Eighteen Going On Nineteen

Phew…the exultation of reaching this coveted destination is what is being tried to be defined hereby in words(yes - everything can be described in words)!!..Nineteen .. have wanted to be here ever since the onset of my unprecedented college life..when one of the seniors basking in the same glory that I am in today, roared somewhat victoriously “This is our nineteenth set of tests – we don’t have to worry about it”..whereas we - a bunch of fledgling first semesters were mortified at the mere thought of giving our first exam here.To my delight I didn’t have to exert myself at all during the first semester probably because I had a propensity towards those subjects..Thus I carried an illusion that faring well here was a piece of cake.

Then came the second semester-by now most of us had grown roots here and some of us had even developed wings, the trauma of not getting into an IIT had subsided and the hostility( the first yrs in that era were expected to be seen not be seeing and ofcourse not heard-the good old days they were) of the new environment had evaporated.Bloated by a false pride I procrastinated everything to the last moment.I still remember the nights before the class tests when I and another soul(pun intended) like me used to take turns to wake each other up all through the night-spending only a quarter of the night studying, rest trying to stay awake.I have a fond belief that my not getting marks in the class tests was jinxed like the post of the the ‘defence against dark arts teacher’ in you know where.Anyways eager to learn from my mistakes I spent the entire mid sem break studying.To my dismay the papers that time were set to test the memorizing skills rather than the concepts I thought I had mastered.Hence I flunked again (and I deleted my first orkut account)
The next time I decided not to study at all since my ten days stint didn’t pay-off well..this didn’t change anything, (I deleted my second orkut account).My strategy for the next class test was to memorize the recondite portions and develop concepts where required..nothing changed again(I tore a poster of Hrithik basically because it was the cheapest destructible article in my room and it had been years since KNPH )..though I consistently did exceptionally bad in the class tests I always more than made up for it in the end semesters..but that didn’t in any extent ease the precarious situation where an A became a B by a tenuous margin.
After many class tests and few end semesters or so I had become inured to the fact that I am not cut the right way to score well in the ct’s(so are they fondly called)..still undaunted I formulated another strategy(no I haven’t picked this word up from Snehashish.)..I decided to haunt the dwelling of the electronics branch of this cllg-the library…maybe I thought doping would do its part(ask any1 frm tronics for the def of doping if u r bothered at all)..The ambience there had a soporific effect on me so it didn’t alter my academic performance though I assimilated lots of information that falls in the category of gossip for most.(I deleted my third orkut account).Then I started to put up the points - to - remember on the walls of my room which later metamorphosed into points - I - could – never – learn – even – if – they – are – hung – up – on- room - all – the - time..My next game plan was to study on a regular basis-which ofcourse was thwarted at its culmination.(I deleted my fourth orkut account).
Once I tried studying with a very good friend of mine and a consistent 10 pointer..The only problem here was that she went to sleep(the whole course revised-twice)even before I had gathered the full notes of a particular subject.(I deleted my fifth orkut account)So time glided-hey did I mention that I used to cry before almost all exams during my second year here and drove my already insane blockmates totally insane(had to put this in as a not so humble tribute to their patience and insanity)
All I could do now to pray that the paper was set to test the understanding and not the :ghoting abilities..I had also understood that castigating myself by deleting orkut accounts(I stopped keeping count after the fifth sacrifice :) ) and tearing up posters would not counter the specious jinx-it has to be a jinx nothing else can explain this level of consistency from me ..
Finally now after crossing the the eighteenth mark I feel so liberated that I have painstakingly written an account of my journey till here…and I am happy to announce that my present orkut account has survived approx eight months-maybe I would throw a bash on its anniversary!!