Letter to Jamie

92100,Lehmirannankatu 5,
Raahe, Oulu, Finland,
20th September '10

Dear Jamie,
How have you been these days? We have never met and so we don’t know each other. I am Anmol, an exchange student from India and I know its very surprising but I know how depressed you were and how it affected your life. I study in Raahe Lukio:-a Finnish school and I read about you in my English class lesson aptly titled

“Too much, too young”

That is how I came to know about you, your problems, the things you must have gone through all these years. That is what compelled me to write to you.
I was a very violent person in my teenage years. That was partly because I was bullied and humiliated at school devoid of any reasons, I was abused, hated and treated at school badly. As you probably know VIOLENCE BEGETS VIOLENCE.I became a person I always feared I would become, I became an irrational, violent, short-tempered being. I enjoyed it at first, the new found self-confidence in me, I used to loathe about it, but then it slowly started to interfere in my social life, I was not able to mingle with new friends that easily as I used to. My mental state started to fall apart like shattered pieces of glass, small, nimble but piercing when touched. The wonderful relationship that I shared with my mom was strained so much that there was not a single day which passed by in peace and serenity. Fighting and arguing had become my second nature. It was havoc, a rift created in my world my petty but over-powering emotions. But as they say

“Once you hammer a nail in the fence, no matter how much effort you put into covering it, there still remains a hole”

and that is how the damage had been done, My world had became gloomy, dark without colors, so much that even the happiest moments of my life seemed cloudy and jaded..

It was then that I met a life changing catalyst; the school counselor. When it was announced that he was there to help us: - PEOPLE ‘who had lost hope and who thought that there was no way out’; I knew my time had come to improve,

The elusive light at the end of the tunnel suddenly flickered glimmering, basking me with HOPE.

I started to take his sessions seriously, I was habitual when it came to practicing stress-relieving exercises. Slowly but eventually things began to change shape for good. My confidence went space bound rocketing at an unbelievable rate. I started to make good friends, some with whom I am still in contact with even after 3-4 years. My social life improved exponentially-from 36 friends, it exploded to 166 friends on Facebook. Okay that was a bit too much and unrelated. But the thing is; I transformed. My teachers and well wishers were surprised by this change. Even my relationship with my mom soon became an unbreakable bond between two people forged by this ongoing peace with my inner-self. My soul was healing, I became a soft, kind-hearted, approachable person, which I am now, today and this was all possible thanks to my counselor, my mom, my friends and the faith that I had in myself.

I am really glad that your beloved mother took your signs seriously and took you to counseling sessions; it’s wonderful that you were able to pull yourself from depression. See how much you have improved! I await your reply with eagerness. Jamie.

Yours truly,
Anmol Bahl A.K.A Elusive Anmol

P.S :- Special note of thanks to my mother,Sarita Bahl for correcting my letter