5 min to 3PM. Just enough time to heat the kettle. As the water bubbles, I drop the peppermint tea bag into my favorite cup (my favorites change by day and mood, so today it's my zodiac mug).
2 min. I walk up the stairs to my room and shut the door. I set my mug down on the table, at the same time moving the mouse around, all the sleeping windows and tabs coming to life on my screen. My Google Meet pops up with a reminder of my meeting and I can't wait to meet my young advisee, a ray of sunshine with big dreams and an even bigger heart. We start by chatting about our video backgrounds. She has an underwater theme and I have the space and planets behind me to mark Chadrayaan 3's historic landing. We then jump right into discussing her essay and she's already written an outline without me even assigning it. I sigh, sending up a silent gratitude for such amazing students who love investing their time in the process.
I thought we didn't really have a concrete structure yet, but an hour later, I end my meeting, my head full of our conversations about the Saint Vallalar and his 𝘑𝘦𝘦𝘷𝘢 𝘒𝘢𝘳𝘶𝘯𝘺𝘢𝘮. She taught me something new from the book that I'll carry with me for life. 𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘸𝘦 𝘴𝘦𝘦 𝘢 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯 𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘨𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦'𝘴 𝘢𝘥𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘦𝘴, 𝘢 𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘢𝘭 𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘢𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘦𝘴 𝘮𝘦𝘭𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘴𝘰𝘶𝘭, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘨𝘦𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘪𝘵𝘴 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘦 𝘢 𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘱𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘣𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘷𝘪𝘤𝘦.
So we find ways to bring that out in her story and I can see in her face the conviction of knowing she's telling her best one. Her entire narrative emerges in a clear sequence of a scene-setting start, rising action sequences to build character, an inciting incident to test the mettle, all culminating in the climax and a beautifully wrapped up ending with a callback to the opening scene and a strong declaration of who the student is and what she offers.
And I marvel once again at how this happens over and over. However many times we find ourselves in the weeds and the muck of a writing-in-progress, and I despair at how the story is going to take shape, it just always does. And I walk away from every session, every student, every application cycle, knowing I am doing what I was put here on earth to do.
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