My Black Belt

It took me years of training and classes. Ever since I was a white belt. The idea was that I would learn diligence and patience, I have learned that and more. Buckets of sweat, dozens of bruises and lots of hours spent training. Finally. I ran my fingers over the black belt, which to other eyes might seem like a dark piece of fabric material. To me it seemed like an award. An Oscar or a Grammy. I stared at the screen, with unbelieving eyes. My KJN (teacher) was busy announcing the names of the students who would be 'graduating' from color belts. I could barely contain my smile! KJN has a strict and sharp voice. His words fly out, with no hesitation. Now the words were flying out, but it wasn't commands or the names of attacks, it was names of students. I anticipated my name, silently praying he wouldn't skip it by mistake or because I did not make it...! 

      When I first joined the online meeting, my teacher commanded us into our stretches. I did this with ease, for we have done the same stretches for 5 years. We then began the test. The test to see if we would make it to black belt! My heart pounded in my chest, but my parents- and Guddu- stood in the hallway with a thumbs-up. "PALGAE 6!" My teacher shouted. I scrambled into the beginning of the form. I had been doing this form for nearly a year, but it seemed so very cloudy. Knife hand... rear leg front kick... double punch... repeat! I finished the form, sighing heavily in relief that I hadn't done some silly mistake. "PALGAE 7!" was the next command. I was doing a little dance, in such joy that I had finally made black belt! "ATTENTION!" I stood at attention, but not with my feet firmly at the floor,  but like a bit of plastic flimsily flapping in the breeze. I knew that if I was at the studio, instead of being at home, my instructor would come and push me over to see how I was holding my ground. I started off my form with great ease, and a goofy smile on my face. When we reached the part that my teacher calls 'The Crossroad' I accidentally mixed up Palgae 6 with Palgae 7! I grimaced, my face turning a light shade of pink. My teacher excused the mistake, and asked us to redo Palgae 7. I gave a silent 'Thank You!' At the end of my test, I was panting heavily. The whole class took a swig of water. "Hi!" said my brother sweetly. He has learned to always say 'Hi!' to a device, because most of the time he sees us talking on calls there. In the pandemic, we do meetings on our devices, and my brother has grown up knowing only that. 

    I was so tired, and our instructors took a little break. They played some videos they had made about what it's like to teach online. In one of the videos, a female instructor was pretending to be one of her students. Whenever she did a kick or a punch, she picked up her cat at the end! My male instructor took a sip of water after he did anything! It was so funny. Then it was time for what they call the 'graduation ceremony.' I was practically singing. My teacher boldly announced the names of the newfound black-belts. "Saanvi! Hitlamani!" he said in his loud voice. I was squealing!!! I also ended up in the 'Academic Excellence Award.' For getting nothing less than an A or a B for a whole school year. At the end of the celebrations my parents grandly presented a cake for me! The garage, where I took my classes, was decorated with rose-gold streamers and balloons. A banner spelled out the words 'Rise Up!' which was the motto for 2020 Winter Black-Belts. The cake was lovely and moist, and my heart was filled up to the brim with happy memories. I couldn't believe I had done it. Black belt!