Member-only story
About Me- Aparna Balaji
I was the human version of a buffering emoji until college forced me to update
Born Under the Sign of Chaos (And Maybe a Little Genius Too)
By Aparna B
Hi, I’m Aparna. 21 years old. Working in a financial firm. Aquarius by birth, rebel by instinct… and definitely a “work-in-progress” kind of human.
Let’s start with a truth bomb: I was that kid in school. You know, the one who used to cry if she got a 94 instead of a 96? Yeah. That was me. I measured my worth in marks, ranks, and the length of the teachers' "Good job" comments on my answer sheets. If academic validation was a currency, I was an overnight millionaire. But also probably in debt emotionally.
The funny part? Despite being borderline obsessed with school performance, I was absolutely terrified of responsibility. Like freeze-on-the-spot, forget-how-to-breathe, why-is-there-so-much-paperwork kind of terrified. If I missed one class, I was convinced it would snowball into failing the 10th board exams. Spoiler: It never did. But try telling that to my anxious teenage brain.
---
A Rebellious Flare I Can’t Explain
As a classic Aquarius (or so the memes say), I always felt this bizarre flare for rebellion — even when…