Time Heals Everything..!!

“The wound is the place where the Light enters you.” ― Jalaluddin Rumi

Almost all my friends, most of my classmates except that from 11th & 12th grade and family would agree that I was/am quite obstinate, mischievous, persistent and ..other things.. But, I learnt a lot of life lessons pretty early, through experiences, peculiar and strange ones. As someone I know says, it's not your age but the kind of experiences you have had, matters..and I couldn't agree more.. :-)

This one is an experience from either the 3rd or the 4th grade. We used to play different versions of tag games in the classroom(we had a huge one to run around) during all the three breaks, 10 mins, followed by 30 mins and the last 10 mins break at school. The goal used to be to eat up the lunch in less than 5 mins so that you can free up as much time as you could to run around. And that wasn't difficult, given the fact, that we had so many people in the group.

Well, it was just another day,  the 30 mins break, and we were playing the elimination tag game. I (the only one left untagged) and 'it', the zombie tagger, (one of my dear friends, from back then was running after me) were going up & down the benches/desks and swifting through the spaces amid them, laid out in pairs forming an 8 by 3 grid. She was getting really close and I made a rather brisk 'U' turn, was definitely far out of her reach this time but running straight into another kid( I guess I could take the liberty to call a 3rd or 4th grader a kid). A moment later, all I could feel was a type of brain numbness,a sensation that I can't jot down on paper now and seconds later, the only thing I could feel was that something did hurt really bad, all I could see was a lot of blood on my shirt, on my hands and on my face. I still couldn't understand what happened because the chap I had a disastrous collision with, looked ok, no bruises, no cuts, sort of looked normal though definitely amazed, big time.

All my friends rushed me to the first aid room, and one of the teachers did give me some kind of first aid which I don't remember now. But they wouldn't tell me what happened. I definitely couldn't see my face but the lower part of my face hurt real bad. They called up my parents but didn't tell them much except that I needed to be picked up from school ASAP. It was raining really bad and school was quite far away from where we lived. My dad could come and pick me up in about 30 to 40 mins. He was quite shocked and took me to a clinic straight away but due to bad weather, we couldn't find any decent doctor.

When I reached home and looked at my face in the mirror, I realized that I didn't have a lower lip anymore and the lower part of my face was swollen like that of a monkey. Next few weeks brought immense pain and discomfort trying to eat or drink just anything. I wasn't comfortable going to school for a couple of days and I did bunk it for a week(for the first time ever). My parents have been the most supportive parents ever. When I did return to school, it gave me an odd one out type feeling in the classroom, especially when most of my friends/teachers felt sorry for me and in a way made it worse than it actually was. I thought that was forever, that I would live the rest of my life with that pain and with one lip only, until I saw it regenerating during the course of next 6-12 weeks. 

That painful journey is something that I can never forget. But, that made me learn few things:

1. Time heals everything, just give time 'Time'

2. Every pain makes you way stronger than you ever were

3. I am very comfortable being the 'Odd one out' in all settings since then

And as they say:

“I'd rather be a little weird than all boring.” 

― Rebecca McKinsey

Another Crazy Encounter..!!

I have learnt it very well that I am destined to have all sorts of adventures. So, a spiel from last Saturday. I was waiting for a bus with few others(people of rather different origin) in San Francisco. Then, appeared a rather tall, old stout lady, who gave all of us a stare and asked(rather ordered) us to move away, make some space for her, for, 'she was a disabled and had a heart attack'(exactly her words, indirect speech), some days ago. But, the way she behaved, it felt like everyone else around her was an untouchable soul.

She made her way to the bench, almost pushing everyone around, mumbling something, not sure what she was referring to but her gestures hinted that she particularly disliked me for no apparent reason. I was confused because we had never seen each other before this moment, and it was not even a minute or two since she was there. There was no apparent for being disliked, especially as that Indian instinct makes you rather more courteous with old people. I could sense that there was something wrong with her but I couldn't gauge what could that possibly be. This lady, a couple and I were waiting for the same bus. There were others waiting for a different bus.

The bus arrived in about 5 mins from then. There was no space to hop in from the front door. The driver asked us to use the backdoor. There was just enough space for 4/5 people. We made our way into the bus, the old lady sprinted(lumbered). I felt bad for her so I tried to occupy as less space as I could to make more room for her. But then, being nice and/or respectful has its own disadvantages(sometimes). I could read anger on her face. She barged in abruptly, rather forcefully, stamped my feet hard (and for the record, I am sure she did it intentionally, I could read it all over her). She gave me a stare, went past me, and then pushed a few passengers away(from the seat meant for disabled passengers). And then she told them, "Sorry, I didn't mean to touch you guys".....Seriously?

The bus just went past the first stop from where we started(barely 1/1.5 blocks), when she got back up and asked me to get my hands off the pole(the only support I could reach and hold on to). I didn't want to pick a fight with her(she definitely had more strength than me(considering how tall and bulky she was,in spite of being older, sometimes you need to pick your battles :-)) . And, for some reason, I still felt bad for her.

So, I held on to a lower portion of the pole, leaving the other three quarters+ of the pole for her support, But she yelled at me, saying " I am disabled and I had a heart attack." By now, I had had enough, so I gave it back to her this time "So, that's why you want me to have a heart attack now(sarcastically)?".

I was standing near the rear door and felt like she was going to get down on the next stop, so I tried to make some extra space for her. She pushed me(literally this time), (but some other passengers who were observing this drama) held my hand and pulled me back up and yelled at her "She has given you ample of space. Where do you want her to go?" I was surprised but people did care a lot about the whole incident. I was baffled but the situation was so strange that I ended up laughing. I laughed briefly because I was going through this experience(it reminded me of one of my autistic classmates who bullied me in school one time :-), almost pulled my hair out, literally and I didn't do anything because I took pity on her). I definitely, did not want to offend the old lady.  I wasn't even looking at her. She came closer, made some weird faces and said "I will f*%@ing kill you bitch". I had no idea what just happened. But a few other people on the bus started yelling at her, another lady pulled me further back in. The old lady turned around, towards me,  and a guy got in between..

This happened in a drive less than 0.4 miles long and it occurred so fast, that I couldn't believe it was real. She got down at the second stop. Everyone in the bus seemed relax now. Those girls who were pushed away from the seats, did not sit back there(in fact no one took those two seats for a while) and were making fun of her for rest of the time.

And, I ? ...I was still amazed.

Courtesy: Pixabay

“Calling it lunacy makes it easier to explain away the things we don't understand.” 

― Megan Chance