It’s that time of the year again. I’m sure as anyone and everyone from colleges across Delhi must have understood what I’m talking about by ‘its’ mere mention. No, it’s not IPL season or the election season, or even the summer season for that matter — I’m talking about the season everyone loathes — exam season. And in DU, what makes this season all the more excruciating is the sheer duration of it — not days, not weeks, but months! This is also the time when the sheer genius and innovative skills of the students come out. I’m tempted to talk about the innumerable methods of cheating - some successful, others not so much — that students try during the exams, but I’ll save that for another time. This week, it’s just about preparing for being completely unprepared for your exams.
My examination experience is best described by a tragic, and in hindsight, a funny incident. Every year, right before the exams, there is always some guy who starts spreading rumours of how the question paper had leaked… during my time, that guy was unfortunately my friend, Gajju, who was doing B.com Hons from Shri Ram College of Commerce, the same course I was studying at Hans Raj College. The night before the exam, he called me enthusiastically, and dictated the seven questions that were ‘confirmed’ to be in the next day’s paper.
Afterwards, I spent the night frantically mugging up the answers to those questions and at seven in the morning, had some tea and rushed to take the 8.40 am exam. I was so confident that I started filling up the answer sheet even before I got the question paper… unfortunately, things changed when I did get it. None of the questions, I had so religiously studied for, were in the paper, and before I knew it, I was on the verge of a blackout. I asked my teacher to allow me to go out to catch some air. As soon as I got out, I got a call... from Gajju. As soon as I answered, he said, “Milte hain paanch minute mein… mein aa raha hoon.”
Don’t let what I just said be a moral lesson, because it’s not. Even after this incident, things didn’t change, and we would start studying for the paper only days before it. Exams may have seemed like a tiresome thing at the time, but looking back at them, I can’t help but smile. So, don’t let the upcoming months stress you out, catch up with friends and keep hoping that one day the examination paper does, in fact, leak out!
{{/usCountry}}Don’t let what I just said be a moral lesson, because it’s not. Even after this incident, things didn’t change, and we would start studying for the paper only days before it. Exams may have seemed like a tiresome thing at the time, but looking back at them, I can’t help but smile. So, don’t let the upcoming months stress you out, catch up with friends and keep hoping that one day the examination paper does, in fact, leak out!
{{/usCountry}}Write to me at rannvijay@hindustantimes.com