Hands down, the most eventful day of my life hit me when all I could think of were figures in mid-nineties for my twelfth-board results. I had slept for precisely two hours (12:00-2:00) when I got the doomed call reporting that apparently Airtel had released the results 'four' hours before the destined time.
Its only tragic that I chose Hutch over Airtel at the time of a mobile phone connection and I beat myself to death for doing that. So after much thought I handed over my roll number, crossing my fingers and half-wondering if this was a nightmare.
It was indeed. A living nightmare. Less than two minutes later, I was reported that I got an 87.4% in an exam I had expected for no less than the 92-95% bracket. In a mix of relief and utter disappointment I hung up the phone and called up friends/relations to pass on the news.
Twenty minutes later, I was crying due to sheer mortification. My english results had shocked the crybaby out of me. People without the very knowledge of the alphabets had scored more than me. And it was only fair to take out my anger at my tear-glands.
The drama continued till 04:00, me secretly hoping the result was wrong since it was never to release before 06:00. That was when I got the call that NDTV reported the CBSE lines were open for results. The website indeed confirmed with that. The result had come out two hours before - at 4:00 a.m., I was on my way to confirm my result. And was only hurt again.
Somewhere in the mid, I called a friend to crib, hoping he'd have a lot to say in the matter. Surprisingly, he had scored a 93% and I was left staring at my face in the mirror wondering if I had hearing problems.
Never mind. A reporter from Zee News had called me a day before to ask if she could be home at 06:00am to catch my immediate reaction to the result and follow me up the entire day on what all I do post-results. The day before it sounded very exciting. Early wednesday morning, I felt embarassed. I had only been blessed with bare-adequate marks, they'd probably not want to feature me anymore. So when she called to confirm at five, I told her I had not scored well and she was free to change her mind. Dipti (from Zee News) only reaffirmed that she wished to feature me. Period.
And there she was on time lighting my room with a yellow glow and asking me to act to the best of my miserable abilities. It was great fun indeed. After a melodramatic drama at home, she asked me to drive around and then took me to school. The dudes at school were freaked out of their wits to see a camera following me exclusively. For the day indeed, I had scored over all the others - even if the CBSE results didn't agree.
Then we went off to Pizza Hut where they rudely refused to allow shooting, so we had to make a move to the pesky Nirula's where we had drinks while a press meet happened on an adjacent table and Dipti gave her ending remarks into the camera. Bidding her goodbye, we went back to Pizza Hut to devour chicken pizza's.
Then we (me and a friend) doodled in McDonalds for an hour before getting picked by my parents. On my way back, Dipti called again to ask if I could reach the studios the same night for a live discussion. I recultantly agreed. I hadn't slept for a long time and that was the first thing in my head.
At 5:00pm or so, I reached back home. I barely had enough time to catch a fifteen-minute-nap and change my clothes before a press car was there to pick me up. A blue Honda City. A yellowing pair of eyes. And rosy dreams.
I reached the studios half-hour late (Delhi traffic, of course), but was still on time since my interview was only some ten-minutes. It was live - so no thinking, no uhhms and no retakes. They asked me if I was happy with my results (NO!), if I was happy with the CBSE system (NO!) and if I was happy with the syllabus (NO!). I had a lot to say anti-education-system and the anchors smiled each time I blasted it.
This other guy next to me had scored a 94% and could not speak english. Must mention here that he got an 87 in his english exam. He could only mumble under his breath cliched answers about board syllabus being adequate, results exceeding his expectations and tips for students to keep studying till they drop. I wished they had asked me about tips for kids - I would've told them to go to Hawaii and get tanned in the sun. Not that hard work fetched me high marks - so why sweat?
Apparently, as I shot answers and he looked on bewildered, the anchors watched impressed passing wicked smiles and agreeing occassionally on what I had to say. Once done, they asked me what my plans were and when I told them that it was going to be next door (Noida Filmcity) - for a course in Production, Direction and T.V. Journalism, they showed their delight and said they looked forward to seeing me in their studios soon.
Before leaving back, I thanked the correspondent for the day's proceedings and expressed my gratitude for the exceptional coverage. On my way home, I received calls of congratulations. My 93% friend wanted to know why they chose me of all the brilliance in the city. Knowing well that I had missed the airing of the story that had been shot during the day, I was relieved that the day was at its end and my happiness was at its peak.
Back home I attended few of the dozens of calls that were made for me during the day for congratulating for my result/appearance. Then after a small dinner and almost twenty-four hours of nerve-wrecking excitement, I lay down replaying the day's events in brilliant colors in my head.
The transformation from the salty tears to sugary giggles made every worthwhile - even the bad english score suddenly seemed like an excuse for critisicm.
Of all the lessons life teaches us, you don't have to score well to master them all...
Comments
about "b"?
Gurl, you're so lucky you had the time of your life! Let the damn 90%ers go to hell! Even if you don't get that much, I'm sure you'll do better than them in the long run. This feeling'll ware off in a while. You're not alone. And you'll make it through just fine, there must be some way. Worrying and cribbing will only rid you of your open mind. Think about it!
made cooler by Rohit on May 28, 2004 12:07 PM
hey and too bad you couldn't take him as an example, the boy next to you... that would for sure be hillarious! ;)
made cooler by Rohit on May 28, 2004 12:12 PM
Rohit: I fixed the entry - oops! :P The guy understood I was taking him as an example - regardless of mentioning his name or not.. he shrunk under his own skin - which is good! And so did everyone watching the discussion.
