Do you know how when we all are writing or typing SMS or emails, we tend to make spelling mistakes and there is always autocorrect to save us.
There was this kid who used love reading, writing creative essays and more. But then the only problem was her spelling mistakes. It was so bad that even in her Math and Science papers her teachers used to correct her English.
She used to get 100/100 in Social Studies because she used to love history and to go back in time and learn about the kings, queens and their kingdoms. It felt so magical to her. She always would go to the library and read more about them, learn about the kings’ cousin or more about the queen, she knew the most about all the historical characters. But even though she knew a lot the only thing that bothered her was her spelling issues.
Teachers used to cut marks in her papers for spelling. They used to think she was lazy and always tried to make her practice more of grammar. But due to this she lost interest in all things that fascinated her, like history or subjects related to Social Sciences. English, yes, it’s an extremely weird language, and even though she could not get the words right, she would always grasp a lot of new and unique words, because she would read a lot of fiction. She loved fiction because she could run away into her imaginary world and she would be the best there. Even though she loved English as a subject she knew that she would never be able to ace it because her spellings were unbearable.
It was not because she was lazy, even though she left no stone unturned to learn or correct her spellings, she would get so confused on tiny aspects like where should the e/i come in believe. Is it ‘ei’ or is it ‘ie’. And the pronunciations of steak, whether its ‘steek’ or ‘steak’.
Imagine her whole childhood she kept wondering why is it not possible only for her, and nobody bothered much, as she would manage and get decent enough marks as she was good at learning things and not memorizing.
Now after years and seeing movies, reading more and more books or browsing internet she realized that she has slight dyslexia.
What is dyslexia?
That doesn’t mean she is mentally ill, it’s just a reading disorder, is characterized by trouble with reading despite normal intelligence. Different people are affected to varying degrees. Problems may include difficulties in spelling words, reading quickly, writing words, “sounding out” words in the head, pronouncing words when reading aloud and understanding what one reads.
Often these difficulties are first noticed at school. When someone who previously could read loses their ability, it is known as alexia. The difficulties are involuntary and people with this disorder have a normal desire to learn.
Dyslexia is believed to be caused by both genetic and environmental factors. Some cases run in families. It often occurs in people with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and is associated with similar difficulties with numbers.
Then later in life she realized why Math was such a big task to her, she can’t do normal Math, as it’s extremely time consuming and confusing. Even now she remembers that she used to go to Bharatanatyam classes and then she could do the hand and the leg separately very easily. But when it came to doing it together it was such a task. She stopped dancing. Her teacher used to hit her as she could not do it together. One more subject ignored. But that kid always loved dancing, but she never practiced in front of the TV like other girls in her class in the fear of being not correct.
I mean, I know we all did not have much knowledge before or even parents were busy but she did fight a lot more than the other kids in her class or school, maybe there were more like her in every school. She stuck to painting because it did not ask her to follow any rules, no one told her that the lines had to be in a certain way. She loved it and she would do it for hours and get lost in her imaginary world.
I wish this girl was told when she was young that you know what kid, it’s okay if your spellings and pronunciation are bad, go ahead and write more be creative, take up English as your major subject, don’t be scared. I wish she was told that hey girl it’s okay there will be an autocorrect in years from now, so go ahead and pursue history. Or even if she was told hey so what if you can’t do classical dance there are more dance forms which might not need co-ordination, if you love it so much you should let go of your fears and do it.
I’m sure you all would have read about the voice-box edition of this kid, her voice is different, apparently some people call it husky, some call it rough and some call it voiceless. She again loved singing, she would get the perfect ragas for the low tones, but could not do the high pitch, she got teased all through her life for her voice even now she does. Her singing teacher used to tease her more saying she just acts like singing in a group. Her classmates, her brother, parents everyone used to tease her.
She would fear eating ice-cream, she hates it, because next day her voice would not be audible to anyone. She would fear that all her friends would tease her even more. She had no cold drink, no ice cream even though she always wanted to have them.
After a while she became really introvert, would not speak to people much, or anyone so that she would not give a chance for them to tease. She would just lock herself up and paint and read her favourite story, as no one would be able to tell her anything.
I don’t know when that kid turned out be an outgoing extrovert during her adulthood but then she turned out to be me!
All I would like to tell everyone is that, you never know what each person is going through before judging or even deciding to hate or make someone uncomfortable, do take a step back and think there might be a solid reason why someone is doing something their way !
Everyone has a battle of their own!
Do give me a feedback on the story. It will mean the whole world to me!
| EDITORIAL- DEEPAK KUMAR | PHOTOGRAPHY – DR.PREM SUNDAR | LOCATION – SHIVAS GATEWAY |
15 Comments
Moving story and awesome photography by Dr Prem Sundar.
Such a heart touching story it is…. We should never judge a book by its cover..! Great write up girl.!
Love the details and the way it is written. Good Work Aishwarya ?
No one is perfect but yes everyone has its own field of excellence. If a person is not capable of something then he of she is capable of something else. We should not find flaws in people. We should love them for what they are.
Absolutely beautiful piece! yes one thing is that awareness is not enough about these things so it is important to educate people about it.
Quite an innovative post. Like your story ?
This story is so touching. I liked it so much♥️
Wow, Aishwarya, I love this post. So honest and I connected so well with you on this one. On an after-thought, even i can’t connect my hands and legs while dancing, and I also miss-spell a lot, and my corporate bosses are always out to correct me on the spelling mistakes, only if they understood there is so much more to life than a stupid spelling:P
This is written so beautifully and it is so inspiring. Kudos to you girl. Keep growing and shining!
Loved the blog, was inspirational in its own way, thank you for sharing!
Such a heartwarming story! We need to be more open about all this!
http://www.docdivatraveller.com
And she has great capabilities otherwise. Really proud of this girl who shined despite of everything. More power.
Nice to find someone like me .. exact story of my life .. i had to change three dance teachers .. all three of them told me i could never learn Bharatnatyam or any form of dance ever .. i can sing very high pitch but no low pitch
Just found out two years ago I have dyslexia, dyscalculia, ADHD and dyspraxia… which disqualifies me to be a Tambrahm becasue i cannot do anything Tambrahm ..
I can So totally relate to you !