I somehow managed to scrape through to the tenth standard, without repeating any year, for my international audiences (you would be surprised to know that I have quite a fan base J ) standard tenth is considered important in Indian education structure as the further streams are decided upon based on the marks scored in this exam.
Would be covering that later, for now I was appearing for my board exams and it was a very big deal for me, as a matter of fact it was a mammoth ordeal. With my sister already passed out with 80%+ marks and my brother appearing for the same with me, I was under a pressure which was more that what I could humanely sustain, so naturally I yielded to it.
All exams went thru without any major glitches, except for History, for which I wet my pants studying. But at the end of the day I was dry and the exams were over and it was grammy time till the results are declared.
It was around this time that we planned to shift to a larger home in Bhandup(w) ( a then industrial area where the residential flats were available for a fraction, with the prices of SMOG, asbestosis and fibrosis to pay), but we took it anyway, it was a newly constructed building with 1 bedroom, I hall and a kitchen. Best of it all, my grammy would be shifting on the top floor with us.
So we shifted, my grammy was still in sector V, due for shifting in a few months, so I spent my vacations there.
Time has an uncanny property that it flies when you enjoy it and lingers when you don’t, as for me I never realized how it buzzed through, and suddenly it was D-day.
I still remember the day vividly as if it happened yesterday, my parents had gone to my dads younger brothers house (Brother C), it was my paternal grandfather’s ceremony (shrath) and my dads IT-Commissioner brother (Brother B, also mentioned earlier) was also present at his house. Now Brother B had contacts using which he could get to know the SSC score of ours using our seat numbers, so my cousin was the first to face the blade. They rang his number in and he had secured 78%.
I guess they were happy with the result, for I recollect my Mom mentioning the conversation that she had with my Aunt C, Brother C’s Wife and my cousin brothers Mom, which was something like this.
Aunt C: Let’s check Anand’s result.
Mom: Mmm… I don’t know his seat number. (Was probably scared that I might flunk)
Aunt C: That’s not a problem; we can call him and get it.
Mom: ok.
They called me
-----------Sub conversation-----------------
Uncle B: Anand What is your seat number?
Me: XXXXXXX, why?
Uncle B: We got Your cousins result, he has scored 78%, what’s your expectation?
Me: (a bout of shit-less-ness) around the same.
Uncle B: Have high hopes… don’t we ….ha ha…
Me: yes I guess.
________Sub Conversation ends--------------
Uncle B: anand feels that even he would be getting 78%
Uncle C, Aunt C, cousins (every one except my parents): guffaws
Aunt C to Mom: don’t lose heart, we could always get him into Diploma. He might lose a year, but can join engineering none the less.
Mom: stifling a cry, let’s see.
They rang in my number:
The verdict:
---------Sub Conversation begins-----------
Dad: Congratulations son, (could feel the happiness in his voice) you too have 78%
Mom: Congratulations and Thanks a lot son. (I came to know the reason for the thanks after they returned home)
Uncle B: Congratulations, so what college do you plan to go?
Me: Thanks not yet decided.
The others did not even bother to wish me, I gave a shit anyway.
---------- Sub Conversation ends------------
It so happened that the unexpected turn of events left the Uncle C family speechless with stupor.
My dad and Mom returned home, I collected my results and returned back, I for once was happy knowing that somehow I helped my parents get back at the taunt. Probably it was all the result of my moms prayers.
Uncle B called in to check and compare the marks that I scored with those of my cousin, and the reason for my score being at par with his immediately became evident, He had bettered me in every single subject (min 5 to max 10 marks difference), but English was my ground to rule I overshot his score by a whopping 35 marks and evened out his shit.
Later I knew that my Uncle B had passed on the information that his son suck in English to Uncle C, and my cousin got a thrashing, it didn’t feel bad, not even little, it was the least I could do for all that they have collectively done to me.
My name was incorrectly printed with an “i” in swamy instead of the original “y” thanks to FHS, and my grades improved moving ahead. I guess there are powers beyond our comprehension involved here. I still spell it with an “i”.
As for the re-exams, I had a severe bout of Jaundice 2 weeks before the re exams and my percentage dipped by 1 and that of my cousin remained intact, that got my uncle C speaking that I probably had got the papers and managed to score in the original exam, as for my parents and me, we neatly folded this shit of theirs in newspapers and sent it to them for dinner.
Then it was “COLD-WAR” between my dad and his brother for wrongful conviction. And I was never bothered again by them…EVER…at least for a loooooong time.
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