1. Have an Interesting Snippet to Share : Click Here
    Dismiss Notice

Examination Winds, Examination Fever

Discussion in 'Snippets of Life (Non-Fiction)' started by satchitananda, Apr 27, 2013.

  1. satchitananda

    satchitananda IL Hall of Fame

    Messages:
    17,880
    Likes Received:
    25,953
    Trophy Points:
    590
    Gender:
    Female
    [JUSTIFY]Summer is here. The air weighs down oppressively, making it hard to breathe. All one wants to do is just flop down on the floor under the fan and sleep. The afternoons are so hot they make one drowsy and send one of into a languorous sleep. Come evenings, there is a hint of a balmy breeze blowing. They bring back memories of summers of the past.

    I am sitting in the front room of our home. It is evening time. Summer breezes are blowing. These are the '70s when we still had plenty of greenery, bungalows and not too many high rise buildings. The population was not what it is today. We used to get gentle breezes in the evening. Dad used to sit outside in his easy chair. (Those were days when we could still see the stars in the sky and he would show me the Great Bear and the Pole Star when I got the time to set aside my books and sit with him for 10 mins when I took a break). Coming back to the scene I was describing, Dad would be sitting in his easy chair. Mom would be sitting on the steps in front of our house. The neighbours would be sitting out in the courtyard, the next door granny in her wheel chair. Everybody would be chatting. And what would I be doing?

    [​IMG] [​IMG] Wanting to [​IMG]. Why? Because exams were round the corner. Round the corner? Well, more like on top of her head. The scene inside the house?

    "Amma, I am not going for the exam tomorrow. I am going to fail".

    "Nothing doing, you are jolly well going to go and write whatever you know. This is why I tell you to study right from the start. Every year it is the same story. You will never learn, will you. You have to study at the last moment. How do you think you can study the whole portion the day before the exam? And then you do this drama every time".

    "But if I take the exam and fail, it is one thing, I can still take it next semester. But if I get low marks, I will miss my class. I can clear it next semester".

    "No, you are going and giving your exam tomorrow".

    And that was that. Tears would be flowing fast enough to give Ganga, Yamuna and the now mythical Saraswati a run for their money. (I am sure if I had stored all those tears and set up a desalination plant, I could still have made some profit selling water).

    So I sit down intending to study all night long. I sit till 11.30 and start feeling tired. I set the alarm for 12.30 a.m. In the time in between I wake up 5 times to look at the clock. Finally, I give up and put off the alarm, turn on the light, wash my face with cold water, drink a cup of coffee and sit down again to study. The hours go by. Dad wakes up at 5.30. He makes coffee for himself and for me. "Appa, I don't want 'amrutatulya' coffee" I complain. (He generally makes coffee very sweet. Amrutatulyas are road side tea shops where the tea is very sweet). "I am giving you "amruta tulya" coffee (comparable to honey), so what are you complaining about, he retorts. A couple of hours and a couple of coffees more and I am packing up to go for my exams - I am a bundle of nerves, I wish the ground would open up under me. With all good wishes from parents and instructions to keep cool, read the paper properly etc. I go for my exams.

    Scene at college: All classmates are discussing various topics heatedly. Satchi retires to another corner where she cannot hear them. Her nerves are taut enough to play music on. She can't bear to hear them and find out what she does not know. There is a knot in her tum. The bell rings. She walks to the classroom like a sheep walking to a slaughter (assuming the sheep knew it was going to be slaughtered and what it would feel like). She sits on her seat and closes her eyes. She does not want to see the supervisor come in with the papers. God in Heaven is tearing out His hair because Satchi is chewing off His head with prayers. His ears are paining, His head is splitting.[​IMG]

    Finally she hears the paper being kept on her desk. With great trepidation she opens her eyes and looks at the question paper. She selects some questions where she thinks she can write something. She looks at all the other "scholars" in the class writing feverishly. She tries to write in large handwriting in order to cover more paper. Despo. Finally she finishes writing and hands in her paper. The others are still writing. The 3 hours are up. Everyone comes out. Now is the time to dissect the paper and to do a post-mortem analysis. It turns out that the question she did not understand was the one which was the easiest. She knew the answer. Instead she had attempted a question to which she had barely written half a page. The others had written 3 pages for the question she had not understood. She was sure she would fail.

    A month later results are out. The paper which she thought she had done very well in have brought her the worst marks. This paper where she thought she would fail - she has topped the class. The others jump on her. "We will never believe you next time. You said you had done badly". What can she tell them. Either she does not know what she knows or all that can be said is "strange are the ways of examiners"!!!!!

    I was reminded of this when I read Cheeniya sir's post in FP:

    So, sorry if I have bored you, but you know who is to blame.:rotfl

    Even today when I am in Pune in February, I do sometimes feel those winds (though not so often now as the weather has changed considerably) and though they are very pleasant to feel, they always bring back to mind one unpleasant memory - EXAMS. Hence I call them examination winds.

    [/JUSTIFY]
     
    9 people like this.
    Loading...

