Inspiration

I recently joined a summer school in my city for want of a better way to spend my vacation. I'm being honest in admitting that I partially expected this course to be an unmitigated disaster of sorts (I feared the course would be miles above sub normal levels and I'd end up feeling like a fish in a lake, staring at the trees on the banks, trying to figure  how the process of climbing works.)
This post is actually an adulation for the most brilliant teacher I've got a chance to learn from.
It is not entirely about how he made, the most complex concepts easily graspable but about how his affection for each one of us seemed devoid of any partiality (Indian education system, I hope you're listening), how his level of informality and approachability made the class feel like it belonged to our individual comfort zones.
Right from taking efforts to memorising our names to relating Fordism with a Charlie Chaplin clip he just made International Political Economy seem not even vaguely as intimidating as it really is.
10 days in this class and I've never been more sure of pursuing IPE in my future.

Despite being the daughter of a teacher, I've never entirely respected the profession (I've dutifully respected the professionals involved though, no matter what.)
I would actually want to thank him for lifting the veil off the absolute beauty of teaching.
For making me realise that imparting knowledge is noble and joyous. For making me feel that if tomorrow, I end up teaching, it would probably be one of the best things that could happen to me.
Thank you Gonzo.
PS brownie points for the "shant ho jaye."

Lines in Charcoal.

It has been 2 years now. Or 1. No two.
And although at one point of time in life, I felt that I would remember this episode like the back of my hand, I can't. It takes efforts to recall.
It takes me time to arrange all those incidents in my head in a chronological order.
Arrange all those times where I felt my life was worse than a Taylor Swift song.

All those times when a naive, unprepared 14 year old soul felt like it wouldn't survive to see another day.

Okay, this blogpost isn't in anyway to glorify how stupid I was & how much of a jerk you were.
It is just to talk about a life-changing incident.
You. Thank you.
Nothing in the world could slap me as hard as having you in my life did.

Teenagers in 2012, we've a series of hookups, breakups, heartbreaks, but we move over it.  Rather we get too involved in life as we know it.

This was (if I may have the liberty of calling it so) my first heart break.
What makes it different?
Well the fact that I still don't really know what can it be exactly categorized into.

So yes. You changed me.
You taught me to open my eyes to another side to people. You made me realise that the world is not JUST full of colours, it has rather strong streaks of black as well. Lines in charcoal. And those lines, are what defines those clouds of colours. 
You taught me to be meaner, nastier and above all stronger.
You taught me how to feel blessed. (This came later though)
You taught me to deal with problems. You made me egotistical. You made me realise that no matter what problem I'm dealing with, someone else is dealing with something worse somewhere.

You helped me find me.