Unfortunately, it’s that time of the year again. March brings with it a wave of stress, anxiety and jitters for scores of hapless students. Throughout the year, we collegians live in our fantasy world of bunking lectures, watching films and having sleepovers; but March is the Lucifer that kills all the excitement and leaves us with the only hope: prayers. Ironically, anything and everything seems interesting during exams, even a honeybee, and I mean it! Your favourite movies, the much awaited football match, the best parties and even public holidays clash with exam days! It almost feels like a universal truth when I say that it’s only during exams that we all suddenly identify with good ol’ Sleeping Beauty. Normally, being awake at night watching movies or chatting seems like a piece of cake, but it’s during exams that this process, turns into torture.
Drawing inspiration from some catchy ad tag lines of some Indian brands, here are the 6 stages that most students experience during exams.
1) Thanda Thanda Cool Cool (Navratna Oil)
There’s still a month or so for exams to finally begin. This is the time procrastinators are at their best. At this stage, life is beautiful! Every study plan is made for the coming Sunday (which never comes) and every week day is spent chilling. It’s a long journey till THE DAY finally arrives and so the motto during this period is, ‘why stress?’
2) Connecting people (Nokia)
Exams are around the corner and the final countdown begins. You basically haven’t even managed to study a page and in the worst case scenario, you may not even have the notes! What do you do now? Well, as the tagline implies, you make friends! Whatsapp is the most active during this stage. You’re busy exchanging notes via images and begging the class nerds to lend you their notes and photocopying the same! Those who manage to gather some strength, harbour the hope of passing the tests!
3) Jaago Re (Tata Tea)
So it’s ‘now or never’ sprinkled over ‘do or die’ at this juncture. Get it? Just a day to go for your first paper and reality finally hits you between the eyes. Even at 3:00 am, the night seems young and suddenly the Gods are your last recourse. You study what you feel is ‘most important’ but sadly you can’t even decipher that! Staring at that pile of books and turning up with dark circles would be the inevitable result of burning the candle at both ends! Too little too late, would you say?!
4) Dimag ki batti jala de (Mentos)
There’s that blank, crisp white sheet of paper staring at your (exhausted!) face. You’ve got a pen in hand and a question paper that seems Greek to you at first! Most of us, at some point at least, have encountered this feeling. You resort to whatever creative cr*p your brain can come up with, to fill up those pages. Some of us even turn into (surprisingly) excellent authors. Also, not to forget the dumb charades and chits that help you tide over. Those two hours of examination seem no less than being subjected to the third degree!
5) Bajate raho (Red FM)
If there was a list of the best moments in college, this would probably top the charts! That feeling when you finally break free from the gruelling exam week is something words just cannot do justice to! This is the time when you behave like you’ve been released from prison! Parties, movies, sleepovers or some dining out is a part and parcel of this stage. Catching up seems to be all you care about. Finally, it feels like a breath of fresh air and our brains are now at ease! It’s worth the wait, isn’t it?
6) Kuch Meetha Ho Jaaye (Cadbury)
This stage requires no brainstorming – the results! Judgment day is what veritably defines you in the eyes of your parents, uncles, aunties and at times even your neighbours! For some, merely passing would warrant a grand celebration. The day is filled with a lot of calls, friends and excitement of course. But the next day, nobody really gives a damn whether you scored 18 out of 100 or 81 out of 100. Life, I tell you!
They say, when you’re busy in the rat race, trying to eke out a living, and you look back at your carefree college days, exam time is surely thought of and laughed at the most!
But isn’t that just SO true?