7/29/2019 The pain of Entrance examinations - as experienced by
a teenage
1/3
ENTRANCE EXAMS
Its that time of the year. The 12th Boards are coming to an end.
The coaching-plus-school jang, is
also coming to an end. Its finally time to sharpen your pencils,
keep your blue/black ball pens at the
ready, your hall tickets prepared, exam hall location-check,
last minute revision and a battle plan,and there you set off for
the battle field called THE ENTRANCE EXAM.
Two years of hardwork, full preparation, and today is the final
judgement day. Students gather
around their alloted exam halls atleast an hour before. Some
cross the limits to make it two or more.
And obviously, more anxious are the faces of both the parents,
who have tagged along, as if its theirlifeline that depends upon
whether their kids get through it or not. Maybe so it is.
Some do pujas on the spot, putting a tilak on their son's
forehead, who, by the way has fashioned
himself a choti (grown his hair and tied it at the back) as a
mannat. When the exam ends, he
will go to the barber to get rid of it.
Most give advices in the form of dhamkis,
Thik se likhna.Idhar udhar mat dekhna.
Questions do baar padna.
Some literally give dhamkis, Agar is baar bigaada toh dekh.
As for the students, bold or meek, they just stumble off to
their alloted seats, after checking their
roll number thrice, on the notice board.
Some are those, who are confident and in full battle stance.
Those brilliant ones who know theyown the paper. So do their
parents. Even before the start of the exam.
Then there are those, who are so full of fear, that inspite of
being brilliant, they do stupid mistakesand get killed by the
paper.
And of course, most are those, the brave ones, or the ones who
have always known they have lost
the battle four to five months ago, because they simply had to
scrape through their boards with
decent marks. No revision, nothing on mind, they walk in
jauntily, with happy-go-luckyexpressions, while their parents are
still begging to god to somehow make him or her do miracles
that day.
The invigilator starts giving instructions, while the students
drink her words like holy water, so theydon't get themselves
disqualified by accident.
OMR mein naam thik se likhna, bubbles dhang se bharna, mobile
room ke bahar hee rakhna, agarkuch bhi garbar ki toh disqualify ho
jaoge, paper start hone se pehle hee.
And the streneous two hours begin. The scratching starts. The
brilliant ones immerse themselvesdeep in the paper, marking answers
after answers. While the others literally drown.
Some who came for time pass, do time pass all the way through,
by either drawing sketches on the
question paper or putting their heads down.
Sometimes some concerned invigilator may ask, Beta kuch toh likh
lo. Atleast try toh karo.
The beta will smile back, and go back to what he was doing
anyway.
7/29/2019 The pain of Entrance examinations - as experienced by
a teenage
2/3
With five minutes to go, the invigilator announces, and even the
hopeless ones think of writingsomething on their empty OMRs to make
it look atleast somewhat presentable.
And the bell rings.
Hundreds of students try to escape out of the building, with
bright smiles, smiles of relief, cryingfaces, all eager to leave
the battle field, to reunite with their parents.
Who obviously badger them to give full details of what
transpired in the battle.
Some are very specific. They start counting their scores five
minutes after they have returned.Some just try to ignore the
question with saddened faces.
Some are like Jo hua so hua na! Thik he gaya! Result aayega toh
dekh lena!
Just another day, and another battle has been fought. Whether to
good end or bad, only the result
day will tell.
The Result Day Drama.
The Server is down as the nervous child and his more nervous
parents sit infront of the computer
screen. It has been down all the while now. The results have
been announced.Phone calls are already finding their way,
relatives, friends, acquaintances, all inquiring the same.
Rank kya aaya?
Some parents call other parents to see whether they can check
their kid's results also, along with
their own.
Most are sitting infront of the screen as the server comes back
to life.
Roll number:
The two words are enough to give multiple heart attacks to
many.
And now is one of those most terrifying moments, whether be
brilliant or dumb.
The shaken child types in his final call. The roll number. The
god-loving mother starts chanting.The tough father stops staring at
the screen. The pitiful student, is at the verge of dying.
Submit
Even a more terrifying word that can cause apocalypse.
And the few seconds when the roll number gets processed, those
few seconds are the last ones
before the world as we know it, ends.
And another battle has been either won, or lost.
Some plan to rejoice their victories. Some try to ignore their
pestering relatives. And the rest say
Jo hua so hua.
But then life won't stop for anything. Such battles will come
and go. Specially when you are a
