Don't dream, when you can't make it real. They're only fictions anyway - Moddi, A Sense of Grey

Dance, when you're broken open. Dance, if you've torn the bandage off. Dance, in the middle of the fighting. Dance in your blood. Dance, when you're perfectly free - Rumi

Nov 20, 2011

I Believe You're A Miracle Child

Once upon a time, not so long ago in a land not so far away, there lived an ordinary girl. Her father was no king and her mother was no queen. But in their own ways, they lived like royalty. This ordinary girl wasn't the most beautiful girl in the world, otherwise she wouldn't be the ordinary girl. But she was still pretty. She wasn't the kind of girl who sang songs to the birds or danced with the deer. In fact, she couldn't sing a single note in tune. 
Now, this ordinary girl was no academic genius, but she was smart enough. She wasn't fond of studying, but she did the best she could because it would make her father and mother very happy. She tried and she tried, but she just couldn't get those straight A's. Her mother cried and her father looked away in disappointment. It broke her heart, but what could she do. Her parents realized that now, only their sons could make them proud. So they let her be and let her do her own thing. In a way, the ordinary girl was relieved. Now, she only had to do things to make herself happy. She was free to choose her own path; the only problem was, she didn't know what she wanted. 
Time went on, the ordinary girl got older. She met a few ordinary boys, but you know how it is with boys. They come and they go. She went to college and made some not so ordinary friends and life was good. Ordinary, but good.  
Then, one day, she met a boy who made her feel not so ordinary. He sang a song that made her feel all tingly inside and for once, she didn't want this boy to go. So they got together, as happens in the ordinary world. He made her smile, he made her laugh. He inspired her to be more than she was; sort of like a muse, but more. And even though he didn't define her, she felt less confused about who she was. Yet, she had no idea what extraordinary thing to do in this, her ordinary life.
In college, she discovered many things about herself. She found she was a fan of books on magical realism; reading them was like taking a drug, they left her heady and disconnected with reality which was exactly what she needed. She updated her knowledge of music; once, she almost got beaten up by her friends when she said "Isn't Nirvana a song by Metallica?" Thanks to college, its not so bad anymore. She rediscovered her passion for writing, even learnt a little bit of photography. But sadly, none of this would help her get the 4.0 CGPA her parents would have liked to see. Still, she was as happy as a cat napping under the sun. The real world was far, far away; too distant to think about.
One day, this boy took her to watch a football game and as these things happen, she met a group of crazy people and in no time at all, they were stuck to each other like glue. They would do everything together; one of her favourite things was when they turned up the music really loud in her room and dance like there was no tomorrow. They loved each other, maybe a bit too much. So that when things got bad, it tore them apart. Just another ordinary thing in the ordinary girl's life. And when the time came, she had to let go of the not so ordinary boy because it wasn't what the universe wanted at all. Oh well, you live, you lose, you learn. And so, life went on.
Soon, the time came for the ordinary girl to graduate with her ordinary CGPA. She didn't get that gold medal her father thought she would get. She was proud of herself, but not so much. She got her gown and her cap and dressed up and went to the ceremony. When they called her name, the ordinary girl thought she would burst with happiness. When she sat back down, she got a call from her parents saying they were leaving. The ordinary girl cried; all the graduates had photographs with their parents, she had none. For once, that was no ordinary deal.
Life goes on, so did hers. She found a job she loved and so another tussle with the parents. "How can you settle for something so ordinary?" they said. But to her, it was a passion. For once, she had found something she could call her own; a path to follow, a goal, a vision. And no one would take that away from her. She would take these ordinary children and make them extraordinary. She would do what no teacher could do for her, she would help them find their way. She had found her calling.
Soon, she found another boy. This time, she felt extraordinary. She, for once, fell in love. She found new people to call her family. She felt that this was it. She had found her path and the one whom she wanted to go down the path with her. But this boy had once known love with a princess; what was this ordinary girl in comparison? And so they parted ways. As was the story of this ordinary girl's life.
And now, this ordinary girl is just trying in her ordinary way to find her way back to her ordinary self and what she is running from and why.




No comments:

Post a Comment