It was the '1997-98 academic year' and I was studying 8th standard. Six topics were announced by the Government of Andhra Pradesh, to prepare for the essay writing competition at district level, on the occasion of 50th Independence Day of India.
During the summer holidays, I read through a lot of books myself and prepared essays for five of the six topics. My mom helped me with a few pointers for the essays and a short poem to end a few of those five topics.
My dad took me and a few of my school seniors to the competition in Ongole. The topic would be announced in the writing hall, after distributing a few blank papers. I was prepared for five of six!! But they announced the "sixth topic" as the one for the essay writing competition that day. The typical experience some of us may have about getting questions from those left-out topics in exams!!!
I comprehended all the books which I studied during the holidays and crafted an essay out of that experience & knowledge. I was completely on my own in that one hour and that probably brought the best out of me if I think about it now, my natural instincts in writing were not perceived by me then, but I was fond of writing.
I somehow wrote the essay in a way that I could end it with the same lines my mom had written for me earlier.
After the competition, we didn't wait to see the results, since the topic was very hard and we never prepared for. Also, there were a lot of senior students from 9th and 10th classes participated.
The next day when I went to school and while I was parking my bicycle, one of the school seniors who had come with me for the competition wished me saying that I had won first prize in the seniors category at district level.
I was spellbound. For a moment, I didn't believe it. She then showed me the newspaper article in which the winners names were mentioned. In those days, we didn't have phones, otherwise I would have clicked that article and kept it as a memory.
Later, on the day of the prize distribution my mamayya, Jagan, took me to Ongole. The then district collector Dasari Sreenivasulu garu presented me with the GOLD medal and a certificate.
This whole experience was one of the first encouraging moments for the writer in me.
I still remember the lines I ended the essay with, which my mom had written.
రావాలి రావాలి సమసమాజం.
తేవాలి తేవాలి సమాజం లో నిండు వెన్నెల.
కురవాలి కురవాలి ఆనంద జల్లు.
