Paper Airplane Part 1

Ever wondered how an origami plane can change a person’s entire course of life? Well, I didn’t know either until that incident back in 6th standard turned my life upside down. Why? All because of a paper airplane.

The entirety of the incident had 2 outcomes. Firstly, that was the day that marked the astronomical change of yours truly, which turned him from a little kid who used to cry every day to a person who’s never cried since. Secondly, I became a target student in the eyes of my 50-year-old chemistry teacher, who later turned out to be a molester. Abrupt? Let’s get into the story then

The transition from 5th to 6th standard marked the splitting of the subject of Science into its subparts Physics, Chemistry, and Biology which was a completely new world for me. Having met my Chemistry teacher, I could say with confidence that I had no interest in that subject whatsoever and could honestly not care about the subject any less than I already did

Now having not written a single word in a chemistry notebook in over 6 months got me into trouble with her for the very first time, she was hellbent over my attitude and ended up throwing my book across the class and into the dustbin. At least that’s what I told my mom to get out of it back then. All she really did was smash my copy on the floor out of a sudden burst of anger but I thought it’d be fun to exaggerate it a little.

Half a month after that, I was greeted with the idea of making paper airplanes. It was 1:20 in the afternoon, mid-October and the sun was out but the weather was pleasant overall with a slight breeze which we could feel in the classroom situated on the 5th floor of our school building. School ended at 1:40, 20 minutes left for our infamous chemistry period to end and each and every kid had their eyes fixated on the wall clock stationed just above the teacher's head hoping that the hands would move faster and the bell would ring for dispersal.

The teacher spewing her own story about how atoms work, how we're made up of molecules, and how everything in the world is based on chemistry and other gibberish that I couldn't understand a word of at that moment, I was much more intrigued by how a piece of paper flies and glides through the air if you fold it just right. Making sharp creases, folding them with scales, I was on a mission, lost in my own world, to make the perfect paper airplane that would glide past our eyesight, far across the horizon, and never return

The clock struck 1:35 and my perfect airplane was ready to take flight. Suddenly the scenery beyond the classroom window looked much more appealing, the small trees, the tall trees, all posing as obstacles in the race to the edge of the Earth, the tall skyscrapers which were only miniature boxes constructed miles away from us looking like the finishing line, I couldn't wait to fly the plane.

Just as the bell rang, every kid hurried across the door, running towards their freedom with their bags half worn and half hanging from their tiny shoulders, all except my best friend who was equally excited to see how well the plane took flight. We both rushed to the window sill, prepared to see the best ever paper airplane ever made but our happiness, only giving us hope for a fairly short duration wasn't very well received by our chemistry teacher as she snatched the airplane from my hand, crushing it as a result and threw it into that same dustbin where she supposedly threw my copy.

Completely heartbroken, not because she ended up complaining about a trivial origami plane to my mother and telling her that I was flying paper planes inside the classroom while she was teaching, which was not the case at all because the dispersal bell had already rung, but because all the effort I put in, each and every fold, each and every crease I made to make it better than before, I saw it go down in ruins, crashing before ever flying, I felt so bad about it that I buried my head in my own desk and started crying like a little kid who just broke his precious toy.

Each and every boy, each and every girl seeing me cry like a little kid and for what? Something which I couldn't even explain.

that little boy who was crying with his head stuffed into his own desk, covering his face with his own hands, I decided to never ever bow down or apologize to anyone for something that didn't deserve punishment or something which I hadn't done.

To be continued