The Saudi Swan

Yesterday I woke up late, though I am an early riser by nature.  

I was feeling depressed from the night before and I didn’t feel like getting up early.

 So I slept on until late into the morning.

Well, ”late” according to my standards of course .

I had that feeling that life is empty and there is nothing enjoyable out there so why bothering and

getting up early.  

This all took its toll on my temperament as I was irritated and very nervous.

These symptoms are not new.

In fact,  I’ve been keeping track of them for a while.

To be more honest, I’ve been having some doubts about me developing that sort of addiction.

( Don’t go so far!)

What happened yesterday confirmed my worst fears and now I have to put a name to my case.

Well, I hope you would understand.

Actually, you might find it a silly one.

But, I swear, it’s not, for many of us at least. 

 Well,

My DSL connection was suddenly lost with no obvious reasons   .

The only reason I can come up with is somebody abhoring me horribly who knows that this is the

best way to get me pissed off. 

If this is the real reason, I congratualte her as she really knew how to get me.

And as I spend online so many hours and I do a lot of stuff through this magical

 medium ( don’t worry, they are all useful. Well, most of them) I felt so depressed and angry.

And because denial is of no use, I have to come clean and admit that 

I’ve discovered ( is DISCOVER the right word? ) that I am a computer addict. 

I don’t know if there are rehab centers for my case?

But if there aren’t any, they should establish one soon.

Otherwise, I might deteriorate into some one like this

         or this one

or even worse like this one

Hi

Do you see the cartoon above?

This is almost what my so OPEN-MINDED teacher asked me to do.

As I was trying to persuade her that it was ME, yes me, who wrote that so beautiful ( so conifident of my self  ) essay, she was eying me suspicously while repeating over and over again that I should prove to her that it was me and only me who wrote it.

“Prove to me”.

“How?”

“Next time you are gonna write an essay as good as this one in the class in front of me.”

“But writing needs a peace of mind.”

“This is the only way I can believe you.”

As despair was getting the best of me, I heard a very dear voice.

“Believe her. She is a good writer.”

It was my Pakistani teacher, may God bless her, defending me staunchingly.

At this, the other teacher had nothing to say and dismissed me coldly.

A few days later, the teacher sent me my essay.

It looked just like this

Full of red lines and circles.

Just a few days ago she had been accusing me of stealing my essay from a newspaper, how come she found

all these mistakes.

I’m just wondering LOUDLY!

Hi

starting from where I left off yesterday.

I remember particulary one teacher, a BhD holder, who taught me in my third year in college.

She was a fresh comer to our college back then.

On her first day in our class she made a point of declaring to everyone that she had just come from the

 States;i.e, USA.

After each two sentences she would remind us again of this fact, in case we had forgot.

She would say:”The other day when I was in the States I went to so and so.” or “In the states I read a book.”

Maybe she would say:”In the States I would sleep or eat or ………..” 

Oh, come on. Stop it.

Any way, after giving her introduction and declaring the great fact that she had come from the States.

She asked us to write some essays to get an idea about our level and how good we were at writing.

Needless to say that I was very excited.

It was my opportunity to shine.

I wrote a very beautiful essay and gave it in very proudly waiting eagerly for the praises she would shower

 me with.

A week later, she gave us back our essays.

As she was passing them, I could hear my heart throbbing loudly.

I guess my body system was getting ready to some praises from X-large size.

The list of names almost finished and I didn’t hear my name.

She must be saving me to the last for the big praise.

At last, she called out my name.

My heart almost skipped a beat and a big smile must have found its way to my face.

“Who is Eman?”

Ït’s me”

“I need you in my office.”

“O.K.”

Surely I would go. Who could miss all that attention?

I must’ve impressed her so much she wanted to share some private talk with me.

How lucky am I?  

So there I went.

Along with me were my hopes and best expectations.

She was sharing her office with other teachers.

What a great opportunity to brag about my talents in front of everyone .

Now the other teachers will see for themseves how a talented student I am.

I entered her office flashing on of my biggest smiles.  

But oh

She didn’t smile back.

Instead, she handed me my essay.

Well she might be that type of people who prefer to write their impressions.

I mean she might be a shy person.  

However

There on the far left top she had written………..

What do you think?

Fantastic?

Nope.

Brilliant?

Nope.

You are going to a have a great future as a writer?

Nope again.

These longed-for comments were only written in my imagination.

My supposed to be open-mindeded teacher had written on top of my essay

Depend on yourself!

Oh no no!

Is this the long awaited response?

Where are the praises I had been waiting for?

 For more than five minutes I was convincing her that it was me who had written that article and that I hadn’t copied it as she was insiting from a newspaper.

Hi everyone

Have you read this cartoon?

Does it ring a bell?

personally it rings for me too many bells.

It must have reminded you of writing teachers.

Well. Not all of them.

But surely many of them.

Let’s share our stories together.