NADA

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 7^th 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.