Books, books everywhere, not a line studied!

 Vacation plans are on hold. New movies are on hold. Eating out is on hold. Cold treats are on hold. Breathing is on hold. Life is on hold. You got it right.... exams have taken over the lives of the thousands of unsuspecting mothers all over the country. Board Exams or IIT Entrances or Masters or Middle School or Kindergarten.... you do not mess with the sanctity of the situation.

Neatly made study time tables are being made and remade. The fridge door space is converted into a holy shrine with these scribbles. Weeks have been reduced to days. It will move on to number of hours left, when exams arrive. The house is sprinkled with books of all shapes and sizes. Study notes are flying around. Mums are trying their best not to lose their patience picking up after the children. The occasional stepping on the stationery is the last straw, generally!

‘Why don’t they study in their own rooms’ should be the new ‘Nation wants to know...’ agenda. They have to sit in the living room or right in front of the TV. They expect you to sit in front of their eyes, but not eye their studies. There is a frequent chant of ‘I am sleepy’, ‘I am bored’, ‘Can I go to play?’, ‘Can I take a break?’, ‘I don’t want to prepare this subject.’, ‘I left that book in the school.’ They are generally outstretched on the sofa with a million thoughts in their heads, none of which is related to studies.

We have to make peace with the Indian Education System. In our hearts of hearts, we know that we will have to go with the flow and torture the young souls with mugging up, at times, and filling up pages, at times, with lengths of mechanical calculations. The grammar and the maps and the equations and the dates and the figures and the definitions and the uses and the examples and the geometric shapes and the functions and the... you get the drift, eh?

The fridge and the snack shelf is overstocked. This is to lure the little momsters, I mean little monsters, for studying by the effective use of the endorphin rush caused by the sweet treats. Whatever works for those two weeks...! The mums are trying hard to disguise nutrition along with this junk supply.

The alarm on our cellphones suddenly becomes the most used feature. Be it the early morning wake up call, much before the rooster even stirs for the early risers or the coffee for the midnight-oil burning souls... we can now sympathise with the night watchmen. Dark circles clearly reflect the number of topics covered.

Going through all this myself, I just have one point to make.... we must remember that it is NOT the end of the world. Marks cannot and should not the ultimate parameter of a child’s smartness or efficiency or future success. Honestly, how much marks did you get in the Geography paper of your first term test of class VII??? We might not even remember. Just proves that a few marks here or there does not affect their future. Each child has his or her own talent, waiting to be explored and discovered. And it is not always academic genius.

So, yes... do your bit as a parent which involves your responsibility of not letting exams get to them. Just encourage them to do their best and not take exams for granted, entirely. It is a grading system in our country which is mandatory. The first ranker and the 20th rank-holder will sit at the same bench, next year. Better send them happy to the school, next year too!

Don’t forget to breathe, yourself. This too shall pass. I know we will all come out with flying colours. Happy exams! Let the summer goodies for the children be directly proportional to their efforts and not their performance. And you are the best judge for it. Achche Din are just round the corner.