Sashank's exam.... a real test

March is the month of exams. Parents are more tensed about their kids exams. Moreso, if they are Board exams. I remember the days of 1982 when I was in 10th class. I was staying alone at Vizianagaram as my parents were away at Guntur following my Father's transfer. No mobile calls, no sms wishes, not even land-line calls, no one to boost the morale before the exam, none to soothe pre-exam blues. Nonetheless, I was successful in scoring a reasonably good score.

Now see the contrast..........

My daughter is now in 10th class and appearing for CBSE exams. The kind of pampering she gets is amazing. On every exam day her aunt comes all the way from a distance of 100 Kms, (where she is employed) and accompanies her to exam hall. Her chacha and chachi who are permanent residents of Canada, invariably , call her before and after completing each exam. Needless to mention about the care showered by my parents on her , particularly during exam days. She is just the cynosure of their eyes. I take leave from my work place on her exam days and drop her at exam centre and pick her up after the exams. Nonetheless, she is care free about her tests, though she is otherwise very intelligent and trendy.

Now see another twist.....

It was a fresh Thursday morning. The day of crucial maths exam. I dropped her at the exam centre, gave her necessary guidelines to attempt the paper , wished her good luck and started towards my vehicle when I saw a boy hurriedly moving out of the exam centre. The boy was too tensed to control his stride and was about to be hit by incoming vehicles. I wondered why this boy was going away. He stopped by my vehicle and started sobbing. Knowing that he had left his 'hall ticket' at his house, I offered to take him on my vehicle. He was too worried and readily got on to my vehicle. The boy said that his house was located at a very distant place from the exam centre and it would take atleast 45 minutes for him to get back to exam centre and expressed that the examiners do not allow the candidates 15 minutes after the commencement of the exam. I asked him to keep his cool and soothed him by diverting his attention from the tense situation.We started for his house on my vehicle. During the journey I learnt that the boy' s father was a government officer and posted at a distant place and that his mother was a home-maker. The boy appeared to be harworking and brilliant too. Such lapses, once in a while are common to everybody. Despite heavy traffic I managed to reach the boy's place in 10 minutes . The boy rushed into his house and was back with his 'hall ticket' in a few seconds and I dropped him back at the exam centre well before the stipulated time of the examination. I wished him good luck and in return he thanked me and hurriedly entered the exam centre. His name was Sashank. While I could glance at the shining gratitude in Sashank's eyes, I wholeheartedly thanked God for giving me a nice opportunity to help a brilliant boy save his career.

Overwhelming

Later, after the examination my daughter told me that a boy in her room, who had forgotten his 'hall ticket', was explaining to the invigilator that a 'nice uncle' helped him in getting the hall ticket from the house . When I narrated Sashank's episode to my daughter, i could see a sense of pride overpowering her.

SHORTCUTS....NOT ALWAYS

We all try for shortcuts to accomplish our day to day tasks. Success through shortcuts entitles one to be termed 'efficient'. But not always....

I had just 150 minutes to accomplish a task. Boss permitted me to be off the work for two and a half hours to finish my personal task. The task of travelling 30 Kms. to the nearby town, Guntur, participate in a community programme, return to Vijayawada and attend to official chores. In view of paucity of time, I decided not to go all the way to bus station, but instead park my scooter near a hotel on the Vijayawada -Guntur route, catch a bus to my destination from that point, so that at least 30 minutes could be saved. This decision would also save me from avoidable strain. Feeling proud about my decision I parked my scooter near a hotel and boarded the bus, reached Guntur and participated in the community programme on 'time'.

Soon after my work at Guntur, I boarded the Vijayawada-bound bus. I looked at my watch and patted myself for I was dot-on- schedule. I had to get down at the point where I had parked my scooter. But delicious and sumptuous lunch that I had at Guntur compelled me to take a brief nap, which got prolonged. Only the creeching stoppage of the bus brought me back into this world and I found that I had already reached the Vijayawada bus station. This meant that I ought to go back to the spot where I had parked my vehicle and from there reach my place of work. Definitely my schedule would go haywire resulting in chiding from my boss. Having no option left, I hired an autorickshaw, reached the spot where I had left my scooter, paid an hefty fare to the auto driver (he took advantage of my desparation) and started walking towards my vehicle.

Now the real fun started. I did not find the keys of my vehicle in my pockets. I remembered that I had taken the keys out of my pocket along with cash which I had to pay for my journey to the Conductor of the bus. The bus was packed with passengers, who were struggling to find seats and in this melee, probably , the keys fell on the bus floor, which I did not observe. What to do now? Watch started ticking faster. It happens when one is in a hurry. I looked around for a key-maker as a thirsty man looks for an oasis in the desert. Stars were bright. I found a shop which looked like a mechanic shed, but the paraphernalia found in that shop did not make an iota of indication that it was two-wheeler mechanic shop. Nevertheless, I narrated my episode to the shop-owner, who showered sympathies at me but denied any kind of help. I asked him to take a hammer and break the lock. Here again , my desparation was taken advantage of. He agreed to come to my rescue for a huge sum and started breaking the lock of the scooter. Even destruction takes time (or appear to take a longer time) when one is perplexed. I looked at my watch and visualised the face of my boss, which was red with anger. Finally the lock was broken. No security for my scooter now till I spend a couple of hundreds and fix a new lock. I thanked the mechanic and paid whatever he demanded, without a fold on my brow. Infact I smiled and thanked him once again. I looked at my watch and found myself to be behind schedule by more than an hour.

I started my two-wheeler , had a glance at my wrist once again and scooted my way to work place.With the bustling traffic of Vijayawada city on one hand and the scorching heat of Blaze-wada (a sobriquet of Vijayawada) on the other, it took 20 minutes for me to reach my work place. I looked at my watch again and again. Delay of 90 minutes. Oh My God !!!! Anticipating the ire of my boss I entered the office only to know that boss had left for a business trip and would be back only after a week. Thank God...but shortcut proved very dear to me in terms of money and stress.ha.. ha..ha..