I Will Change

For teenagers, their social status is mostly gauged on factors such as clothes they wear, the phone they carry, and their social media presence. Social media in India began with yahoo messenger and orkut. But soon Facebook took over and now that space is shared by twitter, instagram, snapchat etc.

When I was in 9th, Facebook was reaching its peak. All the kids had Facebook accounts but it was before the time when your parents, uncles and aunts also hopped on and started sending you candy crush requests. There was no candy crush. Farmville ruled the rooste. You planned your online activity around the maturing of your grapes, wheat and corn. There as no side bar and no timeline. The chat sucked big time.

After 10th, during the vacations I got really addicted to Facebook. I spent hours just on farmville. My farm was really thriving. I was so hooked that I didn't even realize my unit tests started the next day. Needless to say, I scored bad, like really bad. My parents were furious and so were my teachers. But I didn't budge. I also started chatting with people I never talked to otherwise in school. Time passed and soon January began. My academic performance was bad and my company I  was worse. My parents were very worried but I was least bothered.

One fine day I met my old teacher. He was my idol and I looked up to him. He saw me hanging out with this creature whom I despised earlier but became friends through Facebook. He didn't say anything. He eyed him top to bottom and then looked at me. He asked my grades and the look in his eyes changed from disappointment to sad. That look shook me to my core. I couldn't sleep. The entire year played in my mind and I realized how low I had fallen. The next morning I went to my parents and apologized. They forgave me and I'll always be grateful to them. Then I deleted my accounts from Facebook and orkut permanently. My so called new friends laughed at first and then started ignoring me. I will be grateful to them as well. I sought my old friends. They took some time but they forgave me as well.

So I put my life together. I faced a lot of rebuke from the "cool kids" but I realized it didn't matter. I consider myself fortunate that I took that step at the right time than making it a life spoiling regret. I am also in lifelong debt of my teacher whose one look made me look in the mirror.
This is for Housing.com initiative Start a new Life.