EXAM FEVER

Lush green lawns, the cool breeze, the fragrance of Maggi - all tended to pull me out from the never ending series of back-to-back lectures. But lo and behold! I was always found sitting in the middle of a jam packed classroom trying to steal a glance at the messy blackboard with my watery, sleepy eyes!! I tried to recollect my emotions on the 21^st of July, 2011. That was the very day I had felt blessed and had absolutely nothing on my mind. However, since the announcement of approaching examinations were made, only one thought, “DATESHEET IS OUT”, hovered over my tension-struck mind 24x7.

Suddenly, college had become an entirely new place with the ever amiable lawns having tranformed into hell adorned with students heel-bent to complete their assignments. The canteen tables were strewn with books and assignments and not to forget the library shelves where we couldn’t find a single place to deposit our heavy bags.

The only people who seemed happy at that excruciating point of time were the much honored “Xeroxwale bhaiyyas” who had appeared to develop halos.

From 8:40a.m. to 2:10p.m., there was not a single break. I say that once the day had started there was no looking back. Oh!! Did I forget to mention the tutorials after 2:10p.m.???

I say how blessed my seniors are who basked in the bliss of the annual system. Most of them had already headed to their respective hometowns for the unofficial Diwali break even after the formal announcement of the date sheet of their “internal” examinations, whereas my classmates sat exasperated giving second thoughts to the “tatkal” railway tickets that fluttered in their hands.

How I wish I had enrolled into college an year earlier!! But there was not enough time for even giving a thought to the thoughts swirling in my mind then. We the “DU-wallahs” had entered into a tumultuous “RACE AGAINST TIME”. It was high time to complete the assignments, notes, practical files and study too. Dear Lord!! Wasn’t that a lot of work to do??

Now with the announcement of the results, I can feel my shuddering heart beating like a wild rhythm and my mind burning with anticipation for I barely remember what I wrote in my answer sheets and don’t know what to expect. I have my fingers crossed. Good luck to you all and yeah to me as well…

Ciao

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Ritu Garg is a first year student pursuing Mathematics Hons. from the prestigious Hans Raj College.

Sleepy People

Have you ever felt so sleepy as to fall asleep with a jerk when you boarded the metro at Vishvavidyalaya, intending to travel to AIIMS, but got up to see the automatic doors sliding shut at Sultanpur? And when you climbed out at the next station, you were still enough sleep deprived to go back to sleep in the AC environs of the AIIMS bound metro.

Yet, when I shared this unconformity with my friends I wasn’t utterly laughed at as I had expected them to. What else can you expect when the day itself ends not before 3 or 4 dead in the night? For life in DU, there is night life like you don’t have in the day. Who has the time to sleep? What are classes for then, if you have to miss all the fun sleeping early (which means 1 at least)!! As soon as it is 7 in the evening, there is regular shunting in all the localities spread all over Delhi that accommodates us students. Couples say buh-byes only when it is 10 in the night and for all the amateurs; everyday is a field day with countless single ladies dropping their handkerchiefs at every small instance. There are Maggi shops, coffee shops and fruit juice kiosks all around, and there is one generous friend to treat you almost every day. Nights are livelier than days. There is the guitar to aid the lovely wind turn musical and make the air moist with camaraderie. There is so much fun; time passes by like water dripping when you shave. Hookah corners too count their coins as the regular rush slowly fills in and the last drips of beer become empty.

When we sit to chat on our rooftops, there churns out endless topics. How someone bashed someone else in a fight, from silly topics to why it is scientifically dangerous to have cold water after meals to how pretty the young lady professor looks. How someone called up to fix a date with his second girlfriend, the moment his first one declined his proposal for a movie next Saturday and how he manages back to back with both. East, west, north and south of my PG are girls’ hostel (indeed an enviable residence!!). It gives us ample opportunity to take note of feminine habits, the most conspicuous being their over-extended time on cell phones. They must be laughing at us often as we surreptitiously do at them. One of my friend suggested that they pretend they are on phone calls when they are not, to keep themselves busy and confuse others. Someone in my PG, who is a little myopic, wishes to buy a pair of night-vision binoculars and has already started saving money for it.

