The first thought after completing the
last examination of the third semester was to write this. But, home made the
change. Eating and sleeping became the primary activities while Facebook and
Whatsapp occupied the rest of the time. After getting accustomed to the home
atmosphere, there was a picnic and finally now on the verge of my going back to
college, there is no other day and I am forced to complete it today.
Sleeping hours are never long in
hostel life as most of the guys sleep at dawn and wake up some half – an – hour
before class starts (Few people have got that talent to get ready even in
the last five minutes) This regular habit has never been stressful as we
used to get at least 4 to 5 hours of sleep. But the last fortnight of each
semester never resembles the other normal days. EXAM FEVER!!!
The affiliated colleges have strict
schedule with some even allotting separate time in the name of Study Hour.
But, the benefit of our University lies in the fact that we’re always left free
with very trivial limitations (Of course, this triviality can take up its
gigantic form, at times. But never mind!). The evilness of this benefit can
be felt during the exams as none would’ve touched the book except during
internals. Even internals can’t shake some stern guys, who must have vowed some
day that they would turn the pages of a subject book only at the time of end
semester.
This time, the bad omen started on
November 11, though the official date was November 10. The discrepancy lies in
the fact that the Mathematics paper was easy (at least for The Mechanical Department).
Crossing Math was an icing on the cake; my only fear was the lack of final
preps as the day before was my birthday. I had to be online throughout the day
as replying late for the wishes would hurt someone (Ok, here is the direct
reason. It is the only day when girls would text me. At least by that way, I
could develop conversations). I was relieved after 12:30 PM on Nov. 10th
as I wouldn’t be involved in something full of numbers, apart from SuDoKu.
However, that isn’t it. The second
paper was like combating Timur Lenk in Samarkhand. Thermodynamics had to be
finished, somehow. There were brief chit-chats in the hostel, after which
almost everyone got into the business. Mugging up and getting screwed up with Thermodynamics
and Fluid Mechanics is a bit different and much difficult from reading
through Playing It My Way or The Alchemist. Thermodynamics is the
only subject which requires ‘only’ one book to be read, containing not more
than 800 pages (!!!) Seniors had already stated that nothing would be asked
beyond that book. But what they meant was evident only during those last three
days.
Different reading habits of people came
to the limelight in those good days. One would hold his breath, while
continuously chanting some theory, like Shankar Mahadevan singing Breathless,
and after 40 – 45 seconds, he would exhale for with a noise resembling that of
an athlete, who had run 1500 meters; Another would be rocking his chest and
head with his hand in order to provide an easy passage of answers into the
brain; Some other guy would be reading with his ears shut with hands or an
unconnected headset, in order to prevent external noise.
There are some distinct peculiar cases
in this regard. For example, the people staying at the adjacent room to ours
would start preparing only in the afternoon of the last day before any exam, no
matter how many days are given as holidays; One guy in the opposite wing would
always lament in a sober and sorrowful tone that he couldn’t prepare and
concentrate on the subject, although he would have finished three or four
revisions by that time, apart from completely reading the book, including Contents,
Prologue and Epilogue once; And, another would be spying the rooms all over the
hostel to check if someone has read something, which he had no idea about,
holding his mobile and pretending to be speaking with his mom; There is this
guy, who would always take a break of an hour at around 11:30 PM to speak with
his girlfriend.
All these happened before Thermo and
people could be seen roaming here and there from one wing to another to get rid
of the doubts, which were nothing short of endless. The hostel typically
resembled Chennai Central Railway Junction all the three days. We were
fretting on who would be setting the question paper and how difficult it would
be. Some, with low internal marks, even went to the extent of not opening the
book, deciding it would be of no use.
Finally, Nov. 14 arrived and as
expected, whatever we skipped was asked. Finishing the exam was never the
problem as after the first 30 minutes, I had completed what I knew. The
remaining time was spent on preying here and there and hissing the person
sitting before to show something he had written. Perhaps, it was an indication by
the fate, slamming, “You’re not children anymore to celebrate Children’s
Day. Suffer and go to hell!!” What was much more distressing was all our painstaking
work had gone in vain, in a matter of three hours. November 13 was a historic
day for cricket as Rohit Sharma brutally defeated Sri Lanka by 13 runs
single – handedly. The students of the Computer Science department were
enjoying the entire match, as theirs was a comparatively easy examination,
taking Thermo as reference. We could witness Rohit’s assault only in the last
stages, when he crossed 180 or so. The very next day, one man, the question
paper setter, had assaulted us cruelly as a one – man army.
The intensity of the aftermath was
such that someone who said he would just pass was taken into task with
full flurry of bad words. Friends from adjacent hostels curiously enquired
about the Sivarathri, as all the lights in each and every room of two
floors, which are occupied by the Mech students were kept switched on
throughout the night before exam. I slept only 2 hours, for which one of my
friends exclaimed, “Two hours! Fuck you, I slept for only 45 minutes.”
We had become followers of Virus, who would take a power nap of 7 ½
minutes. The blabbers and abuses went on for the whole day after which the full
hostel behaved as if the all the exams had been completed.
Everyone slept the whole evening and
some didn’t wake up even for dinner. The next hurdle was Electronics. (I
always wonder why, in the name of Gospel, we are made to study subjects of
other depts even after entering second year, while the others have to study
only the subjects that is most related to them) Thinking of Thermo, this
was nothing and so we didn’t complain. The questions received mixed response,
with the majority giving Thumbs Up. Following it up came Electrical
Engineering which got the same kind of reception as the previous one.
Kinematics of Machines was up
on the cards and there was only one day (Even if there were three or four
days, our degree of preparation would be the same. Yet, this lack of holidays
can be stated as reason for scoring low marks during the time of result).
This is a subject that can range from easy to diabolical, depending upon the
staff handling it. Upon God’s grace, we got a staff whose questions would
always be easy or moderate. This was sailed with few hiccups.
The last in the list was Fluid
Mechanics. The disadvantage of the final paper is that we become set to get
back to our respective hometowns that the prep always goes in a slumber. There
are two batches (or sections, as in school) of Mechanical and I belong
to the second batch. People of the other batch had already experienced the
inhuman nature of the subject and they were making hardcore preparations, while
we people of the second batch, didn’t know the other face of the coin and were
enjoying the first day (The internal question paper given to the other batch
seemed Greek and Latin to us and they mocked us by stating our internal paper
for Fluid Mech was like learning alphabets). A shocking revelation came to
the center of attraction only when the syllabus book was opened; many parts of
it weren’t covered. The staff couldn’t be made criminal as we mass – bunked
many of his classes and there was this IV thing, which entirely washed a week
of working hours away.
We had to bang our heads in walls and
tables and somehow finished the last hour prep. Our only hope of our staff (the
Professor in charge of the second batch) setting the paper plummeted and
boomeranged on seeing the first half of the question paper. It was set in such
a way that every question could be answered only partially. Since the time to
rejoice was fast approaching, nobody cared about the level of difficulty and
mobs of young men were leaving the halls in a hurry in the first hour itself,
eager to get back in the first bus or train they could see.
After completing the last leap, we
were extremely tired and exhausted but wanted to be ecstatic and jubilant to
the core. There was music everywhere as the speakers roared Danga Maari
Oodhari and Merasalaayiten. Sounds of o podu and hoo – haa
echoed and resonated around the vast campus and finally, we were free to heave
a sigh of relief.
Returning
to the native place, more shock awaited as the truth that none of my friends,
mostly from the affiliated colleges, were taking up the exams only then,
affected me. Staying without your friends idly at home is worse than reliving
those examination days, perhaps. What say?
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