So this is what hell feels like. I had tried staying awake all night and
study for this exam, but no longer than the first few minutes trickled
by , I was day dreaming. Actually it was night so it was just dreaming.
All night I thought I had it under control, but in the end it was a
sham. I was as prepared as an elephant, trying to swim through an ocean.
Kind words of my mom asking me to concentrate more and harder floated
by me like the eerie irony they were. " SHIT !", I thought out aloud.
There had to be a way out of this. A way to end this misery. A way to
calmly eat lunch during the break without worrying about this exam !
As I looked at my watch for the umpteenth time , I could see the seconds trickling by. A sad and harsh reminder of the time remaining. " Jeez! History is such a bore ! " I couldn't help but notice the quiet smirk developing on the face of the invigilator who just happened to be my teacher , who , I felt at times, had a vendetta against me. Dates, times and months... I tell you if you asked me my birthday right now , I wouldn't remember. How the hell was I supposed to know when the Boston Tea Party, was held ? I doubt if it was anything more than a gay congregation anyway . I wasn't built for history !
Furtive glances ahead and behind didn't yield much results. The examiner was watching me much closely now. " Heck! I wonder if he knows the answer ! " My thoughts weren't proving to be very constructive. Although one thing was clear. It was cheat or die !
So , there I was , thinking of an "out" strategy. I had already considered a dozen ploys including the old stomach-ache routine and the writing on the handkerchief move. They wouldn't work anyway. These methods relied on an age old system of 'giving' for 'receiving' information. And I had nothing to give. I knew I had to think of something before the bell rang and all was lost.
Stealing glances around yourself is like a beacon for the distressed. Everyone who notices knows you are in trouble. If luck would have it I would get a friend who would 'share' .
" Damn " , I swore, under my breath. Everyone was busy scribbling.Was I going to be the only one to fail today ? God , oh God! Why didn't you make me study yesterday ?
" Psst ! " , at first, I didn't even notice the hiss. On a careful recon, I saw the girl sitting right next to me. Funny, Isha wasn't the kind to 'share'... let alone 'cheat' . Was this a trick ? I remembered the time when she busted me for disturbing the class and complained to the teacher. I had to stand outside for an hour ! No ! There was no way I was going to trust this Satan's offspring !
" Hey ! I got Q.8 for you if you've got number 2 . " she whimpered. Hmm... Interesting. I DID have question number 2 , but the fishy thing was no 2 was 2 marks and the eighth was for 10. " What is she playing at ?" I wondered as I contemplated. Multitasking is fun .
If I got 10 , I would pass. No doubt about it. Battling my inner urge to resist giving into the devil, and carefully looking if anybody had eyes on me < I had a reputation to protect> , I caved." okay" , I said. shifting my sheet towards her, i gave her the answer. " Your turn" I thought. She was uncertain. I could almost feel her unease. Topper of the class and getting caught cheating . It would be disastrous for her. For me, Hah ! I couldn't care less. I was at the bottom anyway . A pure dysfunctional rebel of sorts with an attitude to match. I 'could' take the risk. She , on the other hand, could not.
I waited. Waited for her to return the favor. I couldn't understand why it was taking so long. In the hollow cacophony of silence this wait was killing me. There were sounds all around me , but all I could hear was silence. She was tense and paranoid, but she stuck to her deal. Scribbling something on the question paper, she passed it to me.
" Whoa ! Nice !", I had 10 marks. Looks like I wasn't going to fail after all. Trying to grasp her ant-tracks handwriting, I finally made some sense out of it and started writing. Fast !
For the examiner it must have been pretty unusual to see me jotting something at such a speed. Which really doesn't beg the reason why he observed very quickly that I was cheating. Calmly, he came up and said, " Abhay. put your pen down. The test is over for you and you're coming with me."
I wont say that I was shocked.He did sound scarily similar to the gestapo though - " Abhay ! Schnell ! Alarm ! For you ze war is overr ! Capitalist pig !" Heaving a sigh, I laid down my arms and followed him as I saw him cancel my entire paper. 15 marks gone to dust ! Damn ! could this go any worse ?
