This is me.
A 15-year-old born in the barely cold month of November in India. Just like many other teenagers, I listen to songs (especially the pop-rap genre) and like to wear fashionable clothes. Yes, other teens want to work out or exercise but let’s not go there. I would rather stay at home and do something else but, it’s not like I’m a couch potato. I like to play badminton and swim. I won quite a few medals in swimming tournaments when I was in middle school, soon after that Covid-19 approached and I lost my motivation to swim. I still do like to play badminton from time to time.
Along with swimming, I have also been dancing from a young age. I started my first classical dance classes in grade 1 and had a performance on stage when I was in grade 3. I have been unstoppable since then, I have performed many dances in annual school festivals, fairs, competitions and in weddings too. My main dance form is Kathak, but I can also do a bit of Bharatnatyam, and Odissi. Aside from classical, I’ve also done Bhangra, Hip-Hop, Chinese and Garba.
People have called me creative and imaginative, but I rather call myself Arty.
I believe I can do anything I set my mind to, except sketch (It takes too much time and I’m not known to be patient). It started with giving people birthday cards to getting into a drawing competition just to find out I didn’t quite enjoy it. In my preteen years, I found out that I like customizing. I customized a shirt that I found boring and I relished it, I also made some bracelets and earrings for myself and my friends liked them. Now they all want me to make them some (I’ll start charging them soon).
Last birthday, I got a gift which I quite didn’t like, mostly because it was childish. It is a shame I thought, if the colours were different it would look good in my room. The next moment I was taking out my paints and what I had in my hand was the spitting image of what I had in my mind. Then one day my grandmom came over with a bag full of my mother’s things. It had yarn, wool, knitting needles and paints in it. She taught me the basics of crocheting and a few days later, I was crocheting little hearts and earrings. At some time, I was scrolling through youtube when I found a tutorial for a small crochet frog. It was like a soft toy and I couldn’t imagine making it but my hands moved on their own and tore open a toy I never played with. I took the synthetic filling and kept it aside while I crocheted my frog. Soon I had a frog, Wonky and uncanny but it was something I made and was proud of. I soon started making other things and as usual, my friends wanted a piece. They even offered me money this time. I look forward to starting my own little business and looking back at the days when my friends called me a “grandma” or “oldie” for knitting and laughing at them.