Masked

It was a bright sunlit day. The surrounding was wrapped up in the bright sunshine and radiating happiness all over. Amit felt much better in the morning sunlit ambience. His mind had been bitter for many a days. Being short in height he was slighted by his friends. He also was belittled and bullied in school by his class mates. All his mates were taller and stronger so they had an undue advantage against Amit. Due to this mental trauma, Amit had forcefully withdrawn into a self made shell.

While roaming in the park on that bright day, Amit saw something glistening in the grass on the ground. On closer look, Amit was surprised to see an object that looked like a facial mask. It was skin coloured. Out of curiosity, Amit took it and dusted the mud from it's surface. Then he put it on his face. The mask was flexible in structure and fitted his face like a mould. Later, Amit checked his face in a mirror like glass and found that the mask on his face was unrecognizable. So no one could notice that he had put on a mask. This mask now became the focus of his interest. By wearing the mask, Amit noticed a change in his behaviour and his thinking. He now somehow felt very confident of himself which was not before. The homework which Amit brought home proved to be so laborious and boring now seemed so interesting and fun to do. Difficult mathematical problems now he could solve in such quick time. The whole world around him changed for the better when he had the mask on. Now the mask became a part of his attire. Before going to bed, Amit took off the mask and put it beside his pillow. He was careful enough to keep it hidden from his family members. Luckily, he slept alone. So no one came to disturb him in his bedroom. But he was careful that the mask should not fall into anyone else's hand. Every morning his mother came to wake him up. But now the fear that his mother would see the mask, made Amit get up on his own. After washing his face, he would wear the mask so no one would be able to see the mask. His parents were wonder eyed seeing this sudden change in Amit's habit for the better. 

Amit overcame the fear of being bullied by his friends. Earlier he had no idea how to face such bullying but now he found new ideas to ward off the bullies. His friends were startled to see this sudden change in Amit. They had secret discussions and decided strategies and ways to heckle Amit. But all their efforts ended in failure. They were now without work as much of the time in school was spent in bullying Amit. Now, Amit had become his own man and successful to over come life's oddities. He had become the talk of the town. His performance in school improved very much to a higher level. The teachers were initially surprised to see this sudden change in Amit but they didn't give much thought to it. Rather they were now more proud of him.

Slowly, with the help of the mask, Amit had changed himself totally. From being a laggard and outlier he had transformed himself into a highly productive, motivated and successful individual. It was all because of the mask.

 Then one day he was in a hurry and due to his hurriedness, Amit forgot to wear the mask. Little did he realise that the mask was not on his face. The high level of his performance had become a second nature to him. He had totally forgotten his earlier self. The mask had totally transformed him and his mind.

On reaching home he found while washing his face that there was no mask on his face. He was worried and rushed to his room and started searching frantically to find his face shield.

Then his mother loudly said from the kitchen that their maid Runa had found a weird rubbery material from under his bed. Not knowing what to do with it she had thrown it away in the municipality dustbin when they came to collect the garbage.

Hearing this, Amit was beside himself with rage. But he dare not show it outwards so to let others know his protective shield.

At first, Amit felt very vulnerable and thought how he would spend his life without the mask. This mask meant a lot to him. It was his shield, his protection, his motivation. He feared his earlier vulnerabilities would surface again and people would again take advantage of it.

But slowly consolidating his thought process, Amit found that his vulnerabilities were no longer present. He had mastered the art of overcoming life's challenges in a confident and innovative manner. The mask was no longer needed by Amit to get the prop in his life. He had mastered the art of overcoming weaknesses. The mask had done it's job. Amit hoped the mask would help someone else who felt weak to face life's challenges and vulnerabilities.