An exam fiasco
A write up by Samyak Shah
Take it from a person who has
amazing copying skills in the exam hall.
I’m not exactly talking about
myself here though. Truth to be told, I suck at copying or helping others copy
in the exams. But it’s only the most recent exam incident that has taken me to
a whole different level in the world of people who’ve gotten caught for
copying.
It was my last exam of the
third semester of college. The subject was relatively easy and I had studied
almost everything. I had taken efforts to get ready that morning because that
was my last exam and it was a day that was meant to be special. I wore the best
pair of track pants I had (because comfort trumps style when there is a special
reason involved). I admit now, a few weeks later, that I made a terrible
mistake wearing track pants to college for that exam.
The exam duration was around three
hours. After a few minutes past half-time, I got up to go to the washroom. I
did all the business in there lousily and was returning to the class in my own
leisure when I noticed that the string (nada, as we call it in Hindi) was
hanging outside. And I don’t see any reason why I need to explain why it is not
considered such a good sign, so I stopped a few feet away from the classroom to
tie the strings properly and tuck it in safely, so that they don’t come out so
easily.
Just at that (dreaded) moment,
a teacher was passing by (more like coming towards me from the opposite
direction). I stopped whatever it is that I was doing and left even the track
pant nada like that (evidence). The teacher (who was a very strict and up-tight
lady) stood in front of me glaring angrily, thinking that I have the guts to
copy in the exam (and the fact that I was coming from the washroom just added
insult to the injury).
She immediately called the
security guard who was sitting nearby, minding his own business and asked the
bouncer to accompany him. The security guard was ordered to check whether I
held any obvious suspicious material on me. After the primary check, nothing
obvious yielded, so she asked me to lift up my t-shirt to see if there was
something on the inside of it. Before I could do that, the security guard
insisted that I had no material which I could misuse. (Again, I don’t think I
need to explain how that can just cause suspicion to rise). The bouncer
suddenly came forward, pushing the thin guard behind and lifted my shirt in an
instant.
Obviously, I had nothing on me
(I mean, who cheats in a subject like environment that has the same content
since 7th grade). The teacher, (finally) convinced that I had
nothing on me, let me continue with my exam. (I can’t even express how dejected
she was when she found out that I was completely innocent).
5 minutes later, she barged
into the same room where I was giving my exam and stayed there till I finished
the paper (which was precisely 25 minutes). I can’t even forget the look she
gave me, that clearly said ‘I don’t know what method of cheating you’ve found
out, but I’ll soon catch you red-handed’.
The frisking yielded nothing, ‘Nada’ as we call it.
