Le commencement

       So enough introductions about how pitiful the entire educational set up of India is. All-in-all, it is not student-friendly at all. We all know that and we all have spent hours debating over the topic, when in fact, they could be better utilized doing something fruitful.

                Till class 10, I was a happy kid and had an eerie unbeatable optimism. This was often remarked as one of my best qualities. However, it all changed during the course of the past two years. As a matter of fact, this quality of mine would come as a shock to many of those who knew me only for these two years. I have termed this as ‘O.D.S’ aka ‘Oppressive Depressive Syndrome’. This syndrome is atypical for all those kids encumbered with competitive exam preparations or any such impaling task.  It’s symptoms are confusion, loss of confidence, depression, self-pity, remorse and such. In extreme cases may even affect the physical health of many vigorous students.

So this is the story of the beginning of it all. Now, I had always been a diligent student. Even though I was not very passionate about IIT in particular but when I was put amidst a bunch of other highly competitive students, my natural tendency to do better than them arose, mixed with the initial enthusiasm of all the ‘new’ things happening in my life.

As any other kid, when the coaching started off I studied my-ass-off. And it bore fruitful results too. The topics that I studied are etched in my mind till date as none other. The concepts of those topics are also crystal clear in all three subjects-PCM. I would advise any student to make use of this initial gusto to the fullest. Because, it will die out sooner or later.

Whatever begins badly, ends badly(?)

I remember the first day of my coaching. As I mentioned already, I had joined a late batch, one that began in June. Not only did I join the batch late, but I was also two days late in attending the first class. Due to personal reasons, we were out of town and I missed the first two classes. And you can curse my luck too, because I was late for the third class that I did attend. Though, I must admit that I was guilty for the last one because one of my dear friends was leaving town and I had to attend her farewell partly. It was going to my last enjoyment in a long time. Yet, all I did was show my face at her party and then rush to my coaching. Where I was late. In short, I could neither enjoy the party nor have great day.

When I entered, there were several classrooms and each one in session. I had no clue which was mine. I figured that out somehow, and entered. Someone was teaching there and a class of very serious students was studying. A person was teaching them mathematics, who of course, now I know as my math’s sir. My initial and final impression of him was-scary, even though there is nothing frightening about him. I glanced at my batch-mates, and gave a very awkward introduction of myself and how I missed the first two classes. Sir looked at me skeptically, a bit annoyed for disturbing the class (maybe that’s why I find him scary) then told me to sit down. The benches were all occupied, and I searched for some vacancy. The fact that I had been disturbing the class was making the task urgent. Moreover, I was in party clothes and had embellished my nails with an exotic set of nail paints. Again, I could feel eyes watching me and judging me, thinking that I was some sort of fashion queen, who had joined the big coaching to waste her time and parents money. Maybe I was over thinking, maybe I was the one judging my peers-but the atmosphere of the class at that time made me feel that way-intended or not intended. Before I was a student or anything, I was a friend, and it meant a lot to me to say goodbye and I would never have missed her party for anything. Lost as I was in finding a vacant seat, when sir told me to sit beside someone. Unfortunately she was sitting right in front. Right under the nose of the teacher. 

Since teaching had commenced since the past two days, I could only understands the lecture in bits and pieces. Plus, most of my attention was on holding my pen in such a fashion that my nails did not show.

Soon the class ended. A couple of other students had also missed the initial class, so luckily, sir agreed to give us an extra class, however, warning us not to keep up the habit.

After the first class we got a fifteen minutes break. Then I gradually acquainted myself with the other kids. Co-incidentally, the girl sitting beside me had the same name as me. I asked a few kids for their notebook, but no one was ready to lend theirs. Not that my classmates were selfish or stingy as it might appear, but at that time no one knew each other and preferred to maintain distance.

The next class was physics, where we met our first physics sir. Frankly, he was not a bad teacher, according to me. It was just that he could not control the class. During his lecture, children would scream, shout, talk and despite his best efforts- no one would stop. It created confusion, making the students feel that he could not teach well. But if you ask me, who did pay attention, he was remarkable. Regardless, while attending the physics class it dawned upon me that the teaching could not continue like this.

Anyway, the class dismissed and my first day at the coaching ended. When I returned home the first thing I did was cut-off my long nails, and remove the paint. Then I tried to study but I could not understand much so I let it be. Despite having such a bad day, you can say, I was not dissuaded at all. Like I said, I had always been an optimistic kid. I knew that I was going to set things my way soon. I was going to work and study to my utter best.

I did not loose my optimism overnight. O.D.S. takes time to take its toll! This was just the beginning.