Yes it could. 10 minutes later, the test was over , everybody was leaving and I was standing in a corner.Wondering. If only I had studied. If only Rahul hadn't come last evening about a movie. If only I had the sense to devote time for the test than video games . My reverie came crashing down as I was strong-earred. " You're coming with me to the principal's office! I am going to get u a good thrashing !" Promises promises. Its not like I hadn't been there before. Scot free abhay, thats what they used to call me. 6 principal summonings and not one action . Good record for a troublemaker.
I stood there once again on my favorite side of his door. The principal was a good guy, believed in the 'inner good' of kids. I was just going to wait this one out. I was sure he wouldn't even entertain any action . Laughable actually. My teacher despised me so much and my principal was absolutely my godfather.
Classes were getting over for lunch break. I scanned the populace.Like ants they hurried to the canteens and the cafeteria. Looks like I was going to be hungry today. As long as Herr History teacher the gestapo SS was trying to brainwash a ridiculously simple piehead of a principal.
Isha smiled at me as she passed. There was a twitch in her eye as if asking a question. I nodded in bravado and assured her that it was all cool . She kinda made me nervous. A looker that she was, her tastes in losers like me bore a feeling which could be best compared to a conflict eternal. She looked around and came up to me.
" How bad ?" ..... " Not that bad actually. Looks like a few hundred bucks fine" I tried to smile but she did intimidate me. " Did they ask anything about me?" she asked. Did I sense nervousness? From all the years of knowing her, nervousness and Isha didn't match." Nope. And don't worry. Its the code. We don't rat " I tried a James bond smile on her which came out to be very corny. The worst part is that she knew it.
" Thanks...... " her voice trailed off. " I better be going, lest they see me here." I agreed. That would be admission of guilt, circumstantial evidence, proof of lie .... God ! I gotta lay a rest on Grisham ! " Hey Abhay ! " I turned to her. Sifting through her wavy hair, she asked " Wanna go for a movie tonight ? I heard Notting Hill is on " Her smile was piercing.
" Okay... yeah ... great ! " I was mumbling. " Cool, I'll see you at 7 at Mayfair. And don't worry, tickets and popcorn are on me" She smiled and walked away.
Oh for the love of risks and rewards !
As I looked at my watch for the umpteenth time , I could see the seconds trickling by. A sad and harsh reminder of the time remaining. " Jeez! History is such a bore ! " I couldn't help but notice the quiet smirk developing on the face of the invigilator who just happened to be my teacher , who , I felt at times, had a vendetta against me. Dates, times and months... I tell you if you asked me my birthday right now , I wouldn't remember. How the hell was I supposed to know when the Boston Tea Party, was held ? I doubt if it was anything more than a gay congregation anyway . I wasn't built for history !
Furtive glances ahead and behind didn't yield much results. The examiner was watching me much closely now. " Heck! I wonder if he knows the answer ! " My thoughts weren't proving to be very constructive. Although one thing was clear. It was cheat or die !
So , there I was , thinking of an "out" strategy. I had already considered a dozen ploys including the old stomach-ache routine and the writing on the handkerchief move. They wouldn't work anyway. These methods relied on an age old system of 'giving' for 'receiving' information. And I had nothing to give. I knew I had to think of something before the bell rang and all was lost.
Stealing glances around yourself is like a beacon for the distressed. Everyone who notices knows you are in trouble. If luck would have it I would get a friend who would 'share' .
" Damn " , I swore, under my breath. Everyone was busy scribbling.Was I going to be the only one to fail today ? God , oh God! Why didn't you make me study yesterday ?
" Psst ! " , at first, I didn't even notice the hiss. On a careful recon, I saw the girl sitting right next to me. Funny, Isha wasn't the kind to 'share'... let alone 'cheat' . Was this a trick ? I remembered the time when she busted me for disturbing the class and complained to the teacher. I had to stand outside for an hour ! No ! There was no way I was going to trust this Satan's offspring !
