It was quite surprising that she told us to come out with another self portrait yet again. We did it during the first class of POD and it was not exactly a pleasant experience. It was the first time doing a presentation for most of us. There were plenty of sweaty palms, trembling legs and stuttering.
However, the self portrait this time need not require our face on it. It could be anything that represented ourselves - whether a rock, a scrunched up piece of paper or a leaf. There were no limits to what object we could choose to describe ourselves, and we were then given two hours to think about it and present it in class (again).
Before we could choose an object, we spent a lot of time thinking what best represented us. For myself, I thought of toilet paper.
Bringing just toilet paper for presentation seemed like a really plain idea, so I thought of something great to go with it. I thought of doing a very simple paper cut out of myself, stick it onto a colored surface (in this case, my trustworthy file) and then cover it with toilet paper.
So this was how it went:
Two pieces of seemingly innocent toilet paper.
Then a couple of water drops fell.
Wait, there is a shape...
There might be something underneath the toilet paper.
A vague image is forming...
It is getting clearer...
It's a face!
There was a reason why I chose something as weird as toilet paper. If no one ever mentioned about it, not many people actually thought of its actual worth and value. But most of us could not stop ourselves from using it in the toilet. By using toilet paper as my object, I was implying that no one should ever judge me at first impression, for the longer they knew me, they would know who I really was and what I am capable of.
It was a very enjoyable first lesson, and was way beyond my expectations. I could see a big difference in my classmates compared to last year. They were previously very quiet and reserved, and very nervous when they were asked to present their self portrait. However, this year, almost everyone felt comfortable standing in front of class and presenting to the rest. Their representations were also very nicely thought of. It was really amazing how much we had grown, matured and learnt in a matter of six months.
I was very, very impressed with everyone's overall performance. But saying this sort of made me sound like I was the lecturer instead :P
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