It is that time of year when kids doing board exams are eyebrow deep in books. Kids of other classes are also staring annual exams in the face! It is tough for the kids; even tougher for parents who feel that they are duty bound to harangue, nag and coerce their kids into spending all their waking hours swotting for upcoming tests.
I will pass. Or I will do reasonably well. Or I will ace the exam. The level of resolve will obviously differ, because aukat!
These days kids’ nightmares dreams tend to revolve around exams: evil teachers, tough papers, voluminous course material, strict marking and the dreaded results!
I certainly remember this from my school days don’t you? Unless you were one of those awful geeky toppers who studied all the time, revised each subject 53 times and then aced the paper.
I’ll get to it. Soon, tomorrow, later… “Maybe if I don’t think about it, it will go away,” thinks every poor, deluded kid who has to study for an exam.
As a kid prepares for exams, he or she is besieged by philosophical questions about the possible importance and application of the study material. Its algebra that I will never ever use in my life, geographical locations that I'm never going to visit, chemical solutions that have zero relevance in my life, are just some of the thoughts going around in those heads!
It can happen! After studying so hard, the mind simply goes blank! Or you studied for the wrong exam! Or you forgot your admit card! Or you lost your lucky pen!
When at last the exam day dawns and the child feels that their prep is good; has mustered up enough courage to actually sit for the exam; this happens! They find that, that ghastly geek is doing diagrams, asking for supplements and writing writing writing!
Sometimes the invigilator may be kind enough to drop a hint or two; sometimes he /she maybe a sadistic soul straight out of hell!
This used to happen to poor unfortunate students in the past. There are times when this still happens!
Let’s just propitiate all possible deities and pray to every known God… This is known as covering all bases!
I personally would run and hide rather than join my classmates as they ‘discussed the paper’. It was the most futile of things, I felt. There was no way to change what is already written in that answer sheet; so why snatch that shred of hope from yourself? After the exam is done, it is very much a case of ignorance being bliss… until the results, that is.
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