n so the boards have started...

for all of my friends who are wondering why after slogging for 4 years to earn a degree..i am writing about the board exams...well i still have a brother to think about!

he's in 12th...and today appeared for chemistry...i will start at the beginning...
so there were the usual relatives and friends calling in and pouring out well meaning but essentially useless advice...
"attempt all the questions beta"(hey that's the first line of 'instructions' given in my question paper!don't tell me u memorized that), "leave lots of space"(yeah...like their isn't already so much space inside my head right now), do not panic!(look whose talking!), time your answers and write in the order of the question paper(excuse me..i was timing my revision till YOUR call came)...and so on and so forth...till poor bro locked himself in his room and refused to take calls...n ordered us to tell any one who calls that he's gone out..(WHAT?gone out?one day before the boards?what will happen to him now??)

anyway...he finally went off to sleep at 10...to wake up at 3...and if you think that's bizarre..then sample this..
when we reached the examination center..we met another uncle who had come to drop off his daughter...and he said..."oh i normally make my daughter go to sleep everyday by 2-3 o'clock...but yesterday even i didn't say anything..so she hasn't slept at all last night..what to do..."

so he woke up at three...and revised and re-revised for 4 more hours...which probably felt like the hours before death can take him away...then he took a shower and changed into his uniform...with a GREEN t-shirt underneath...because his "shani" or saturn is playing games and preventing 'optimum reaping ' of benefits out of so much hard work...he is also carrying a GREEN rucksack...and because only blue ink can be used to write the boards...he is using a GREEN colored pen with a blue refill inside....talk about attention to detail..

dad HAD to reach office early...so he could not take bro to the center...which resulting in the duty being given to me and mum...dad asked mum if he should arrange for a taxi...mum said we'll make it on our own...no need to call a taxicab for "such a small thing"....ah!wrong thing to say mom...another argument ensues about "the importance of boards v\s why create all this brouhaha"...

finally we reached the center..and immediately thought we'd come to the wrong place...it looked like a set for filming something!
we had reached an hour earlier...and all we could find were videocameras and reporters...then the students started arriving...and the reporters started hounding the already harassed and weary looking students and equally dismal and strung-up parents for sound bytes...

then the icing on the cake...this pretty looking girl...all decked up...comes up to the students amidst all the people giving out pamphlets of mock question papers...she had a folder full of pamphlets of her own..of...guess what...the application form for a steward\airhostess job for a prominent airline company!talk about irony!why would a person appearing for his\her chemistry exam even consider doing THAT...especially 3o minutes before the action was about to begin!people really have so much sensitivity...

my brother finally went inside the gate with all the school teachers standing in line to give out the all-important blessings and wishes..and as i am writing...he would have been half way through...how is the paper going?what if he's blanked out and is staring into space wondering how to fill up the pages?do i sound like i care?
come home bro...we'll go out for an ice-cream...relax...and prepare for the next one...because life is but a vicious circle...and how you choose to lead it, is everyone's business..
so i think that instead of all the talk about us becoming unfeeling as humans...havent we become extra empathic and full of concern?