Two weeks.
I had been waiting for my exam results for the past two weeks; which I had relentlessly spent on my guitar, my blog and my books. Yeah, yeah, I know you must be thinking, "WHAT? No physics, the Devil subject? Oh, bad, bad!" I ask you, with my family being all genius and their expectations of me 'following their footsteps', how could I not live without a few hours with R.D Sharma OR my physics practice questions?? I just don't like mentioning it.
Yes, this is the eternal truth; and I have yet again given assurance of my 'nerdity' and my studious nature. Yet again, I am a certified 'ideal student'. Sometimes, I am sick of people calling me "Oye, topper!" instead of "Oye, Parishka!". The hardest part? You get a mark or a half below full, and you've done it. You have spoilt the name of your family; you have not lived up to everyone's expectations AS WELL AS to the standards of a topper! I honestly don't understand, did I take birth only to satisfy elder people to me?? Now that I've said it, it sounds unbelievable to my ears (Yeah, I'm impossible).
Until a year back, I used to enjoy people coming up to me and doing what the whole world does: they first sit down facing me and shake their heads. Shake, shake and shake till I am exasperated, and very slowly, ask, "My dear, Parishka, just simply what do you eat? I've NEVER seen your score waver from a half mark below full. First of all, WHY??! and next, how?" And then I launch into a long list of acknowledgements, thanking the world for what I am. I even thank my maid, who cleans my room; saying that I couldn't have had a room better.Â
Coming back to the topic: exam results. Exam results are nothing but GIF-worthy moments. Expressions like, "Seriously?" or "Seriously??!!" and "Today is the my last day in this world." or "I feel on top of the world!" I swear if I weren't a student and a contestant of the GIF-making contest instead, I would have surely kept lingering around the teacher's desk with a camera.
Rivalries generate as fast as a candy and sweets factory can produce gummy bears. Girls break down into tears as if their mum had just lost a limb or paralyzed one. Me? I just sit at my desk with waves of people crashing upon me; some congratulating, some threatening, some asking for an exchange of answer books, and some cursing. I enjoy every day of results; or declaration, as some of you may put it, as it is also the ceremonious day when teachers chain more students to their "Train of Excellence". The low scorers are attached to or thrown into the "Train to Pakistan". Some of them light up their fire, scream lyrics of songs like Hall of Fame and tell tall stories of how hard they had worked and how the teachers had unceremoniously slashed down their marks. The best are the ones who blame, curse and impale teachers virtually. They'll be like, "...and then I will stab that lady's heart again and again and again! Pow! Bam! And then she gets three smacks in her chubby face...I threaten her like, "Increase my marks...DO IT RIGHT NOW!!" She then trembles like a leaf with fear and adds 50 marks and whoosh! I pass with flying colors! I top the class!" Then reality washes over and destroys the sand castle that tried to stand next to the seashore, "What do I tell mom?"
I have changed a lot of schools in my life, and every new school came with different types of kids and the above is my observation and compilation of a variety of moods on the day of examination results. But as I have grown, I have seen students getting used to bad grades; I have seen their tears refusing to show as they think that it is pointless. I have also seen students get off the Train of Excellence for a change and get weird glances and sneers from the class and teachers. I think that we aren't born to score grades, but to gain knowledge and the reason that a good student scored badly is not always because he didn't know the answer. Probably, he started the test late due to some reason; or probably he was under the pressure of maintaining his reputation and thence couldn't complete the paper.Â
If we look carefully, we will see that every good student has a success story, and the ups and downs of his life are the best lessons to learn from. If you have ever observed, in an exam, we learn the lesson and then give an exam and make mistakes. But, in life, we first give the exam, and then learn the lesson.