A new acquaintance

I got acquainted with a young poet blogger recently. She has just appeared for her Class Twelfth board exams. I am so happy to see her innocent and non-judgemental approach to everyday things in life. It feels a very long time to have met a fresh and bright youngster like her who has a way with words. She wrote to me about how she knows her poetry is childish but she is thankful for the encouragement she receives. Made me even more proud of her. It's rare for her age kids to have a sense of self in this increasingly self-obsessed, social media world full of narcissist people.

I look back to myself at her age and realise times even then were changing so fast. It's just that we didn't realise they were and we did not get pulled into a bubble as fast as today's children are into a consumerist world. The capital waving, spending teen was yet to be manufactured on a large scale. But I also remember the same uncertainties that teenagers face regarding their careers, education, aspirations, mingling with the world and projecting themselves unique to stand out in the crowd. I always regret not doing things when I was a young girl. But, of course, each one of us does this in our lifetime. Regretting things we ought to have done, spoken at the right time, taken the right decisions and so on. Only we don't realise what we are doing at that time. Sometimes we may win, we may fail, feel miserable but looking back it all seems to have worked out. My younger self sometimes used to be too stubborn. I am just glad there's no regret that will make me wish to time-travel and change it.

My young poet friend has such a long journey ahead of her. A bright, beautiful, happy future where she continues her poetry love and keep expressing herself. Something that comes naturally to us tends to be the most honest work about ourselves. Don't forget this.