Note: This is a post where fiction has been mixed with facts. It is clearly understood that given the costs of testing the enormous number of students who enroll in schools and to make the system uniform and consistent exams may be one of the better ways. Also this is only about the exams with pen and paper or viva's and not the other types, definitely not the exams of life!
A friend of mine X
recently appeared for an exam which he thinks and prays is the last one of his
life. The day he and many others of his era in his country die and their soul
is asked to show its resume to someone above, their exam count would definitely
acquire a big weight.
It started with Chatterjee
Miss, his first and perhaps the best teacher who never took his exam but did
prepare him for the first one of his life through Nursery, KG and Prep: getting
into the first standard in a reputed missionary school in the town. His written test
went well but because of a stammering problem he got rejected in the oral. Then
he got through the exams of two other schools and chose the one where classes
started at 7 in the morning. It was 5 for the one he did not go into.
The real count starts from
here. From class 1 to Class 6 in his new school, it was class tests, Viva’s,
half yearly’s and final exams every year just like the seasons summer, winter
and rains come and go. He kept studying and kept passing like most of the
students of his generation would be doing all around the country and like many
young people are doing it now. It would have been fine if such a cyclical
schedule would have continued without much fuss but the funny thing with exams
is that they are not absolute. As they say the devil lies in the details.
Once results are out, you
get a rank. This rank one gets is a public property free to be used and
discussed throughout the school and the Uncles and Aunties of your colony. For
a few days you become the rank and the rank becomes you. But that is not enough.
Some people take it upon themselves to predict the future of young children and
go to the lengths of dissecting the report card for subject wise marks “This
girl is good at math. Maybe she should sit early for the Olympiads.” “This boy
has performed brilliantly in Social Sciences. Make sure he takes economics as
it’s a booming subject.” And so on. All this happens over a cup of
tea which the elders are enjoying while the subject (child) can only sit and
listen to.
In class VII, X shifted to
a new school considered among the best in the area. Of course through an exam.
He had already given an exam last year for admission into the same school but
had failed. At that time there were only two seats. This time they were opening
a whole new section. So the word which every student nowadays is well aware of was
much less. The word as you might have guessed it is the hail and mighty ‘competition.’
Competition for this, Competition
for that! And how does competition manifest itself, through exams. So to all
the kinds of tests from the last school was added another one, Monday test.
Every Monday there was a test on a subject which meant that the Sunday’s more
or less went for a toss.
Exams are a victim of
their own doing as well. Just like they produce ranks, they themselves get
entangled into ranks. Moving through 8th and 9th
standard, the rank of exams like Social Sciences and humanities decreases
whereas those of science and math increase. For the bright students Olympiads
are the immediate toppers. But in general as you move through your 9th,
everybody in the world slowly and silently, in the loudest but most discrete of
ways makes you aware of the devil in disguise. The first exam of your life
which they say will stay throughout and if you do well in it you have made a
wonderful start and secured your future. It’s the big daddy, the class Xth board exam.
Throughout Class Xth,
speculations of how to write the best answers, which books to consult, what
kind of questions have been asked in the previous year’s, where to take tuition
classes etc. rang in the ears of my good friend X. He gets scared very easily
and hence got scared of what the hell is happening. Still out of habit he kept
appearing for all the exams in the run up to the big daddy exam. In pre-boards
he secured above 90%. But big daddy was not satisfied with his efforts and in
the boards he got just above 80%.
These creatures ‘percentage’
and ‘rank’ are brothers/sisters in arm. One cannot exist without the other. X
got a percentage close to being considered failure among the people he was
with. The board results had gone helter skelter as if ‘rank’ and ‘percentage’
had decided to have a bit of fun. X had a pretty bad time as it was the lowest
percentage he had received in his whole academic career. And naturally the
lowest rank as well.
Promoted to Class XIth, X
had already understood that things had just warmed up. Big Daddy was out only
to make way for ‘God Superior.’ The exam which is or was (at least in his
times) the father-mother of all exams: IIT Joint Entrance Examination. It had
to be taken at the end of two years and because it was a ‘very tough and competitive exam' and because X had shown ‘promise in Math and Science’ he had to
start preparation after Class Xth results had come out.
These two years or three
in the case of X deserve a novel and dedicating a small part of a blog would be
gross injustice and cruelty. Hence it would be fair to say that only if there are sufficient readers can the story be continued. Basically if this post has more than
20 different user comments, next parts would be written. In either case thanks
for reading the post.
25 comments:
Nice one Sid!!!
Brilliantly written! I could relate to a lot of things you touched upon. In fact, it took me back in time. Great read.
sahii hai dude !!
Well written. Hope there are 20+ comments so we can read more!
Would like to know what happens next.
Ab likh bhi do...
Well, I am a very close friend of the author :). And I could associate with most of the incidents if not all. The story is extremely relevant to the times when we grew up and may be even today. Waiting for the sequel ...
Sequel sequel ! Bada bhaiya jaldi se come up with the sequel. If you need 50 comments, wo bi karwa denge kyuki 20 toh you will get here aram se. :D
I can literally see you in that green and blue mis-match tshirt and three-fourths now, you know ! :)
siddharth yaar u had memories rushing back after reading it, one heck of a time that was (X D)
i love the way u expressed a student's emotions while he is on the brink of giving his xth board examination ! A sequel is required not only to see whether 'X' can crack IIT but also how he manages to balance his social life with lots of books. #waiting
Sunny, 1 # Dost!!!
Waiting for Part II !
please write the second part soon...it feels the intermission will really bring a climax :)
Really nice! enjoyed reading it! Hope there are more parts coming soon!
I remember the first day of boards when my father took me to Ram Mandir before going to the Examination Centre..... God! half of the batch was there.... at that place, praying for 95,96,97 percent. Mila kya- Baba ji ka tthullu... So vividly related to the incidence... Hats off
brilliantly put!
its written so simply that anybody who has appeared in exams can relate. waiting for the sequel!
Nice One Duru !!!!!
Waiting for next part ......
I had never read ny books or blogs...n den dere was sunny bhaiya's blog...
#fan#follower#sunny bhaiya
Great writing sid..makes me remind of those early days.
Sequel to banta hain boss
Nice. Direct and true. What made me smile is the number of times we have told ourselves..."Bas ye exam nikal jaaye, life set hai aage.."
Part II laayo.. :)
thanks for ur comments everybody...will write the next part nd share as soon as possible..
daru, psychologically anyone who has seriously been through this ritual, will keep on getting highs thru exams throughout his life
I think 'high' is not the right word here..exams can't get u high..nd why r most ppl commenting as anonymous!
very well expressed..i can relate to our childhood days..waiting for the second part
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