#STOPBULLYING

Let's go back a couple of years to the year 2009. 2009. The year Michael Jackson shockingly passed away. The year Barack Obama was inaugurated as the first African-American and country's 44th president.

I guess that was a big year for both Obama and me because, it was ...

The year that would officially change my life forever. The year things would be entirely different. The year where I will be moving to the land filled with endless opportunities and nicest people, AKA the United States of America. Oh boy was it different than India, the country I spent the first 11 years of my life learning my culture, language and values. Usually, many stereotypical images were formed about the US when we resided in India. Well, the main stereotype was that Americans are freaking rich. They are the wealthiest people in the world because, they earn more than any other country.

When I came here in junior high, I was recognized as the weird Indian girl with a thick accent who always wore ponytails and a smartass (because I skipped a grade). I was looked down upon and labeled as the awkward kid who did not fit the American standards of a "cool teenager." (This is going to get very intimate and personal.) But, I was ridiculed by the girls for not wearing a bra or shaving my legs or wearing makeup or making an effort with my hair.

How ironic to what I mentioned about the U.S. having the nicest people.

Things didn't necessarily go uphill from there. I started getting bullied by this one girl (she was the popular queen so everybody listened to her basically) and well, it got to the point where the principal needed to intervene in order for her to stop. But in those junior high years, all the girls isolated me and I seemed to always be alone. Then came high school filled with new people who actually liked me and wanted to be friends with me. I went from not being liked to actually having friends. Two years went by, the people who didn't like me wanted to be my friend, and I was elected for office. When I graduated from there, there was a 360 degree turn. I turned out to be one of the popular ones and also pretty well liked.

Since junior high, I have had a hard time trying to forgive that girl for what she did to me. She made my life so miserable that I would cry everyday after I came home from school. I didn't know how to just forgive and let go. I didn't know how to trust that the silver lining was right around the corner. Well, mostly I didn't know how to comfort myself and tell myself that things will turn out alright.

This is my story. Honestly, through this, I just hope to show teens who are being bullied even worse than me that things will get better.

There was also another purpose I wrote this article, and that is I want to raise enough awareness to do something about this issue and hope to stop bullying from happening or recurring. There will be sunshine past this storm. Till then, keep your head up,