I learnt a lot by getting bullied.

I found my new self then.

He was a good friend of mine.

I knew he was some kind of bully but hey, he called me his best friend,untill the time I took him head on.

We lived in a dorm in Hyderabad city of India. Mobile phones weren't allowed in the dorms and there was a payphone at the ground floor. We weren't allowed to go 100 meters further from the dorm.(That is some inhumane activity goes on in India on the name of career) My home was 400 miles from this place. The friends I made, became my family.

One of them was very sweet to me. He called me his brother. We became a group of 10. We literally ruled the dorm. Out of these 10, I was the only one who came with an ambition of getting into a prestigious college. Others were just wasting time.

Eventually after 3 months of joining, I decided to decrease hangouts and study more. My friends seem to understand it.

My best friend used to call himself a womanizer. Allegedly he was dating 8 girls at a time.(There is a limit to bullshit but he crossed it)
I knew something is wrong but he was my best friend and controlled everyone. I decided to keep my mouth shut.

But one day, he showed me picture of the girl he was dating then. I knew that instance that he was lying. I had seen that picture on Google. A female friend of mine had same profile picture on Facebook. I caught his lie.

I told that to one of my friends and had a good laugh. I didn't understand why was he so desperate to prove himself a womanizer. Anyway, the person I had a laugh with, went and told him about it.

And then my nightmare started.

Within few days, I went from 10 good friends to no friends. My so called best friend made sure that happened. He twisted the words I said and presented in front of other dorm mates. There were a lot of rumours of me not being a good friend. Eventually I was kicked out of every group.

I was still their roommate but had no one to talk to. Some were afraid of me because I was still one of the roommate of a bully.

One day, a guy came and threatened to kill me. He was upset about something I didn't even say. I was horrified. Every day I lived with a fear of being beaten.

Those were the days I was preparing for one of the toughest exams in India. It needs hardwork, perseverance and knowledge. But I was living with constant fear. I had a dream of getting into a prestigious college. But some people wanted to ruin it.

I started talking to myself, making myself feel better. Writing poems in the back of notebooks, cracking jokes to hide the pain behind the loneliness. I was fighting a mental war with people who didn't want me to succeed.

But there was something extraordinarily happening as well. There was a continous flow of courage and energy inside me. I never stopped working hard. The day after I was beaten black and blue, I scored heavily in the test. Even my bully was shocked as to how was I studying so hard even after this.

I had a dream and I wanted to achieve it anyhow. Now when I look back, I learnt things no books ever teach.

I didn't know I had so much courage to move forward. I cracked the exam and joined one of the most prestigious college of the country.

Although I had trust and anger issues at first when I left the dorm, I learnt something-the virtue of patience.

During those bad times, even when things were going my way. I knew everything would be alright. I had faith in myself, time and God.

I knew I would get somewhere. I would make my parents proud. I made it through them. Later, I heard people getting astonished over my scores. That was my sweet revenge.

Those two years were eye opener for me. Not everyone who calls himself your friend is a friend. People will support only when it's suitable for them.Those two years were like a tough chapter of human psychology.

I started offering people help who wanted someone to talk. I never wanted someone to suffer like me. I saw people going into depression because of bullying and I wanted to help. My empathy quotient has increased multiple fold.

It's been four years now. Now I look back, it changed me as a person.

I learnt how to be patient, how to persevere when the time is not right and how to find source of courage.

Getting bullied was the worst phase of my life but it showed me some qualities which I didn't even know existed.