Exam Time

Dear Student,

So it is that time of the year eh? That time of the year when you wish you had attended all lectures, paid attention during the ones you had attended, made notes and so on. Yes, well no use crying over curdled milk.

Let me tell you a few things. I have been there, done that. You will probably stay up and study all night. Consume copious amounts of coffee or tea. You will maybe sleep for an hour and wake up disgruntled and disoriented due to sleep deprivation. Chances are, they will ask questions in the exam, that you were sure won't come and hence hadn't studied for. You will come home, catch up on sleep, wake up when the day is almost over, waste some time and the cycle will continue till the end of exams.

But, you should consider this as well. If it is an important exam, you will leave your place early. But alas! If you have your own vehicle, you will be stuck in traffic. Pedestrians will jump in front of your vehicle and show their palms to you, inviting you to talk to their hand. You will have no choice but to stop and let them pass. Not to mention the signals. They will always be red. You might think you will make it to the turn before the light turns red, but that is an illusion. The signal will always be red when it is your turn. If you are having a particularly bad day, then the signal will turn red just when you are about to cross it. It will be worse if you are going to use public transport. The buses and trains will be so crowded that you will think that you will die due to asphyxiation. You will never find a rickshaw or a cab willing to take you to the examination hall. You will even forget stationery at home. You might even forget or lose your hall ticket if you are the Chosen One.

You won't do as well as you expect to in your exams obviously. You will make promises of being sincere in studies for the next round of exams. But the promise is as sincere as you were with your studies this time. There will always be someone to stalk on Facebook, someone to follow on Twitter. There will always be the thrill of the challenge to cram as much as possible in the last minute. This thrill will always be too tempting for you to overpower.

You will start praying frantically as the results are due. These prayers will generally be answered. Although, if you had maybe failed in a couple of subjects, this cycle would have been broken. But alas! The results are here. You passed. You scored less than you expected, but that's alright. That isn't so bad. This is when you start forgetting the promise you had made to yourself during exams. Who needs sincerity, when you can manage just fine without being sincere?

You have been warned. It is not my job to make you feel better. It is my job to mess up your plans. It is my job to make matters worse. It is my job to add to your agony. I am not a sadist. I do not enjoy torturing you. It is just my job. In fact, it is my law.

Yours sincerely,
Murphy.