Standing tall at 5 ft and a little less than ½ an inch.

A meeting with friends after a real long time. Everyone was busy discussing “how time got killed during the three month long boring hols”. I proudly declared, “I cleared my driving license test”. Dropped jaw lines, popped out eyes, raised eyebrows and shattering silence. Thank Heavens, one of my good old seniors managed to gather confidence, muster courage and joked, “I know how you cleared the test. You must have stood on the seat to see ahead and jumped down each time you wanted to apply breaks or hit the accelerator. Amidst gales of laughter I tried explaining that I was tall enough to ride a car, that I dint need this ‘jump on the seat, jump down again’ superman act and that I never sit on cushions either. Vain efforts. I was subjected to a volley of questions that included, “what car do you drive”, “don’t you think you are too small for a Honda activa”, “a tricycle is anytime the best vehicle for you”. Phew! I am tired. How long can one get assaulted this badly.

If I remember things rightly or rather if I haven’t grown old enough to forget things, I would say I wasn’t always this short. I stood 13th in assembly line. 13th yaar, TWELVE of my class mates were shorter than me. I don’t intend to be superstitious but now I believe number 13 did its job. Everyone else grew up in life, I moved ahead in life( oops I meant assembly line). First place in the assembly line, cynosure of the principal’s, prefects’,captain’s eyes. One speck of dirt on my shoes and I used to get caught while the guy behind me could easily get away with unpolished shoes. Sigh!! My dukhbari kahaani[ note: my international readers read it as sad story] doesn’t end here

Ragging me in college was easy. All seniors had to do was send me to that 6ft 6inch tall senior of mine. One look from him was enough to intimidate me, to send my heart racing. I am doing my 2nd year Btech today and I giggle at the thought of getting scared of him. My ragging chronicles don’t end here. My bhais [for the non NITWian my batch mates from Kerala ] take more fun in ragging me than our juniors. Every single junior is sent to me tell me on my face that I am short. And all my great friends keep warning me to stay away from my juniors lest I get ragged by them.

Walk into any store, be it a supermarket or my favorite bookstore, somehow or the other everything I need manages to occupy the top shelf. The only advantage being you get a chance to be helped out by one of those tall dark handsome men once in a while :D(the fair ones look good too).
Ok ok I know what is running through your mind, “why in the world is this girl crying when there are an umpteen number of remedies to her little ailment. I know I have a lot of options before me.
1. Eat one of those capsules that help you grow tall. Oops problem again, none of the telebrand shows that advertise the product offer you a “if no considerable increase in height in 2 weeks,you get your money back” policy and even if they do there is no guarantee card that says you would be alive after 2 weeks to claim the money back.
2. Drink Complan everyday. I have been a complan girl all my life and I still am one. No signs of any vertical growth though.
3. Hang from a mango tree everyday. [Now where am I supposed to find a mango tree in the NITW campus?]
4. Heels. The footwear manufacturers make quite a profit out of people like me. But what do I do if platform heels make me feel like I am standing on the stool. Stilettos. Don’t ever dare to mention them to me. They make you trip down at least a 101 times a day and make you look like ‘Mr. wobbly man’ in Enid Blyton’s Noddy. And even if I manage to master the art of walking on stilettos [ I doubt I will ever do] the docs cry foul. Back pain, dislocated spinal cord.

I have lived all my life with names like Thumbelina, little Lilliputian, four footer, small wonder and a number of words in Malayalam that translate to dwarf. But someone once did say that the sweetest of things come in the smallest of packages.Guess that was the reason why I was made small. Here I am, a sweet thing :D ,with big dreams of standing tall in life standing tall at 5 ft and a little less than ½ an inch.