" Hey ! I got Q.8 for you if you've got number 2 . " she whimpered. Hmm... Interesting. I DID have question number 2 , but the fishy thing was no 2 was 2 marks and the eighth was for 10. " What is she playing at ?" I wondered as I contemplated. Multitasking is fun .
If I got 10 , I would pass. No doubt about it. Battling my inner urge to resist giving into the devil, and carefully looking if anybody had eyes on me < I had a reputation to protect> , I caved." okay" , I said. shifting my sheet towards her, i gave her the answer. " Your turn" I thought. She was uncertain. I could almost feel her unease. Topper of the class and getting caught cheating . It would be disastrous for her. For me, Hah ! I couldn't care less. I was at the bottom anyway . A pure dysfunctional rebel of sorts with an attitude to match. I 'could' take the risk. She , on the other hand, could not.
I waited. Waited for her to return the favor. I couldn't understand why it was taking so long. In the hollow cacophony of silence this wait was killing me. There were sounds all around me , but all I could hear was silence. She was tense and paranoid, but she stuck to her deal. Scribbling something on the question paper, she passed it to me.
" Whoa ! Nice !", I had 10 marks. Looks like I wasn't going to fail after all. Trying to grasp her ant-tracks handwriting, I finally made some sense out of it and started writing. Fast !
For the examiner it must have been pretty unusual to see me jotting something at such a speed. Which really doesn't beg the reason why he observed very quickly that I was cheating. Calmly, he came up and said, " Abhay. put your pen down. The test is over for you and you're coming with me."
I wont say that I was shocked.He did sound scarily similar to the gestapo though - " Abhay ! Schnell ! Alarm ! For you ze war is overr ! Capitalist pig !" Heaving a sigh, I laid down my arms and followed him as I saw him cancel my entire paper. 15 marks gone to dust ! Damn ! could this go any worse ?
Yes it could. 10 minutes later, the test was over , everybody was leaving and I was standing in a corner.Wondering. If only I had studied. If only Rahul hadn't come last evening about a movie. If only I had the sense to devote time for the test than video games . My reverie came crashing down as I was strong-earred. " You're coming with me to the principal's office! I am going to get u a good thrashing !" Promises promises. Its not like I hadn't been there before. Scot free abhay, thats what they used to call me. 6 principal summonings and not one action . Good record for a troublemaker.
I stood there once again on my favorite side of his door. The principal was a good guy, believed in the 'inner good' of kids. I was just going to wait this one out. I was sure he wouldn't even entertain any action . Laughable actually. My teacher despised me so much and my principal was absolutely my godfather.
Classes were getting over for lunch break. I scanned the populace.Like ants they hurried to the canteens and the cafeteria. Looks like I was going to be hungry today. As long as Herr History teacher the gestapo SS was trying to brainwash a ridiculously simple piehead of a principal.
Isha smiled at me as she passed. There was a twitch in her eye as if asking a question. I nodded in bravado and assured her that it was all cool . She kinda made me nervous. A looker that she was, her tastes in losers like me bore a feeling which could be best compared to a conflict eternal. She looked around and came up to me.
" How bad ?" ..... " Not that bad actually. Looks like a few hundred bucks fine" I tried to smile but she did intimidate me. " Did they ask anything about me?" she asked. Did I sense nervousness? From all the years of knowing her, nervousness and Isha didn't match." Nope. And don't worry. Its the code. We don't rat " I tried a James bond smile on her which came out to be very corny. The worst part is that she knew it.
" Thanks...... " her voice trailed off. " I better be going, lest they see me here." I agreed. That would be admission of guilt, circumstantial evidence, proof of lie .... God ! I gotta lay a rest on Grisham ! " Hey Abhay ! " I turned to her. Sifting through her wavy hair, she asked " Wanna go for a movie tonight ? I heard Notting Hill is on " Her smile was piercing.
" Okay... yeah ... great ! " I was mumbling. " Cool, I'll see you at 7 at Mayfair. And don't worry, tickets and popcorn are on me" She smiled and walked away.
Oh for the love of risks and rewards !
awwww... someone loves romance a tad too much. :P
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