Bashabi

(writing tip: write about somebody you admire)

"I'm old so I can wear whatever and how ever many colours I want to" my tiny creative writing professor says to the class. Every Tuesday she shows up in a different colour: purple, red, green, you name it. Sometimes from head to toe. And I find it wonderful. "But you guys can't. You're too young and you care too much about what others think at the moment." The statement is true and therefore it annoys me. I think about the colourful tights I only wear at home in the flat and wonder when the day will come when I'm brave enough to wear them in public.

Bashabi gives us a new assignment. We are to write about ourselves from the point of view of something we own. I'm already loving the assignment and trying to decide what object to choose. In general, I love Bashabi's classes. She's always smiling and by the way she talks to us, I feel like she's talking to us as a true mentor. She doesn't speak down to us - she speaks to our potential. She acknowledges hard work and passion and the way she ensured us that she is there for us as our mentor even when she goes on leave to India for six months to write her novel made me feel safe and taken care of. She has told us about her collection of poems she had published. A collection of poems she wrote for her late mother. We hear some of them and it's clear Bashabi admires the strong woman who raised her. The things she admires about her hardworking, caring and fair mother shines through her own being.

For someone who has left her home country and moved to a new city for the second time, I'm welcoming the mum-vibes Bashabi is sending out with open arms. I wish to be able to radiate that much kindness and inclusiveness when I get older.

To be creative and to publish what you have to say is a vulnerable thing to do and Bashabi knows it way better than most of us who probably won't go for a career in writing or those of us who might not make it or give up. From the very first day she creates an environment where we feel safe to share our stories with each other before we share it with the world. I hope that one day I can mentor young people and give them a sense of worth and importance the same way as Bashabi even if it's just 1,5 hour at a time on Tuesdays.