TEDxPathwaysSchoolGurgaon

I check my Instagram mentions for the third time today.
Is it always going to be this way?

Again and again, I’m compelled to see,
how many people want to worship me.

Another layer of concealer, just a dab of glitter,
All for the sake of that one .

“Awesome time tonight!” Is that true, though?
I cried and cried, I died inside, but that, they’ll never know.

I always look so happy, snapping the best selfie,
I want to let out the sadness in my heart, but my own mind would never let me.

Why do I stop myself from breaking free?


My mind is sucked in by addictive, hypnotic lures,
All those floating hearts, all those charming words.

Just twenty likes today; I hate myself now.
I’m chasing after appreciation, why and how?

I never fail to reward my followers with a daily dose of Me.
Because those eight hundred likes will forever give me glee.

So I dress up; make myself an ideal girl,
With a perfect life, in a pretty world.

But these people, what do they really look at?
Is it the real me; a fake doll, or what?

I’ll never let my real self slip through, under my ‘pretty’ face, it’s shut.


Cute, beautiful, smart - utter perfection,
This isn’t even me! It’s other people’s reflections.

One day I try and look at how
My real looks now.

As I look in the mirror, I’m horrified,
To see how my real face has died.

I’m so overshadowed by the appreciation of others,
I’ve forgotten how to be myself.

Because I’m just another Instagram girl,
Hot off the shelf.

For real, this time - yourself.

By Aditi Amritesh, on Instagram