A Lesson For Life

That was an auspicious day for me. Strong, fit and enthusiastic, I was finally going to learn martial arts. With great excitement, I went for my first martial arts class.

I reached the location when I saw this girl sitting under a tree opposite to the building; wearing a track suit and ear phones tucked in her ears. Divya, I identified her as she lifted her head to look at me. She was stunned to see me and so was I. This was the same girl whom I used to bully in school. Shy and fragile, she used to just keep quiet and tolerate the nuisance I created. Finally, she is a girl. What else could she do? Till the tenth grade, I and my friends just bullied her badly and all she did was cry. The typical girl!

Even today, after years, I am the same bad boy. But she looked different....I walked towards her and said, “Remember me, Divya?"

"Of course. How can I forget you, Sameer?" She responded.

"So how are you? Not married yet?"

Her expression changed and she said, “No. What about you?"

"No, no...But you know, we are men. We will get good wives even if we marry very late."

"What do you mean?", she asked calmly but with a kind of firmness in her voice.

"Ohh, nothing! Tell me, it's here that they teach martial arts na?" I asked, pointing towards the building opposite to us. I continued, "I am learning martial arts now....You know, every man should learn this. Finally, we need to protect our wives and sisters", I said with my kind of swag.

"Ohh, that's great."

Even you were going for some Karate classes na, back in school?"

"Yes....You still remember?"

"Yeah, I do. But see, what's the use of girls learning all this?....How will they use it? Look at yourself today, you are sitting here with your earphones tucked in your ears now and you'll go home and work in the kitchen.....Although girls nowadays learn these forms, but they are just wasting their time...Those punches, those kicks, they are just made for the muscular men!!" And I laughed.....But she didn't react. She just kept staring at me like a lizard. And this time, her firm eyes scared me...

That was the time when I saw three boys coming from behind me. They stood in front of her and bowed in a peculiar way. I couldn't understand what it was, and then one of them spoke. “Good morning ma'am. Sorry for being late today."

And she replied, “No problem, boys. Now get ready for the class. This is Sameer Sharma, our new admission." That's when I got the biggest shock of my life. This girl, whom I had troubled so much, whom I always underestimated was now my martial arts teacher.

The boys left and she stood up in front of me like a warrior. She said, “Thank you Sameer. It is because of your behaviour with me in school, that I am so strong today. Happy to see you as my student. One suggestion I would like to give you as a teacher is, change your thoughts. Because if you don't change your thoughts, martial arts is of no use to you.

And remember, you don't need to protect your wife and sister. They are capable of protecting themselves on their own." She bowed in the same way as the boys did and continued, “We bend like this to show respect to the person in front of us." And she started walking towards the building. She had walked some four steps when I stopped her, "Divya ma'am, I really respect you!!!" And I bowed with all my strength. That day, a big change had taken place inside me. This girl had changed my mind. From that day onwards, I started respecting each and every woman.