It is believed that time spent in school should be cherished and treasured for the rest of one’s life as it’s usually the time when you make good memories with your friends and have the time of your life but that’s not the case with everyone I believe, at least it’s not with me.
School life for me was rather a life full of thorns. My mother was the Headmistress of the Matriculation department back when I was in sixth grade. The person I was prejudiced to be by my classmates was surreal; I was considered ‘lucky’ due to my mom’s designation. Moreover, they thought that I would be a hop, skip, and jump away from good grades and that I wouldn’t be scolded by teachers or be punished for indiscipline or any other mistakes. What was way more bizarre is that most people believed that whatever I was achieving was all thanks to my mother which meant that I was supposedly being spoon-fed all the information and had not felt the essence of hard work even once. Being a timid student during my school days, I never had the guts to give all of my classmates a shut-up call by clarifying to them what the actual reality was. Maybe I was brought up in such a way that I couldn’t retaliate. The term ‘Mom’, on no account, came out of my mouth in school because this is what was taught to me by my mom: ‘I am not your mom in school, rather, a headmistress. Therefore, you must not address me as ‘mother’; use my occupation instead.’ It was considered humorous and absurd by my classmates when I would address my ‘Mom’ as ‘Miss’ in front of them.
The fact that I was labeled as ‘the headmistress’s daughter’ and not by my actual name made me feel as if I were to face an identity crisis and eventually, it happened; I wasn’t sure as to who I was and what could I have done to stop all this from occurring. Yet, I tried ignoring all the negativity and thought of moving on and rather focus on socializing and making benign friends but that too, in vain. While hanging out with other classmates, they would give each other the ‘look’ which was a signal not to discuss anything apart from studies because they regarded me being a spy who would report every detail about their conversation to the headmistress. I think they were dumb enough to imagine that I didn’t have the brains to realize anything fishy going on when they overreacted. I stopped hanging out with them knowing that they weren’t comfortable talking in front of me.
My life in middle school wasn’t fun at all; there was an enormous amount of pressure coming from my teachers who wanted me to perform well in academics. It wasn’t trouble-free to focus on academics competently because of peer pressure. I stayed quiet which is why people took advantage of it and that’s how all the revenge plans were executed on me every time they were scolded by the headmistress for their mischiefs or any sort of misbehavior. Rumors would spread like wildfire. The fact which broke my heart into pieces was that those who were close to me also began avoiding me thinking that I was working as a reporter for the headmistress which wasn’t true at all. The fact was, the teachers who were bothered by these mischief mongers would complain to the ‘H.M.’ who would in return do something as expected that is, scold them.
I used to participate in English Elocutions (never missed the chance for all the years spent in school); all those times whenever I bagged the first position, a handful of students would bash me over with rumors (To be frank, I hated all that tittle-tattle the most and the reason is way too obvious) thinking that the headmistress was behind my victory although they knew that the judges who came as guests were all from other schools and whatsoever the headmistress had no interaction with them. My mom also made it a point never to attend the event so that I wouldn’t feel the pressure.
Appreciation is one of the things I longed for because it wasn’t something I received for the hard work back then at school whereas at home it was just vice versa; my entire family would whoopee. Consequently, I felt like I was losing the purpose to strive as eventually nobody recognized it at school. The concept which I failed to understand was the fact that my classmates presumed that I knew the entire exam paper beforehand. It sounds so funny because if that were to be the case, wouldn’t my report card have a 100% every single year?
After spending three years being a victim of bullying and mental torture in school, I was finally transferred to another in ninth grade. Yes, it was a tough, fresh start in a completely different school; making new friends and adjusting to a contrasting environment but till this day, never in my life have I regretted this decision for I was treated as a normal student for the first time……I was addressed by my name…… I was friends with everyone and they all treated me as a dear friend! It’s a chapter of my life which I will cherish forever thanks to my parents who realized what I was going through and supported me.
The reason why I’m writing this is to make people realize that it’s not right to judge a book by its cover; for, after all, I was simply a mere student while my mother was only performing her designated duties.
In due course, I have learned to stand up for myself as well as for those who have been or are currently going through any sort of misbehavior or misconduct by anyone whether they are your peers, relatives, etc. as well. I would also recommend all those who have faced any sort of bullying speak up because no one deserves to be ill-treated. Do not let it eat you up! Learn to stand up for yourself because no one is going to do it for you. Your silence will give consent to others to keep tormenting you. Share it with your parents or anyone you trust who can help you get rid of anxiety and depression. It would do no good if you stay quiet rather it will have a toil on your mental health.
‘If you don’t stand up for what you want, what you deserve, and what you are worth.
You are accepting a life defined by others.
A life is full of disappointments and inner conflicts.
A life is full of restrictions regrets and flicks.
Face the short-term discomfort for the long-term abundance.
Stand up for yourself.
Stand up for happiness’
-Venktesh Pandey
