Exams Exams !!!

Let me first give you a heads up that what follows is not my view on the recent controversy over the Exams “Should board exams be banned?” I am not inclined to revamp the education system that is prevalent today. Kapil Sibal is there to take care of it. I am here just to vent my feelings on the “EXAMS”, the devastating effects of it and the course of trauma incidental to that.

For the past one week I am in a state of introspection, mulling over few questions “What bothers me so much?” “Why do I look like a deflated tyre losing all charisma and charm?” I am afraid I am shedding my serenity and moving to the profanity zone. And now I am back with the discovery of the genesis of my present state. Hurray! I found where it all started. The recent mid semester exams have taken away the smile in me. The chronic illness characterized by nausea, fatigue, mental imbalance, head ache, the temporary blues of depression is called the Exam fever. I am a victim of it. It has left me in utter shambles. What I am now is the debris remains of a fiasco called Exam.

Exams ruin the lives of many, if not the entire life, atleast a few constructive man hours of lives. Yours truly is no exception. I am not a goody goody to talk only on the topics that suits my calibre, a profession where you talk on business, strategies, tactics, ethics and what not. Nothing would deter me from articulating my feelings.

I start feeling the symptoms of exam fever a week before the exams. I am a bundle of nerves on the day of the exams. I see my fellow classmates cramming with the goal of getting good marks and to have a cut above others. There is so much hype and hoopla about the questions that stand a high chance of being asked. I fall a prey to it. After all my hard study, last minute cramming and burning the midnight oil, when I walk into the exam hall my mind goes blank. I feel that the brain stopped working all of a sudden. The worst part of the story comes now...When I read the question, a callout appears ,with a thinking bubble “hey, was it not the question I answered for yesterday’s test?..Oh my god!”. And finally I manage to complete the paper with a cocktail kind of stuff, a mix and match of all the subjects.

The aftermath of giving exams is even more terrible. It sucks my blood. Reaps my soul. I move into a state of paranoia, feeling that everybody (professors who set the paper) hates me. The feeling that I have not prepared enough hurts. It hurts more when I am not able to present what I have prepared well. Sixteen years of formal education didn't teach me enough how to get rid of the phobia.

I hate to belabor on the simple issue of exams but the excruciating pain that I underwent recently made me rant on it so that I could let off a bit of steam from my head. But now I am back to my resilience mode to meet the hurdles of life. There is a ray of positive hope. So hope to be back with a cheerful post.

MY TRAVEL EXPERIENCE

Sounds like an essay topic given to 7th grade students in school to recount on their fascinating experiences of their recent visit to their favourite hotspot. Believe me, I have not copied this from any of my cousins who are still in school writing essays on the same topics which I have written few years back during my school hood. The education system has not changed yet, I guess. The English syllabus is still the same. LOL! And I don’t want to kindle your curiosity unnecessarily by exaggerating on the topic. I confess, I haven’t been to any of ‘My Kinda place’ as you wrongly guessed. My travel experience is only about my everyday journey from home to Mount Road for more than a month now. May sound funny for city dwellers but for the one who lives in the suburb of Chennai called Greater Chennai, the one who pridely proclaims herself as a Chennaite (yet nobody still believes it and make funny faces when they hear the name of the place where I live), it bears a significance as it takes a considerable portion of my time.

And I believe nobody would have given a one paragraph explanation for having chosen a topic for a blog post. This is due to the lingering effect of giving Anna University Exams, the tradition which I have developed of late.

After receiving the darling buds of May for my first post, I didn’t want to leave my blog in the lurch with nobody visiting it. After a pretty serious post, I wanted to write a cheerful one. Neither could I write about rocket science which I dare not even think about nor on any attention-grabbing topic which my very seasoned instinctive blogger friends have already attempted. “Travel Experience”, is all what you could expect from a poor reverie blogger who is still an infant practising the first steps in the shore of the ocean called blogosphere. Thanks to Sowmiya for christening me with a new name Reverie-blogger. I love being called so.

It has been an incredible experience to travel to Mount Road, the heart of Chennai. The public transportation can be awesome if you prepare yourself for it. I have had really tough times with it, a few bad experiences too. I thought that travelling with this premonition could really make my life miserable. I was wise enough to make note of the time when the bus starts from my place and there was no need to make a beeline to the bus stop. I always chose the window seat. You have the option of choosing the seats when you get into the bus before even the driver and the conductor gets in. I made sure that I have a book to read during my travel, a fully charged cell phone, not because I get calls often , rather I own it for a very important purpose (listening to songs).

After getting the ticket, I open my book, read it for half an hour wearing the anti-glare glasses (to give a ‘getthu’ look to my fellow travellers). It serves two purposes. I get the satisfaction of well spent time and the other is a funnier one. I can pose as if I manage my time effectively. Once that is done, I get the ear-plugs of my cell phone, hop between FM stations to listen to my favourite numbers. Though I own Nokia 6030, one of the oldest models, now I am head over heels in love with it. First things in life will always have a niche in your heart. It is one of them.

With Yesudas and S.P.B in the background, rendering their golden voices to the well written lyrics, I, as a casual observer, listen to the petty conversations and the rantings of a few lady office-goers and delve deeper into the thinking mode on variants of human behaviour. Now that I have oodles of ‘my time’ still left in my hand before getting down, I peep through the window to get the flashing scenes of happening Chennai. Needless to say, Chennai has become the most happening place and has transformed into one big celebration with a cosmopolitan heritage. The modern side of the city with plethora of big buildings, posh shopping streets, and designer boutiques with fashion articles in the display makes my heart race and it’s really appealing. Sitting in the bus, I felt I can still explore the city and immerse myself in its colours and feel the smell of it. Thus my 90 minutes travel, you may call it a journey though, was carefully proportioned.

And now that it is all over and I am back to square one, I thought I would express my tribute to the small things that made my journey beautiful. After all, Life will be beautiful when you want it to be.