The concept of deja vu is not alien to any of us in the real world. It sends a sudden charge down your spine and makes your jaws drop. It is not that it is a very rare thing, but it never stops to awe us every single time. But something that is even more wondrous is getting to a peek into your past. It is not everyday that there is a sudden feeling of your world being turned inside out and laid bare in front of you!
Extremely smart, annoyingly confident and pure challenge seeking attitude. These are but very few ways I would describe the kid sitting in the last row on my left side. With an air around him, he constantly assess his surroundings and gets away with the biggest of mischiefs. Pushed towards breakdown, he will just stop, rethink his plan and then with sheer ignorance of rules, start over with his talent show. Pretending to be in dire need of a toilet, he tries everything possible. From request to deceit to using his friends as cover.
It is a common misconception that such 'misbehaving' kids are bad at academics. My first thought was the same too. If someone was interested in studies, he/she would not create a nuisance in the class and stagger the lessons. With this bias in mind, I challenged him on an emotional level only to realize that I was wrong beyond measures. You do not mess with a child's mind, ever! You're not just breaking his self-esteem, but also a future filled with great potential. I put on my strongest thinking hat and analysed his every move for a day. Pushed him on many levels to check his reactions.
As I progressed into this improvisation, I could help but smile at the fact that a mere ten year old could challenge me in a way as to take up almost all of my conscious brain. I understood that to start off, I must make him understand the necessity of being respectful and humble. He would just sit turning his compass and rubber-band floating away in his own world. You could give him any mathematical or comprehension problem, he would solve it within a few seconds and then go back into his trance. He was not apprehensive about being challenged. He did not think about failing before he took it up. He was not just capable, he was very consciously aware of it.
"Iska answer hain na, one." I knew it then and there that this kid was special. He was not afraid. He was free of the fear of failure. He loved being put in the spot. Then it struck me like a bolt of lightning. This was me! This is how I was in class, absolute disinterest in things I already knew. I could not and still cannot listen when I already know, I phase out and contemplate the entire world but that one thing being spoken about. I need new things everyday, and they have to challenge me intellectually. It has to push me into pulling my hair out every second. And that is exactly what I will do, because he deserves to grow as fast as possible. Because I want to give him everything that I did not have and guide him to not make the same mistakes that I did. This is me, this is my past, my life. This is going to be a journey I shall cherish like no other, because this is me watching myself grow!
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