This article has been submitted by Aman Saxena for the CLATGyan Blog Post Writing Competition. If you think this article is a good read, ‘Like’ this article on Facebook (the button is at the bottom of this piece) or post a comment using the ‘comments’ section below.
By: Aman Saxena (Rank 19 – CLAT 2013)
It was my last full working day at school but I hadn’t even bothered showing up as I lacked a sense of belonging, having studied there only for two years. I moved out of my home town, Bilaspur, after my tenth boards. The want of better avenues of higher education influenced my decision. After a mundane last day, it was just me and batch mate who took the bus. It used to take more than half an hour for the bus to reach my hostel. I utilized this time by reading a newspaper every day. That day too, I started doing the same, but there was something else in store.
A group of 11th graders were on the bus that day. Finding me all on my own this time, they broke free. They made fun of me, calling me things such as “newspaper boy”. They also laughed at me as I was nominated for Best Boy. One of them mockingly told her friends to stop in case I cried. I tried to ignore them and continue reading my paper, but it did hurt.
When I got back home, I just couldn’t get this out of my mind. How can they do this to me? Didn’t they have any respect for their seniors? These thoughts kept lingering in my mind and I just couldn’t sleep. Finally, I decided to call my best friend.
He gave me a patient ear. I hadn’t realized that he had turned into a Greek philosopher over these years. In the end, he said “Aman, this was bound to happen.” That was shocking. I thought he had gone crazy but he explained that worse things had been said to him.
Right from kindergarten till class ten, we were in the same school. That is one long period. That allows you a sort of informality and comfort. All the teachers, students and even the alumni know you. You are given importance for being a prefect. Perhaps we had been bullies ourselves in these conditions
When he said that, I realized what I had done. I remembered calling some boys names and I don’t doubt now that those abuses would have stayed with them long after they left school. One guy was even humiliated for having extra fat on his chest and being the fourth son to his parents after 3 daughters. Then there was this girl whose name was synonym of a cheap tobacco brand. On her first day of school, she got branded with the tobacco name and still bears it. Another guy faced ostracism just because we didn’t like his tone of voice, ‘a typical Bihari’.
All of a sudden, everything became clear. I realized that whatever you do, your actions resonate, reverberate and take a full circle. Even though I went through such a terrible experience, I am glad it happened. It was my moment of epiphany. It made me conscious of my actions. I had read this in so many books and never believed in it until I experienced it myself. It taught me not to do to others what I didn’t want done to myself. It was a lesson learnt for life.
I will never do a anything like that again. I hope I’m forgiven for what Ive done in the past as well.
