Silly Point - 1

I just wanted to remember those silly moments of my life, which were embarrassing mostly but at times educating as well.

One such moment happened during my first year at SRM Engineering College. It was our 1st year exam & the first paper was English. The timetable was stuck on the notice board 15 days in advance & the exams were supposed to happen during the morning sessions. That’s where my brain malfunctioned & somehow registered it as afternoon session. Infact, I still have not figured it out, how my mind had goofed it up that way, as there were no practical explanations for it. It has never happened to me before or after, where my mind completely faltered in registering a thing which was so plainly simple.

Infact, I remember doing a group study for Maths two days before the 1st exam in my friend’s place with 4 guys & even during that time, we didn’t talk about the exam time. Maybe it was not necessary for my friends to discuss it, as it was so obvious for them. Ofcourse, we didn’t have phone connection at that time & could not communicate much as well.

So, finally the D-day came. I prepared well, went to the temple & I started from my house by around 11.30am to catch the 12.10pm train (we would not want to be late for the exams, isn’t it?). And I was surprised to see that none of my friends were there in the usual compartment & for that matter I could not see any students at all. Only 2 seniors were there & they were going for their arrear exams. I was totally confused & was not able to figure things out even then. After a lot of thinking during travel, I was convinced that I had made a mistake about the exam date. It has to be tomorrow obviously & what a fool Iam to have come on the previous day itself. I chuckled to myself & I decided to go till the college to see the notice board again, anyway.

As the train was reaching our potheri station, I just peeped out of the train & almost fainted. I could see a lot of students & my friends at the other side of the platform & they were waiting to catch the train going towards Chennai. The realization dawned on me very slowly; the exam had taken place in the morning & after completing it they are heading back home. I was totally shocked, went pale & started sweating profusely. I got off the train & walked like a zombie towards them.

My friends were surprised to see me during that time. They had thought that I was not well & had planned to drop by my house to see me. When I told them about my mistake, they were totally shocked. But the shock lasted only for a while, after which they all started to laugh & all along our return journey, they had a blast at my expense. Infact, I myself became normal very soon, saw the funny side of it & joined them in the fun. Ofcourse, it’s a different story how I convinced my parents about my blunder.(I told them that the exam timings were changed the previous week & many of my friends had missed the exam. My poor parents were cursing our college management for the entire week).

By the way, do you think that my embarrassment is over with this incident? No way.. The worst was yet to come.

What happens when you missed an exam? Ofcourse, you were supposed to take arrears. Imagine writing an arrear for the English paper. What if my lecturers & some other important people(??) see me? How many will know that I was absent the first time? Will the word get out & would I be humiliated? There were so many awful thoughts going in my mind.

On the exam(arrears) day, I covered myself with a big cap / sun shades & entered the campus like a cat; do not want to be seen by anyone whom I know. But my luck deserted me completely on that day. There were only 2 other students who had come for the arrear exam. They were not very close friends of mine, but we know each other well. Both of them were from a rural background & they were surprised to see me there. They comfortably chose to ignore my excuse of absenteeism during the first time and started to tease me.

They would say, “ We studied in tamil medium. So, no surprise in our failure. But how come you have bungled machi?” & “ Shall we all go for English tuition together? " & “ We both will surely clear the paper this time. So, next time you will not have any company” & so many other wise-cracks to make my life miserable.

And to add to my misery, I was spotted by a couple of good-looking junior girls as well & I nearly died of shame. I ran for cover & almost behaved like a most-sought-after terrorist during the entire session, hiding my face / turning my back to people etc.

I laugh even today, when I think of that dreadful day. How silly of me..!