Blogchatter A2Z: Body Shaming

It was a summer morning, with the scorching sun already above the head, when Shalu stepped out to go to school. She was a bit off that day, worrying her parents about what might happen to their happy-go-lucky kid. Her mother tried to convince her not to go to school if Shalu was not feeling well. But she told her mother everything was fine, and she had something crucial to take care of at school that day.

Hearing this tensed her mother even more than her cheerful daughter. She told her younger daughter, Rani, to keep a watch on Shalu. Rani was a notorious kid looking for ways to tease her elder sibling. Today was one such opportunity for her. She ran behind her sister, trying to nudge her to disclose what was troubling Shalu. It irritated her, and she pushed her away, running on the road at a speed Rani could not catch her. Their parents watched this misconduct from the balcony and thought to talk to Shalu when she returned from school. 

As Shalu reached the school, she saw her friends coming and got attentive. She tried to behave as if she did not see them coming and kept walking towards the classroom. One of them shouted from behind, "Hey, Shalu! Do you not see us?" But Shalu did not listen to the voices from behind and increased her pace. 

She reached the classroom with her eyes brimming with tears that she had to restrain from coming out. She looked for the vacant seat away from her friend's bags. She kept the bag on her seat and took the back door of the class to find a place where her friends would not find her as she saw them approaching from the front door in class.

It was time for morning assembly, so they rushed to the prayer ground, thinking they would find Shalu there. But, to their surprise, she did not come in the assembly queue at her position. It worried them, and they started guessing what might happen to her. Did she forget to finish the project file they had to submit? Or was she going through trouble in her family? 

They tried to sneak from the assembly to look for her, but their teacher stopped them and made them stand in the queue for prayer and morning rituals. There was silence except for the boy who commanded the school from the stage. As soon as the assembly dispersed, they ran to find her, and there she was, coloring her art book in the corner seat of the classroom.

Shalu looked calm and serene as they saw her from outside and whispered whether to approach her. She was engrossed enough in coloring that she did not realize when the students started coming into class following the teacher. None of her friends disturbed her. 

The teacher started calling out names for attendance. As soon as her name came, the professor repeated five times, getting no response. It irritated the teacher, and he walked to her seat, jolting her from her art meditation. He stood immediately, realizing she was in a classroom. There was a fear of getting embarrassed in her eyes. She could not look into the teacher's eyes and, in fear, gripped her tunic tightly, bending her head down.

Shalu had an impression of a sincere and innocent student, so the teacher did not lose his cool and asked if she was okay. She nodded. The teacher walked towards the podium, continuing the attendance. And there Shalu saw her friends with puppy faces and recognized she made things so obvious, and now it would be challenging for her to confront them.

The first half was over, and it was lunch break. This time, Shalu failed to sneak out under the noses of her friends. Her friends surrounded her in a circle, stood before her with folded hands, and frowned eyes. Shalu could not react and stood with her head bowed in guilt. Her friends shot question after question at her, and she burst into tears. 

It frightened her friends, and they stepped back, looking at each other. But it was the time when they had to take a test of their friendship and stay by Shalu's side in her weak moment. Shalu kneeled sobbing with her eyes covered with her hands. Her buddies sat near her and consoled her, turning away the students who gathered to see this chaotic scene. Shalu could not control her tears, but her friend's consistent trial to take her to a silent place made her walk with them to discuss her problem.

The group went to the end of the playground, where there were a few students as if nothing happened. They all sat on the ground and waited for Shalu to calm down. She continued weeping and tried to explain the thing that was disturbing her. But amidst her sobbing, her friends could not decode her words. They tried but could not resist laughing at the way Shalu was speaking. It was amusing. It made Shalu irritated, and she got up and started walking in the opposite direction of her friends.

One of her friends ran to her and said sorry, bringing her back to their group. Shalu sighed and looked into the eyes of her friends in turn. Their eyes had questions, and her eyes had many emotions, including guilt, embarrassment, pain, and rage.

Shalu found it challenging to start the conversation. One of her friends caught hold of her throbbing pulse by questioning, was it something about one of us that was troubling you? And again, tears started flowing down her cheeks. Sobbing continued for a few minutes, and finally, Shalu spoke.

Guys, I have been hearing for a long time that Aarav bitches about me in front of her boys. He body-shamed me. He is a childhood friend, so I did not trust rumors against him. But yesterday, when I was coming out of the coaching center, I overheard him saying how could you think about Shalu being my best friend to a group of boys and girls. Does she even fit beside me in her bulging tummy and puffy cheeks? I have to bear her because of our group. They always kept her close-knit, and I could not leave my friends because of her, so I had to "jhelo" her.

Shalu continued, not only that. I also heard him bragging that he was the talk of our group. It is because of him that the group is still close-knit. I could not repeat what words he used. Aarav behaved selfishly that day. I was shocked to believe he was the same Aarav with whom we had an oath of forever friendship and trust. I felt shattered and embarrassed but could not resist listening to everything Aarav said. He also body-shamed Sam. 

What???? Sam said.

Everyone in shock looked at Aarav, who tried to defend himself, telling them he did not do any such mischief. But his eyes showed the opposite of it. Shalu firmly held his chin up and asked if he would speak about the other things he spat in front of his not-so-cool gang about their group or if Shalu needed to do it herself.

I'm participating in #BlogchatterA2Z.