Pic courtesy :Google

It was the end of summer vacation and Dinesh, unlike his friends was reluctant to go back to classes. He was never a very bright student. He was kind of an average. Being the only child of two Doctor parents, there was too much of pressure on him to perform well. As they say too much of anything is bad. The same happened with Dinesh. He kept loosing interest with more pressure.

Dinesh never enjoyed his studies. He just understood the concepts and managed to get passing grades. But that was never sufficient in today’s ever expecting society, where more than understanding concepts, the focus is on the marks achieved. Dinesh never understood the rage for getting a rank. Hence he never participated in the rat race.

He found his solace in acting and mimicry. Come Annual Function Day and his enthusiasm was always top level. A new rush of adrenaline filled his body. He always managed to get the lead role in the annual play. Bagging a prize in acting was like a constant for him. But that never made his ambitious parents feel any better. They wanted Dinesh to score well and pursue any career that had a future. Being an active member of the Dramatic Society was a waste of time as per them.

Going back to School this morning after the vacation was different for Dinesh as it was the start of his class Twelve in the science stream . He was horrified because he knew his performance this year will be crucial as it will decide his future course of life. His ever demanding parents made it a point to score well and focus on studies without paying to any other activities.

A sense of confinement prevailed in Dinesh, but he knew he just had to go with the flow. He made sure to spend more time than ever with his books the whole year. But just before the exam, he suffered a phobia that he would forget everything. He flunked his class twelve exam!

His parents just couldn’t take it. Even Dinesh could not see himself in the mirror. He felt that he was not worthy of anything. He became quite and mostly spent his time in his room. His parents also did not interfere much as somewhere they had sensed that Dinesh had lost his battle.

After few months, there was a mail that reached the house. When opened, it was discovered to be a trophy of acknowledgement from the YouTube office in India.

Soon the reality came into light. Dinesh was an upcoming YouTube Sensation with a fan following in millions. His acting skills launched him to a territory that not many are able to achieve. More surprising was the fact that he rose to the stardom by playing different characters in front of the camera in the confines of his room;his Den! He was himself there. No masks, no pressure. Just being himself was enough. He was the lion there who was full of confidence. He portrayed every character with such nuance that his fans couldn’t stop asking for more. With the rise in the views of his channel, he started getting a decent payment as well.

His parents still didn’t know whether to be happy or worried. But whatever it was, there was no stopping Dinesh. After one year of taking break from his career, he decided to enrol in fine arts academy and continued filming his YouTube videos. He could almost see his future.

Den:A place where we all find ourselves, our inner core. But sometimes we tend to forget to understand the importance of our own Dens in our lives.