Those were the days of struggle in the life of a secondary student of the early seventies hailing from a remote village with very meagre family means. Education was a luxury and those who aspired for it had to struggle against all odds.
Not to speak of ideal environment, basic requirements of study, like, books, stationary, proper food and coaching were hard to come by. One had to collect worn out old books and notes from seniors and make one’s ends meet somehow.
For study at night, a lantern was shared by three or four siblings for a limited period of two to three hours only. Mild fighting often broke out to get a little better focus from the dim light. In fact competition was an integral part of life to get one’s share of the meagre resources.
Despite such a dismal situation, good manners was a sine qua non at all times, be it at home, school or elsewhere. Actually, the whole society oversaw your conduct.
Talking of the school, it was more a place of horror than study where dreaded terrorists in the guise of teachers roamed. Always on the look out for any errant captive, they would spare no time to punish him/her on the spot.
The all powerful Big Boss, our Head Master, was more like a king who led his legions with all the impunity at his command in the noble pursuit of disciplining his subjects. Life was so sad and miserable !!!
It was under such environs that after a long struggle of eleven years, a student could appear for the HSC (High School Certificate) Examination conducted by the State Board of Secondary Education. Every student looked for the great event with hope, aspirations and lots of anxiety as well.
Today’s generation of students can hardly believe the agony and the pains suffered by their peers of yore because they are privileged to live under a dynamically altered surrounding at present.
Schools are no longer places of dread, being declared as punishment-free zones. Teachers are at the receiving end as students are called upon to evaluate their professional competency.
Revolutions in science and technology has virtually put all information under one’s finger tip. All this was beyond dreams in those times.
In this context, therefore, it was a great relief and deliverance for me as also for all my compatriots when our HSC Examination was over. It appeared to be the end of a life of struggle and subjugation. As it was spring time in my part of the globe, the weather was pleasing. There were no worries to prepare for the next higher class either, since a long vacation was lying ahead. So, days of absolute leisure and fun was in the offing which was to be spent with friends.
But in the midst of the new found freedom and fun, a latent anxiety about the all important results lurked behind the mind. As it is, in the joint family I lived in, I had a cousion who was my school mate and classmate as well. Thus, we both would evaluate our answers often but keep it secret from each other. Of course at times we understated our assessment before each other with the intention of surprising the other when the results would be finally out.
The day of reckoning was approaching fast and tension was mounting within. At last it happened one night. I had a dream. And what was the dream about ?? It was about the examination of course.
In the dream, I was going through the answer sheets in some major subjects as were already evaluated and could see the marks awarded in my favour against those papers. In fact, I could even see the marks against some specific questions too. And yes, I was pleased to find that I secured very good marks in all those subjects.
It was about early morning hours and I got up to note down the marks. Although I was a bit sceptical about the dream coming true, yet I nurtured a secret pleasure from the same and kept it a tight secret until a few days before the results were out when I finally revealed it to my classmate cousin.
Since we both expected good results, we were happy no end to find at last when the results were out that both of us secured identical marks overall and secured the first division. But the veracity of my dream was yet to be verified. The detailed mark sheet was yet to come. So, some more days of eager waiting passed on.
Finally, the detailed mark sheets arrived and we were summoned to our school. On reaching the school, we had very surprising experiences waiting for us. We found our teachers behaving so friendly that we were overwhelmed by the change. They wished us a bright future from their hearts.
All these were so sweet and soothing for our timid hearts that they washed away our years of inner grievances. It was the time for a sublime realisation that the cloak of sternness on the part of our teachers and superiors was indeed a facade meant for our good only. Our heads bowed down before their love and affection.
In the school, we also met some of our close friends and exchanged greetings. During all such bonhomie, however, I was anxious to get hold of my mark list to verify the all important dream of my dreams. Will it come true or not or would turn out to be just another dream in one’s life? At last I received my marks list and as I went through the same, it indeed turned out to be the surprise of all surprises of my life. The dream had come true in all it's details to be the DREAM OF A LIFETIME.
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(Vishwamitra)
