Ok ...so the year has gone by... I didn’t put in much here
because it pretty much went about in a routine...school, classes, tests
and more school classes and tests.
But yesterday was the big day. H and I accompanied A
to the exam hall. The previous evening the phone kept ringing nonstop with all
well wishers calling up to wish A.
And then yesterday morning finally came upon us. We had no
escape. The board exam was staring at us in the face. Last minute revisions and
tips, last minute best wishes from near and dear ones...last minute checking of
the hall ticket, last minute filling up of the water bottle, last minute
rechecking of the hall ticket, last
minute rechecking of the pencil box, the last minute prayers.... The last
minute did actually begin
almost an hour in advance!
And then we reached the exam hall...a neat little school
situated at the end of a residential colony, the place surprisingly resonated
peace. It had a calming effect on all the bundles of nerves that came in one by
one.
H and I went in to seat A. H shook the table
to realise that the table was slightly angular. A remarked: ‘Are you
planning to call M uncle to get it repaired? I will manage to sit and write. A
wobbly bench does not matter.’ (M is our Man Friday when it comes to fixing
anything!)
Soon a gang of giggly equally tense girls joined A and
they went: ooh...am nervous...giggle ...giggle..... am really nervous....giggle
giggle....... more small talk and
bigger giggles... some more small talk and some more giggles later the girls
went away to their rooms.
Final announcements ensured that the hovering parents left
the premises.
As I walked down I couldn't but help thinking that the
fifteen years to my boards ambled so slowly but the fifteen to A’s
accelerated so fast like a roller coaster.
A month away the next question will stare at our face: What
next?????