I have stopped cribbing - but it is a day worth putting down in my memories - which of course ends up being on this blog :P
Glad you caught it - and what a co-incidence at that!
made cooler by Lime on May 28, 2004 12:37 PM
hey and guess what? I just received a gift hamper including some goodies from Stic for some contest I had entered long back. Boy, my life is filled with coincidences. Today I get a terrible result, and the next thing you know is an amazing treat I get from the mailman to cheer me up. ;)
made cooler by Rohit on May 28, 2004 1:02 PM
ahaa..difficult to decide if it was for good or bad. i guess things are important only upto some point. and no doubt abt it..edu system sucks! ;)
made cooler by ekshaks on May 29, 2004 1:56 AM
Phew! That really was some "eventful" day. I remember my result time, didn't slept the whole night. CBSE makes me go nuts, the whole structure is faulty, it should b more of practical rather that therotical, i know how hard it is to see people getting more marks in english when they even don't know how to speak it, just suffered a slam with my results this time. It must b so awsome to have a camera following u the whole day. Lime, don't worry about the results, coz as far as i know they r never upto our expectations, there is always room for some more :) and now when u r at the door of a new Beginning just tighten ur seat belt, coz life is going to b a hell of a ride. :D
made cooler by Sarthak on May 29, 2004 2:16 AM
If exam results are going to be the yardsticks of intelligence .. then surely we live in a big bad world.And talking of English .. the lesser said..better
made cooler by Linus on May 29, 2004 10:51 AM
Rohit: I guess it was God-sent compensation for not scoring as much as expected :P I am hoping I receive a Stic hamper soon too!
ekshaks: There are a lot of things one can say to console oneself - but regardless of marking schemes and such results, the fact remains that never can five exams even possibility summate one's abilities and talents.
Never.
Sarthak: Thats exactly what I thought you know - even when u get a 99, you're always wondering, why not a 100? So satisfaction can never be achieved in such cases, unless you're a serious dimbulb and u end up topping the nation ;) And I agree about education being practical totally. But I've learnt that this system is jsut something we have to live with - its not changing, at least not during the course of our lifetime.
Linus: I bet our grammar exceeds that of a majority of Americans - but its only a matter of realization that the examiners themselves need lessons in languages before they go around poking their pens at us. And its unfair - but its the truth...
made cooler by Lime on May 29, 2004 11:42 AM
well i agree that 5 exams never sum up one's abilities. but then i guess we're simply disposed to evaluate ourselves based on their results. after all, a lot of effort went into it. there are exams like those of iit, aiims which do better justice to the effort u put in. but again, every exam has its own ways of succeeding and on account of its global nature never reflects or can reflect u as a whole. its only we who attribute so much to it. there are a few rules of success to any exam and if u consider it imp, u've got to follow them. :)
made cooler by ekshaks on May 29, 2004 1:07 PM
ekshaks: The first question perhaps arises of the authenticity of these exams. We are aware that the people who conduct/check/make the examination papers may/may not even be qualified to do so but do so anyway. So that really puts a humongous question mark on the entire proceedings. If you know that an examination as such - which supposedly paves the way for the rest of your life - is a result of some underqualified and depressed nerds, then the whole point of working for it and expecting results is just stupidity on one's part.
Thats something I've faced and it would just be something everyone else has to eventually come in terms with. I agree that graduation depends greatly on these marks - but not entirely. Institutes you mentioned and more do realize the flaws in the CBSE system and have moved to taking own tests or conducting major interviews before letting someone in just for their exam score.
Apparently, if the school level fails to cater to the needs of good students - the college level will sort its own way. Until then, losers can congratulate themselves on a brilliant english score and the others can only pray that a 72 in english is not the end of their lives...
made cooler by Lime on May 30, 2004 1:53 PM
i think i need to put in greater effort to convince u abt things have to basically dealt with and all is not lost in terms of edu system. but then, this place n misc factors ..
and college will remain the way u've seen if u want to believe me. one needs to know how such eval systems work n adapt.
made cooler by ekshaks on June 2, 2004 3:23 AM
ekshaks: but of course, life does go on - and cribbing oughtta take me nowhere. It is only the futility of the hard work put into the last few months/years which bother me. But I have emerged as a stronger, more dedicated person - so I'll stick to being happy about that :D
made cooler by Lime on June 3, 2004 5:11 PM
cool. wish u good luck n better sense.
made cooler by ekshaks on June 4, 2004 9:52 AM
congrats again...and u sure made a splash with the journos....loved the honest answers instead of those stupid boring cliches...way to go!
made cooler by Patrix on June 4, 2004 10:25 PM
ekshaks: I wish wishing alone would really pass some good luck to me :)
Patrix: Thank you, thank you - say more say more, it all sounds so good :D
made cooler by Lime on June 6, 2004 2:27 PM