FRACTURE

The Quiet Child

I’ve always been shy, ever since I was a child. I never talked much—perhaps not even enough. Even something as simple as maintaining eye contact while someone was speaking to me felt incredibly difficult. To this day, it’s still one of the hardest things for me to do.

I don’t quite remember how many friends I had in kindergarten. I’ve forgotten many of their names—and even their faces. Not a single friend from those days is still in contact with me.

I spent my kindergarten years at Deen KG International School in Kallyanpur, where we still live today. My mom used to take me to school every day.

I was always a good student, earning high grades and doing well in sports. But even losing one or two marks because of a simple mistake was enough to make my mother angry. She’d beat me—sometimes with a stick, and sometimes with her bare hands—for mistakes that, looking back, were far too small to deserve such punishment.

Memories — 8