Yet another black day on my dairy…
After mugging for a mere one hour the day before, I slept and woke up at 6:00 AM. Although having realized that I mugged only the 6 problems given in the tutorial sheet, I wasn’t tensed. Because, one - there were many others like me; two - My brain is no longer of JEE standard; It fell to the level of – “give me a formula, give the values of knowns, I can find the unknown using a calculator” and three - I care no more.
So, I tried to memorize the 10 or so formulas again and went to the exam.
I took the Paper and went to my allotted place.
“Take out your id cards and place them on your desk” invigilator announced.
It was then that I realized that my pocket was empty – I forgot my purse in the room which had all the stuff that could confirm my identity as a mechanical student of iit madras.
One of the TAs came to me and asked “where is your ID card?”
“Sir, I forgot to Bring it. I shall produce it immediately after the exam”
“No, no. Please go away and bring it now. Or, go to Hod Office and bring the warning slip signed by the concerned person.” He explained a detailed procedure that was more complex than applying for a driving license/passport in the Indian Government offices.
I really wonder why such insane rules exist in insti. Why on earth will someone else come and write my exam?! It is like asking a person, alive, “Show me your birth certificate so that I can confirm that you exist”
“Sir, please excuse me for now. Time is ticking. I have to write the exam.”
“Okay; wait. You talk to the madam” and he left, sending the madam to me.
“Whats wrong?” she sounded calm.
“Ma`m, I forgot my ID card in my room.”
“Okay, after the exam, go to HoD office and get a warning slip”
“Ok”
“otherwise, your paper will not be graded”
“Sure, Ma`m. I will bring the slip”
I checked the time. It was 8:10 AM. A good 40 minutes left. I had to hurry.
I looked at the Question Paper and to my utter disgust, none of them were tutorial problems. The hard mugging for the past two days, less sleep, ID card issue, Brain-cracking question paper increased my stress levels to cause a severe headache. I felt like giving up and sleeping in the examination hall.
I looked at the paper again and again to make sure that it was the same exam for which I mugged. I wrote a couple of formulae and some numbers on my answer sheet just to cross the “zero” mark. I may get 5 out of 30. I remembered the invigilators words, “… your sheet will not be graded”
‘As if that makes a difference’ I wondered.
After the exam, I went to the HoD office as instructed and took the warning slip. I then had to get it signed by some person in the office who was apparently absent. When I asked a lady out there, “get it signed by so&so..” she said. That so & so turned out to be the guy who fixes mikes and projectors in our MSB classrooms. I wonder if he has the relevant credentials for signing on a warning slip.
“Sure.” I said and left. He signed and I still doubt that he culted my pen as I didn’t find it after that scene. And by the way, he had the most number of doubts regarding my identity.
Did you lose your ID card?
Show me your ID card whenever you are free.
Apply for a new one in case you lost it.
He said infinite stuff like these which didn’t bother me an inch.
I then rushed to the next class, half-a-km away, in the scorching Chennai heat. Full of sweat, I slept in the class dreaming about a land where there are no ID cards, birth certificates etc. Seriously guys, its awesome.
I thought of bunking the remaining classes for the day and get a good sleep to forget everything.
Did you submit B slot assignment? Some one was asking some one else.
Shit, I did not submit that crap.
I called Kasa and hand-xeroxed his assignment that looked better than his`. I felt relieved and was about to pack to my room but then one of my lab mates interrupted - “did you write last week lab`s report?”
Fuck, I did not do that either.
So, another copy-paste act delivered a horrible lab report. Who cares?
IIT Education system sucks when it comes to lab reports. They do know that one person writes and the others copy it without caring to know what it is all about. It is a mere waste of time, paper and energy - which are fucking valuable in the modern scenario. Even the person who writes has no enthu to do it. He writes because some one has to. Otherwise, we have grade problems. Indian Institute of Technology is so backward that in a couple of IC engines experiments, it still asks its students to draw 10 graphs by hand!
I finally had to attend all the classes with an unbearable head ache. I skipped lunch, came to room and slept at 2 PM. I woke up at 8 PM.
Disgusted by the days proceedings, I made this blog post.
Moral of the day: Never ever forget to carry your ID card.
