Rage of Ravish

Chapter 3: Exam

Ravish, currently in 9th standard, who was about to enter 10th standard after his holidays, or to be precise, when his special classes start, got one thing clear in his mind, that he must study hard for Tamil Exam.  10th standard is an important stage in everyone’s life, at least in Tamil Nadu, if not India.  So, while he was concentrating more on Tamil, he had his mind on other subjects too.   

                 Ravish started reading his textbooks well before it will be taught in his school, and guess which one he started with? Yes, of course, it was ‘Tamil’, he read all the Chapters, memorized all the memory poems, and even the poems that weren’t to be memorized.  Likewise, he did the same for all the subjects.  For, Science, however, he got separate DVD’s for Physics, Chemistry and Biology and watched all of them.  He asked his parents to purchase a small cheap Portable Digital music player-cum-recorder, or in colloquial terms, an iPod, which wasn’t from Apple.  He recorded the audio of the video using the iPod and plugged in the earphones and read the same text from his book; So, his eyes and ears will be going through the same words, to help him memorize and remember it better.  Then, he started reading aloud the text of books and recording it in the iPod, then playing it while reading the text.  In this way, he finished his syllabus even before the actual school started.  He was so though rough that when teachers got struck or when they made a petty mistake, he would indicate it and it was always right.   

                 Ravish had a gut feeling telling that if his Aunt, Sreelekha would accompany him during his final exams, he could do better than what he can do it alone.  So, she came over and helped Ravish more than he could possibly hope for.  Then came the final exams, the 1st exam was, obviously Tamil.  Ravish had memorized every word, every chapter, every verse, every poem.  Hence, he was very confident about the exam.  As time began, Ravish dashed through to finish the exam while maintaining the neatness of the paper.  Without a mistake, without crossing anything, he went on with his paper.  The class invigilator had the flying squad check Ravish for any chits, which he obviously didn’t carry.  That hugely disrupted his flow, he needed time to settle, to see where he was and where he had to go.  Then when he was ready, he checked the time.  Since it was the 1st exam, Ravish wasn’t sure about the exam timings.  The exam began at 10.00 A.M. and he could write after 10.15 A.M., so he was confused as to which one was his start time.  Still, he was quarter past 12, and he had an 8-mark question which had to be completed.  He thought he had 30 minutes more, but he had only 15 minutes more.  So, the bell rang, Ravish somehow tried to fill in as much as he could, but he was still unable to circle it completely.     

                 Ravish was upset that he couldn’t put in all his effort in his paper, but he completed other papers with flying colors.  The result came, all were eager about his result.  Most of his family members came to his home as if it was some festival or something.  Ravish, as he already knew exactly what was going to happen, took bath, dressed up and quietly went to lie down on the bed.   

                 It was 9 A.M., the results were announced, Ravish’s family was expecting him to top the state, but he didn’t.  Ravish then came out of his room, opened his laptop, logged in the website and opened his results.  His head was surrounded by heads of his family and “Whoo”.  Ravish saw what he saw a year ago, same numbers.  He couldn’t control his excitement he ran up and down, literally; he hugged his mother; got blessings from his parents and relatives and he got a reporting call from his school.  He took his cycle and went to his school for a grand welcome.  He was the hero of the day, though he was School 2nd, he was happy about it, as someone more deserving got the 1st place, Ashmitha, who was an underdog throughout the year, who fought her way through her mother’s demise a year ago.  That put a smile on Ravish’s face, though he didn’t make it all the way to the top, despite his efforts.  Ravish was curious about Ananya and searched for her marks on the board, she had scored decently with nothing much to celebrate.  But, still, Ravish was happy that she got good marks.  Then teachers, friends and everyone congratulated him.  But inside Ravish had another happiness that no one knew about.