This Is How My English Teacher Changed My Life.
And made me fall in love with writing
I was a pretty average child in my school life. I would struggle to surpass the average despite being highly focused and diligent in my studies. I had almost won no awards in any competitions, nor was I the best academically.
If you’d go back to the 2016 version of me and ask her for her hobbies, she might shy off from saying anything at all. I absolutely loved singing, but I wasn’t classically trained, so I never thought mentioning it was worthwhile.
But then, one day in my sophomore year of high school, my English teacher casually asked each of us a topic/theme on which we would write a poem if we could. And one person said clouds, the other said pillow and so on. I was the last person to answer, and I was nervous. So I looked into my pencil pouch, saw a highlighter and mentioned it without thinking much.
The following week, one of the most notorious boys in our class came up with the sweetest little poem on the pillow, and that really changed something in me. It made me realise that poetry doesn’t just come to someone who is calm and quiet but is an art form for any deep thinker to express their thoughts. So, that was it! I decided to write my first ever poem, not for an assignment, but by choice and for myself.
I wrote the poem during our free classes and then gave it to my English teacher, Leena ma’am. Let me tell you something about her. She was the most proficient English teacher I had seen in all of my school life. And, she was intimidating. Because her knowledge was insane, and her confidence would shine through her like no other. I’ll be honest, I was scared of her. Because at the time, I struggled with basic grammar and vocabulary and had always been a timid child, afraid to talk or express anything at all.
But something unexpected happened. One morning, Leena ma’am walked into the class and, after asking me if I was okay with it, read aloud my first ever poem titled ‘Highlighter’ to the entire class, and by the end of it, the whole class clapped.
I was on top of the world. And yes, I agree this may sound like I’m exaggerating, but getting a little bit of limelight for someone who’s been ignored all their school life was overwhelming. She appreciated it, and that was it! I started writing poetry during lunch hours, at home and during boring lectures.
Initially, it was fun! I liked thinking about various topics/themes to write on, and rhyming it all was fascinating. I never thought I could write, and being appreciated by the most talented English teacher I’d known was enough to motivate me to write as much as possible.
Until there came a time in my life when writing poetry upgraded from being a hobby to being my closest friend and confidante, when I had no one to express my thoughts to. It got me through the worst storms of my life when nothing seemed to work out.
In my junior year of high school, I picked up the guitar for the first time and eventually, after writing cliche love songs that make me cringe today, I wrote songs that expressed a part of who I was and what was I feeling. I survived physical illness, mental trauma, loneliness and the very lockdown, through writing. Be it writing poetry, songs, a novella or just pages of rants about life being unfair on my phone’s notes app.
It’s been five years, and I’ve only gotten better. I could’ve never imagined having done things so creative 5 years back, and I’m incredibly grateful. When I look at my first poem, my first few poems, or even my recent poems, I cringe really hard. Honestly, I think the poem I had written at the time was pretty bad, considering I was 15 years old.
But as Ed Sheeran said, “When you switch the dirty tap on, it’s going to flow shit water out for substantial amount of time and then, clean water is going to start flowing…so is with songs. You are going to write shit songs in the beginning, you are! My songs were terrible..the more and more you write, the more and more you experience and then, you start flowing clean water and songs start to get better and better.”
I’ve had teachers that made me feel guilty in 2nd grade for ruining the annual day, teachers that never gave me a chance because they knew I couldn’t do it, or teachers that never appreciated anything that I did because my grades were still average. But one teacher.
One teacher was all it took to make me feel I am worth something, to make me feel I am talented and to make me feel I can make it in this world. And I owe that one teacher, my English teacher, a lot! I’m really thankful to have been taught by her because even though she taught us only for a year, the mark she’s left on my life is something I can never forget.
So, thank you, ma’am. I hope I can someday get published and make you proud. Thank you for being my guide and mentor!
This was Day-7 of my 30-day writing challenge. Thanks for reading :)
