While I was reading an article today, in the newspaper by a renowned author, on the Indian education system, all those years that I had spent as a schoolboy came running before my eyes, as if I was watching some movie on myself. But this movie along with itself also brought all those moments when I was very beautifully fooled by my closed ones! No, I am not complaining about the flaws in our education system or about some of my blemishes faculties; I am not in a mood to be intellectual right now!
We start taking exams once we enter into the pre-nursery (I wonder if anyone could fail in this one!) & the process goes on & on & on (until the end of time, I suppose). And in all these years we keep on hoping for something better & most of the times we are satisfied, but most of the times we are not (now this one is for me!) However, they pass away with an ease, without any tension (much tension, I mean).
But when we are in 9th standard, its then we are told by every one that whatever we did with our past was (plainly) fine (it simply means that all those years of hard work are purely & completely neglected!), but what we gonna do now is what will make (or break) our future. I still remember that it was our biology class, when our beloved teacher (I won’t tell you her name!) told us that, “students, these 4 years, i.e. 9th, 10th, 11th, & 12th, are going to be the most important years of your life, so please be serious, or you shall regret later”. The tone wasn’t hard at all; instead it showed concern for us. Fine teacher, got that well! RESULT- 9th standard stands out separate from the rest of my academic record, for my extremely poor performance! The only competition to it was when I was in 11th!
Anyways, after 9th came the monster of all exams, the king of all the fears! Yes I am talking about the board exams. Every one told me, “pass JUST THIS ONE DEAR, & your future will be on the right track.” I hadn’t realized that this is the first time I am listening a phrase, that will come again & again in my life; just to tell me that whatever I did before wasn’t ‘that significant’. First everyone scares you, telling you that it is the most important exam of your life & then they say, “Don’t be nervous child, be calm, it is just an exam”. Well, my question to all those people is that were you enjoying giving your 1st board exam?!!
The MONSTER walks away (or maybe haunts you, which completely varies person to person!), just to make you realize that all that it has got is its reputation, & once you face it (or fake it), you know that it is more of a psychological devil, so you move on. 11th class, I must say is the most haunting of them all. It was for this one when I prayed for the first time- “pass me in JUST THIS ONE GOD, & I shall never ask you for anything in whole of my life!” HE heard. Then came MONSTER PART-2 (I mean the 12th boards), but I was prepared this time (Although the first exam took me in surprise). And along came the well known phrase, “JUST THIS ONE DEAR, & your future will be on the right track.” I should have understood by now, but I was so dumb!
Competitive exams followed the so called MONSTER PART-2. It seemed to me as if the whole world was preparing for them, even I did, but with a phrase running in my mind- “JUST THIS ONE DEAR & your future will be on the right track.”I successfully passed one of them to gain the entry ticket for my graduation. Every semester, there was a modest request to the ALMIGHTY – JUST THIS ONE GOD; I promise I will study for the next. I apologize for cheating HIM in every semester. Then there was the placement time & I had to pass JUST THIS ONE so that my future will be on the right track. Took the first one casually, failed, but got through the next one.
When I will be reaching there, I mean the organization in which I am placed, I will be undergoing training & I need to pass JUST THIS ONE, to secure my position in the organization.
This is in fact not the end of the “JUST THIS ONE-SERIES”. I might have my MBA entrances waiting for me. And then there will be a lot many tests, following me throughout my life, which I would have to pass, to prove myself, to live, & ironically, be happy! But after all this, isn’t life also just a test? In the end of which we all fail or I must say that we all qualify, for our next exam, in heaven! (or hell, that too varies person to person!)