  2. Anandchitra

    Anandchitra IL Hall of Fame

    Messages:
    6,617
    Likes Received:
    2,620
    Trophy Points:
    345
    Gender:
    Female
    The summer breeze is bringing in breezy writings from you which are soothing and relaxing to me reading it in a spring breeze.
    It is somewhat sad that the winds bring you unpleasant memory associated with exams.. for me its just always too pleasant and too wonderful
    Enjoyed reading your trip to the exams stored in your memory the anguish and even traces of unpleasant left still.
    Your writings can never fall in the category of boredom dear.. thanks for sharing:)
     
    1 person likes this.
  3. getstrngth

    getstrngth Gold IL'ite

    Messages:
    737
    Likes Received:
    681
    Trophy Points:
    188
    Gender:
    Female
    So this post should be first Satchi followed by holiday post :)

    We stay in a small town and inside area, so there is no pollution and high raise so far. When we were younger, summer holidays we used to go to mottai madi(upstairs) spend long hrs there. Appa loves astronomy and he taught as a lot. Sometimes I would sleep up and he would bring me down. Gone are those golden days!!!!

    Exams reminds my school days. Akka used to prepare 2 months before annual exams, do 3 revisions and would cry with amma if she looses .5 marks with her other first rank competitor. :drowning She would study whole night with lights on, sometimes would sleep on her table itself. Patti used to put tea for here.:hide:

    I'm totally opposite. :cheers No were close to 1st rank or 3 revisions. I just dust my books/ rather confirm the syllabus before exam day. It was a pain for my mom to run behind me during school. I would study for only 3 hrs and then I'm tired will go to bed. :thumbsup I have never strained so much. At the same time I used to get above average in 70-80s mark. Athuke thitu veczhum. (Get scodling, get compared with akka). I would in turn ask her not to study but she never listened. Coz of this akka was given allowance to watch movies, go out with friends in school. During college days, my mom accepted my character and left me off.... College marks are sometimes based on not quality but quantity of papers. If you know the main topics, sub topics , main points in a zest and can write stories based on a topic you can definitely crack it.

    Amma keeps telling "unna puruchukave mudiyala. I still wonder how you managed to complete two masters I thought you will drop off". She never understood the part that I love studying but exams stress me out. I can't accept exam determining a man's intelligence. She never allows me to complete this argument.
     
    4 people like this.
  4. satchitananda

    satchitananda IL Hall of Fame

    Messages:
    17,880
    Likes Received:
    25,953
    Trophy Points:
    590
    Gender:
    Female
    Hi AC,

    Thanks so much. Good for you that you do not have such associations. :-D

     
  5. satchitananda

    satchitananda IL Hall of Fame

    Messages:
    17,880
    Likes Received:
    25,953
    Trophy Points:
    590
    Gender:
    Female
    Hahahaha getstrngth, this was the funniest:

    It was nice reading your memories of examination times. To this day I hate seeing children preparing for exams. My mom used to tell me your children will probably remain uneducated, because I used to plead for my niece and nephew and used to keep saying let them play, why are you making them work so much right now. :-D But those kids grew up and made something of their lives unlike their aunt, so it is fine. I was the misfit in the otherwise academically minded family. I always wanted to prove myself to be as good as everyone else, but hated having to working as hard. :p
     
    2 people like this.
  6. bubblygal

    bubblygal Platinum IL'ite

    Messages:
    1,381
    Likes Received:
    4,074
    Trophy Points:
    283
    Gender:
    Female
    Dear Satchi,
    Wonderful as usual!The term exams now and always brought terror walla impact!I used to hate summers for that!But considering the battles in life i feel those exams were easier!:)
     
    1 person likes this.
  7. satchitananda

    satchitananda IL Hall of Fame

    Messages:
    17,880
    Likes Received:
    25,953
    Trophy Points:
    590
    Gender:
    Female
    True Bubbly. Besides the fact that life throws tougher exams in our path, the fact is with time we learn to see exams in proper perspective as against during our student days where we learn to see them as life and death situations. These days exams are taken with the attitude of "fine, if I do well, wonderful, if not, there will be something else awaiting me".
     
    1 person likes this.
  8. kkrish

    kkrish IL Hall of Fame

    Messages:
    5,608
    Likes Received:
    10,032
    Trophy Points:
    438
    Gender:
    Female
    :thumbsup
    Yeh Sats!
    I never thought such a pleasant thing as evening breeze will be associated with such an unpleasant thing as "exams".

    However, now thinking about it, you are in a way right. I too remember thinking of all the books I was going to get from the British council library, adn the USIS after the exams, when I was supposed to be studying anatomy and taxonomy. The hot April Madras sun would only add to my day-dreaming and make me drowsy.
    My discovery was the thicker the textbook, the quicker it would induce sleep.

    Ha, student days!!!
    Thanks for taking me back to those ole days!
    Enjoyed your wit and humor!
    Lovely!
     
    2 people like this.
  9. satchitananda

    satchitananda IL Hall of Fame

    Messages:
    17,880
    Likes Received:
    25,953
    Trophy Points:
    590
    Gender:
    Female
    Hey Kamala, great to hear from you. Yep, I remember the times I used to lie on my tum at the edge of the bed, the book on the floor hoping mum would not notice when I nodded off. But mum being mum ........ :biggrin2:
     
  10. manjukps

    manjukps IL Hall of Fame

    Messages:
    1,738
    Likes Received:
    2,349
    Trophy Points:
    300
    Gender:
    Female
    Dear Satchi,

    That was wonderful narration. Exams brings shivers that too in hot summer.

    Still school I had no problems. It was my doing choosing days. Those exams are in june and November. I used to have fever, vomiting and what not. Still now I have not completed one group in final after marriage and few years of nomadic life, now I don't intend to. But after that I did wrote other exams completed M.com., M.phil. Now and then go through some courses and getting through. But I get tensed more than my son for his exams since he is in higher secondary because of high competition.

    Regards
    Manjukps
     
    1 person likes this.

Share This Page