The examination hall!

They say, come December and Christmas is in the air! Likewise, come March, and exam is the air! Decades have passed. Still, every March is a reminder of school and exams, that palpable tension and that brooding apprehension!

Only 20 minutes to the start of the exam. The classroom resembled a fish market. Students went on an overdrive, trying to cram as much as possible. It was ironical. You had the entire year- filled with days and weeks and months. All along, you procrastinated like that Delhi monarch- “Exam is too far away!” And now, there was so much to learn and so little time! The last few grains of sand trickled down the hourglass!

In one corner, Dinesh was “mugging up” the formula, “X plus A…into X plus B… into X plus C is equal to…”. At the other end, Rajesh asked, “What is this BODMAS? Is it “Body Mass” or some kind of “badmash” or the eatable "podimas" ?” Karthik tried to clarify, “No silly! It stands for Bracket-Of-Division….” Another boy bit his nails, “I studied. But I cannot remember a thing!  Not even my name!”

Only 7 minutes remained. Sridhar, the brain of the class, entered. He started with, “Was Chandragupta from the Gupta or Maurya dynasty?” Someone overheard this and panicked. “Is it History exam today?” he stuttered. Obviously, Sridhar was joking.  He was almost beaten up for his ill-timed prank!

He now faced a barrage of questions- “How do you solve this sum?” Is the area of a square same as that of a rhombus?” Sridhar answered the questions with ease. Clearly, he was on another plane! The rest of us were on a plane that could nosedive any time!

Students stayed irreverent the entire year. They suddenly turned intensely religious. God’s bounden duty was only to rescue drowning students in exams. Once the exams ended, he was conveniently forgotten.

Only 5 minutes remained. The teacher entered the classroom. She exercised her authority immediately, “I want you to leave your books and take your place!” For a change, it was the teacher who tried to snatch the book, while the student pleaded to hold on. The last few seconds were priceless. It was as though Destiny had giftwrapped and sent you a lifeline, to look over that last problem. And that was certain to appear in the exam!

At the nick of time, someone wanted to go to the toilet, or drink water or borrow a working pen!

There was now dead silence. You waited with bated breath for the question paper. You heard the whirr of the fan and felt the rush of blood in the head.

Meanwhile, Dinesh was still reciting- “X plus A into X plus B into…”!

The entire class giggled!

 p.s:

People may recall that old verse on exams. "Examination is a great botheration to the population of this nation, and so, the only solution is the abolition of this examination! Yours truly...Adi Seshan!!"