‘Bored’ Exam Blues
Picture this agonizing scene. You see a gaggle of school kids, bunched up together in small groups outside the exam hall- some grimacing, some staring blankly into space, some almost tearing the hair out of their heads because the solution to the darned math problem is playing truant, stubbornly refusing to make contact with the jaded teen’s mind and yet others doing the perfect balancing act, juggling three out of the five notebooks, trying to cram in the last few minutes- indeed a shoo-in for any of the famous circuses in the city.

It wouldn't take a genius to figure out that it's that dreaded time of the year, that time of the year which seems to be never ending and which unfortunately ‘makes or mar your future’ as elders have the knack of putting it. EXAM TIME. I can vividly recall incidents of my own tenth standard days which makes me shudder even now. It was as though the whole world knew that I was going to sit for my public exam on the customary march second(the date normally set for the commencement of std.10 exams). All the social events I attended that year were nothing short of certified disasters. When people came to know that I was in the tenth standard, I would be greeted with horrified ‘oh-my-god-she’s-in-the-tenth-standard-and she’s-actually-partying-five-months-before-the-exam- ’ looks. I mean, do tenth and twelfth standard students sprout horns or something before the bored exams (pun intended). In the olden days, if the marks scored were low, people would find comfort in the old adage ‘Marks are not the measure of man’s intelligence.’ Now however, it is a conveniently forgotten fact. If ‘MARXISM’ belonged to the past, then, the present generation’s trend is ‘MARK’ism- ‘do so well that people cannot find any flaws in your paper’- indeed a Herculean feat that is next to impossible. The competition in these exams have rocketed to such high levels that, preparations for these exams have to be started at a very early stage.

(STATUTORY WARNING: Preparing children, below the age of five for these exams is not advisable to those adults who have extremely sensitive ears and do not wish to render themselves deaf. Not all children like to study science, math and environmental studies, when they are busy studying their elders‘ mannerisms , trying to see how best they can make them toe the line).

The end of March clearly indicates freedom- the reference of course is being made to the ‘bored’ exams, during which the students let their hair down and continue to do so until, two years later, it is unfortunately déjà vu all over again as far as tenth graders are concerned. For the twelfth however, it is a different story altogether.