam answer sheet. She knew I was solid on the English but my handwriting gave her sleepless nights. I was too young to remember her exact words but that day I broke into pieces. But...I thought I was THE BEST at English! And all she told me was I would go nowhere if I did not make an effort to learn how to write legibly.
I was in tears. I sobbed whole night. I refused to eat and locked myself in my room. My dad was a little worried. By nature I was a rather fierce kid. Rebelling and fighting and devil-may-care attitude was more my style. Not the weepy, lonely, loser kid. And I spoke very little (that was a biggie, because I was quite a talkative kid too). Anyway, I silently saved up money to buy those handwriting practice books (you know with whole lot of rules so you could get those perfectly shaped ABCD's). I was too proud a kid to ask for extra money for this. I quit buying silly truck toys (I loved trucks and airplanes as a kid and hated barbies. LOL). I shut myself up everyday for hours getting the perfect cursive handwriting. I would stick my forefinger between each word, because Sophie told me I NEVER put spaces between words and that's why it sucked. (I remember this part because my fingers ached and my head ached out of boredom repeating this drudgery of sticking my finger between every word till I didn't require to do that)
Anyhow, it was months before I emerged victorious. The day I got 100 was when Sophie said I had the best handwriting and she gave me +2 for best handwriting (Thinking of that now, how silly it seems 102/100, haha)
Woot woot!
Oh shoot, wasn't this about role models or something. I guess I just got carried away.
I really keep jumping from one role model to another all my life. But seriously, as narcissist as it sounds, I would give anything to be THAT rebel of a kid I was. Maybe that is what I miss today. I think I would want to make my "kid self" as my role model today.
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This post was a result of Chamindra aka Disease challenging me to this prompt:
"Tell Us About your Role Model and the Reasons Behind Your Choice"
So hoping I did a good job, I will go right ahead and eat a tiny portion of half-baked frozen yogurt I got today, temptations not withstanding;) Oh, before that, I happened to challenge Joelyn with this prompt:
"Imagine you get locked down in a library for a night, what would you do?"
Read about her adventure here
No, I am not talking about Role Models, the movie dammit! Although, I really did like the movie.;)
But we are here to talk about more "serious" stuff. You know things like who inspired you, what in them inspired you and what became of you as a result..such and such. Hopefully I won't bore you. But as always I have little nuggets of events revolving around that, so it shouldn't put to sleep:)
Now, I can't pin down on one role model. I think I am just as wavering in real life. I liked a whole bunch of people as I grew up, haha.
The first one I remember was at, you guessed it, school! I did really really bad at Math and Hindi (India's official language) as subjects so I avoided them like the plague. I understood, appreciated and built my entire primary school life around English and Literature. Ya, I know. Genius kid I was. But all that was for one reason. To impress my beautiful looking personable and charming English teacher at school. Sophie was her name. OMG, I would do anything to impress her. I somehow felt if I grew up I should be like her. I would secretly read and re-read and re-re-read all the chapters from my English textbook weeks ahead so I could impress her. She was impressed with me too. I was quite the charmer, eh? I took pride in my highest marks on English, only the Math and Hindi screwed me over and over. My report card would read
English - 99/100
Math - 34/100
Hindi - 16/100
And I would sob over...you guessed it right...that 1 mark I missed before I hit 100. *Sob*
My dad never understood my obsession with English. I never told him till date it was because of Sophie. LOL. He always thought he seemed to have inspired that in me. BS.
Anyway, so a day came when the whole world around me shattered. Apparently, Sophie HATED my handwriting. That day she had given up on me. She called me straight to her desk and almost said that she couldn't take it anymore. That's not what she said, but I could read her eyes. She apparently had a tough time reading through all my wonderfully scripted answers on the exam answer sheet. She knew I was solid on the English but my handwriting gave her sleepless nights. I was too young to remember her exact words but that day I broke into pieces. But...I thought I was THE BEST at English! And all she told me was I would go nowhere if I did not make an effort to learn how to write legibly.
I was in tears. I sobbed whole night. I refused to eat and locked myself in my room. My dad was a little worried. By nature I was a rather fierce kid. Rebelling and fighting and devil-may-care attitude was more my style. Not the weepy, lonely, loser kid. And I spoke very little (that was a biggie, because I was quite a talkative kid too). Anyway, I silently saved up money to buy those handwriting practice books (you know with whole lot of rules so you could get those perfectly shaped ABCD's). I was too proud a kid to ask for extra money for this. I quit buying silly truck toys (I loved trucks and airplanes as a kid and hated barbies. LOL). I shut myself up everyday for hours getting the perfect cursive handwriting. I would stick my forefinger between each word, because Sophie told me I NEVER put spaces between words and that's why it sucked. (I remember this part because my fingers ached and my head ached out of boredom repeating this drudgery of sticking my finger between every word till I didn't require to do that)
Anyhow, it was months before I emerged victorious. The day I got 100 was when Sophie said I had the best handwriting and she gave me +2 for best handwriting (Thinking of that now, how silly it seems 102/100, haha)
Woot woot!
Oh shoot, wasn't this about role models or something. I guess I just got carried away.
I really keep jumping from one role model to another all my life. But seriously, as narcissist as it sounds, I would give anything to be THAT rebel of a kid I was. Maybe that is what I miss today. I think I would want to make my "kid self" as my role model today.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This post was a result of Chamindra aka Disease challenging me to this prompt:
"Tell Us About your Role Model and the Reasons Behind Your Choice"
So hoping I did a good job, I will go right ahead and eat a tiny portion of half-baked frozen yogurt I got today, temptations not withstanding;) Oh, before that, I happened to challenge Joelyn with this prompt:
"Imagine you get locked down in a library for a night, what would you do?"
Read about her adventure here
3 comments:
This a very sweet and entertaining post . Congrats Manju Super Reply to the Prompt =) I am sure your teacher must be feeling really proud about you. =) Cheers !!
Nice post! We all did everything we could to impress Sophie..of course you went a little overboard ;) Btw.. you didn't say how your future report card looked like.. since u later went on to be a state topper :O and everyone else kept wondering what medicine/tonic were you taking..rofl
Thanks Chamindra. Glad you liked it!
@Arun - did you have to say it all? But I really do like the reaction I get from my schoolmates about my meteorical rise to geekdom;)
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