As the end of the year approaches we are all excited about the New Year and celebrations and fun. However for some the turn of the year is the start of a countdown of sorts to the awaited or rather not so much “The Board Exams”. The children who are in 10 th or 12 th grade have the exams hanging on their head like the Sword of Damocles. This year we have been in sailing in the same boat with my daughter “facing” the 12 th board exams, as itis almost like weathering a storm. While she and her classmates have been going their own sinusoidal wave of anxiety, confidence and nervousness it was the look on the
parents faces on the day of the first board exam which was piqued my interest.
The scene outside the Board exam center was quite different from what I remember of my years. There used to be a sea of students who had travelled by DTC buses and a sprinkle of parents who may have come to drop the children. First of all most parents did a recce of the exam center a couple of days before the first exam On the day of the exam there were clearly two huddle groups outside the exam centre. One group was the kids huddled around the teacher getting their last minute clarification; some kids were with their nose into a book trying to catch some formula at the last minute. The other group was the parents discussing how little sleep the child got, how delayed the syllabus was completed followed by a quick hug and kiss to the children as they lined up to enter the exam center. Each onegave a big smile to the children and a “thumbs up” making every effort to ease their anxiety with an assurance “Don’t worry, easy hoga”, ” Just stay relaxed, sab aata hai tumko”
The next scene was in the afternoon, when parents came to pick up the children. All eyes were focused towards the main gate to try and get the first glimpse of the exiting students and read the expression on their faces to gauge the difficulty level of the paper. As more and more children appeared and seemed to be smiling there was a sigh of relief among the parents. The dreaded question “How was it?” was met with a quick ” Theek tha, bass ho gyaa naa!!!” meaning : Please don’t ask any more questions. This whole scene melted away quite quickly with quick bye-byes and a general “One down – four to go”. Picture Credit NDTV