Nights end only when the sleepier ones leave for their beds or boyfriends leave to talk with their girlfriends in solitude; leaving lesser number to argue nonsense. Sometimes unfinished debates continue even the next day. Only one day in recent several weeks, I happened to get up at 4 in the morning and that probably because I had fallen asleep with my shoes and lights on. I then had the sudden urge to watch a movie that I had kept downloaded (Ben-Hur) from a lot of time. When it ended it was 7 and I had the perfect start to a day which otherwise never started before 9.30. Sometimes it makes me wish I could turn into a zombie so that I never have to sleep. It is such a waste. And yet we have to have adequate sleep unless we want to spend the whole day yawning like hippos and spreading lethargy all around.

Falling asleep at untimely occasions reminds me of a school time memory, which is still found unbelievable. The National Anthem was on, and one of my friends had slunk down as if he had fainted. When assisted, he said he had fainted. But later we knew the truth, he had fallen asleep standing!!

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After completing his schooling from MVM, Guwahati, Tonmoy Barua spent the five most glorious and beautiful years of his life at the Rashtriya Indian Military College, Dehradun. Being a war enthusiast he had an ardent desire to join the defence forces, but before he could gather the technical skills of war and strategy his keenness to serve the nation and don the star-studded uniform came to a halt when he was rejected on medical grounds. But as life goes on, he is now pursuing B.A. (Hons) Political Science from Moti Lal Nehru College, New Delhi and yearns to serve the country on different fronts.

Exam time of a life time

First University examinations… A BIG stress for every student of the new semester system. The syllabus was huge and so were the expectations. The professors were anxious and graved and grilled us with precision. Less than a year from our 12th board’s trauma, we were getting subjected to that same pressure. Again for a month, at least, we had to sacrifice our lives and take a deep sea dive into the world of books. The only funny thing was how in college everyone was so relaxed and calm and the line “kuch ni pada yaaaaaaaaaar” was to be heard on everyone’s lips everywhere in the corridor. It’s weird how people can lie so much. The library was cruelly striped of its glory and splendour as the shelves were emptied mercilessly. Nobody cared anymore about the fine they had to pay and just the sight of a course book would set our hearts racing. The backpacks were a curse and they cursed us too when books weighing kilos were lugged in it. The main aim of existence of students and teachers alike was syllabus completion. All in all, we were in a mess as we had to excavate notes from the long past and students were dazed as in these six months we had just come to acknowledge ourselves as college guys, we had just settled in and now it was exam time, this was very unsettling. Well, but one thing surely lifted our “dil to baccha hai ji” attitude. More common than the study related queries were the fantasies about the after exam holidays! The December chart was all chalked up with the places to visit. Amidst all the chaos and confusion came the exam time. One thing was very surprising and also very relaxing that even on the morning of the exam the corridors were swarming with laughing students. They did have books in their hands but somehow none seemed to be paying any attention to them, a mark of our brazen confidence. The exam time went pretty smoothly but there were confusions in between too, some wrong question or a wrong paper in one case when the paper had to be repeated after half an hour. The highest drama that unfolded in our class was when a student forgot to bring her ‘Admit Card’ and the principal admonished her in front of the whole class. She was literally harassed and she had to call at least five people so that her admit card could be brought to the college. All of this took away around half hour of her precious time and that does not count the time she wasted worrying about the ordeal. I personally believe that it should not have been made such a big deal of as anyone can make mistakes.

On the last day of examination, the last half hour was like a black curtain keeping us away from our world of sunlight and play. I could sense that the entire class was agitated and wanted to submit their papers and go but they held on somehow. When the exam was over and the final full stop had been put we chucked aside the curtain and were dazzled by the streaming light. We didn’t know what to do and where to go but started with a mall nearby. For two days, I am sure, everyone would have woken up early in the anticipation of some subject to study but must have been shocked when they would have realized that none was there!! It took another day to seep in the feeling that we were finally queens of our own time and could go wherever we wished and do whatever we wanted. Now, a full week after the momentous day it’s laid back fun everyday. I can pursue my hobbies and plan an outing with my friends almost everyday but the worst part is that 200 SMSes per day don’t seem enough and phone bills are the new monsters. Oh well, so be it!!




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Tulika Banerjee is a student of Shaheed Rajguru College of Applied Sciences for Women. She is very passionate about everything she does... she loves to write, sing, dance, paint, speak so on and so forth!! Her friends love her because she loves them A LOT! She generally takes charge of stuff and sees that they are done properly. She is affectionate, strong and a voracious reader. Life is fun for her and exploring it is her job. She hopes that she can grow up well and achieve all her goals.