The weight of expectations.
It was another parents' teachers meet. I was not looking forward to it. I knew I hadn't made the top 10. I had missed out by 1 mark. That meant my name would not be on the board. What followed was one of the most significant moments of my life. It shaped the way I looked at things for a very long time. Listening to my mom talk with my teacher and expressing her disappointment was not a pleasant experience. I couldn’t hold myself. I broke down while the discussion was happening. And all my mom told me was to stop it and that I was embarrassing her with everyone else watching. I love my mom and she’s pampered me to no end but there have been moments where I wished she did something different. Deep down I knew I could never match her expectations. In the end, that was what I was afraid of the most. I was satisfied with my marks. To an extent. But I knew I could never reach the heights which my brother did. It wasn’t just my mom. I didn’t want to let anyone down. I felt the same w...