UGG, So Ugly!
It was out first meet since last 3 years. He asked me for the copy I was hooding. He went on through pages thoroughly and said "Your handwriting is excellent". I replied "That's all your blessing, thank you sir". He was my 'Social Studies' teacher at high school.
About five years back, going through my notes, he teared my notebook infront of my whole classmates. I had one of the worst handwriting in the class if not the worst. Do handwriting really matter? Obviously yes, if you are the excellent student in the classroom and you held the prestige of all the teachers and the school. Changing the writing I have been writing since years is not that easy within fraction of time. I tried many times and failed that same number of time I tried. Few days since then, that thing went off my mind and I gave up unknowingly. I tried as many times as my notes got torn by my teachers but I had the same ugly writing. Once is okay, twice is okay, but more than that is a torture. Having an ugly writing was turning to be a curse for a growing mind of mine. Copying the style of my collegue having the best handwriting to copying stories several times, I did everything possible. I had no idea where I was going wrong. The thing turned worst when the whole school knew about my ugly handwriting. From juniors to seniors, from boys in the classroom to girls, from English teacher to Maths and all over the School, my handwriting was a matter of gossip and laugh. Not to forget my sleepless nights to hungerless time, that thing was getting on my nerves. Exams have recentky been concluded, social teacher came with my paper and asked me to read my paper loud. I failed to read some words. It was the time when I really realized how worst I was. "You are going to do nothing with your life. If you can't even handle and improve your writing then how can you handle and improve your life? You may have won your classmates, you lost to yourself. You may achieve many things in your life but you will live as a 'Succeesful Looser'", he loudly scolded. It was the time, my ego was hurt. A teacher can't always be true. I wanted to prove him wrong and have the last laugh.
The next day, everyone was laughing when I crossed by them. Me joining the handwriting class turned to be a matter of laugh throughout the school. Learining has no age. I never hesitated to sit next to lower secondary level students. I never felt ashamed. Changes never come easily. I used to attend handwriting classes. With no shame, I used to write "a, b, c, d,....., z" upto the time it reached infinite. Gradually and progressively, I was going better. Today better than yesterday, tomorrow better than today and it went likely. Achieving something that you wish to is not that hard if you work hard. Everything was turning good as my handwriting was turning good. Since the time, I faced numbers of laughs, number of demotivators, number of "What if I fail?" type of question and many more. Overcoming them was not an easy task as seems to be and wasn't even thar hard as I used to think. The "I must do it" wish coming from inner me made me word hard and succeed. Atleast I had a considerable writing.
My Social teacher got no chance to complain for my writing in the next examination. I wanted to hear from him but he spoke no word, He didn't praised too. A year since then, he called me in his office, holding a letter in his hand. Face full of satisfaction he holded that letter to me. It was an invitation for interschool handwriting compitition. He recommended my name along with some others for the contest. He seemed to be happy more than I was.His expression praised me more than his words had done year before. It was the time I realized his words were motivation more than scolding and a teacher always wants his student to do better. Though, I couldnot do much in the contest, getting recommended for participation was more than the victory.
He handed my note to me. His wrinkled face had the same satisfaction he had had five years back. "You have better writing than three years before now. Getting at the peak is not hard but maintaing the same height and be at the same paak is difficult and you managed to do it. What if I hadn't shown you the right path? You were unknown about your own potentiality." It was true too. Running behind sucess, sometime, I lacked satisfaction. Earning satisfaction morr than success is what life is all about.
Thank you for reading.
A piece of work from NISHAN PARAJULI.