Exams!!

I’m finally free…after a gruelling month and a half of submissions, practical exams, theoretical exams and the like, I can stop, look around , sit back and just relax! The feeling is something different. Nothing else seems to matter as you carelessly indulge in this ineffable pleasure. Ah, the joys of just not doing anything! Plus(and most importantly) I get a chance to get back to my beloved blog!

The vacation was long awaited this time around. Simply because the subjects this semester were tougher and much more advanced than the previous terms. The university guys really cranked things up this time! The depth and breadth of the syllabi, the exam patterns, everything saw a major shift. It was as if the course planners were saying,” Hey blokes, took it easy for the first 2 years, didya?.. well, lets get on with it now! If you thought engineering is a cakewalk, take that!”

So we took it(as if, we had an option!) as and how they came by. Sometimes ecstatic and chagrined at other times. Tired and anguished on some days and lively and spirited on others. The mind is a rollercoaster of emotions during exams. Tension on the previous night and apprehension on the day of the exam are inevitable. The lucky few are able to mix variable amounts of confidence into that while some enviable ones are able to throw in a ‘devil may care’ attitude! The exam itself gives a whole new meaning to the word ‘unstable’. Emotions rise and ebb depending on how strongly each question rings that bell situated somewhere in our head! Exams almost invariably end in a frenzy as papers are (rather ingeniously!) made so as to either get over in the last(est) minute or never at all!

All of the above, finally results in one of two scenarios- We either end up feeling dejected and disappointed and start blaming God(or ‘facebook’) or feel elated and flushed with newfound vigour and zeal!.
The former causes some to simply resign and give up or thoughts like ‘You may have won the battle but the war is not over yet!’ start creeping into their heads! The latter, on the other hand are an excited lot, giggling and cackling at having won the proverbial battle!
But everyone, after a temporary sense of relief(at least the darned subject is done away with!)gets back to the grind on a war footing!

It was no different for us. Combine that with minimal sleep and seemingly unending hours of work and you get one helluva exam!(PS:Frustrated souls like us would go and have ‘poha’ and a ‘cutting’ at 4 o’clock in the morning for no apparent reason!) Its really at times like these, that you begin to miss those wonderful days when you could do anything under the sun and sleep to your heart’s content. Every little thing tugs one back to the time when life wasn’t a living hell. Every minute is valued like never before. Fond memories of periods of total freedom are conjured up at instants when your conscience denies you even the most basic pleasures of life.

Some start building dams around their thoughts in a bid to shut out everything else and just focus on the job at hand! I, on the other hand make lists. I list out every little thing that I feel like doing during those tormenting days but obviously can’t. This way, I’m assuring myself that I will actually do it someday and that it won’t be forgotten, which, to an extent takes away the urge of wanting to do it at that instant. A good example may be the urge to watch a particular movie or read a certain book.

Inspite of all the hardships, the tempestuous period passes like a blur. And before you know it, you’re back to being a free bird. You haven’t realized it but you have actually steamrolled ahead. The storm hath been weathered…leaving us waiting, for surely, this wasn't the last!