It was my second week at the school, I was in Grade 10. I had joined this school in the mid term hence life was not easy. I had missed a lot of the classes and was unable to stretch and gear up on notes, friends, homework..uff…endless list.
The day starts and the History teacher steps in and announces that there is a test day after tomorrow for three chapters. This was a surprise for everyone. Her following statement was, “No excuses please, all the best. Lets get started and revise“. I took a deep breath with hundreds of things running on my mind….three chapters..fine.. what about notes, I was still taking notes for chapters done earlier…had not started for these chapters….… OMG !! What should I do.. in the past week, only one of the classmates allowed me to take her notes back home so that I can finish them. Now my agenda needs a change… take notes for these chapters + learn them + continue with other notes. At least have a day and I should give my best. With a thoughtful mind, I pay attention to the class and try grasping the discussions.
Soon the hour finishes and the bell rings. Everyone heads for lunch and I stay back taking notes and trying to get a hold of the subject. The day passes by and I keep noting things for other subjects – Maths, English, Science and ….then the school day ends. Hectic day .. lots to do when back home.
I spend the next day and night understanding the chapters and learning them. The test day comes up then….. the teacher distributes the question paper and announces that we all have an hour to finish. I get hold of the question paper and look at it with a hope for questions that I can respond. This is what most of us would have done..checking for questions and marks that we can score….. Yo !! I start writing whatever my grey cells narrated. I submit my answer sheet with a relief that I will at least pass. Everyone in the class seems happy and I too join their fun conversations.
The result of this test was to be announced next week. I was thanking GOD for the support and returned back to my normal mode – completing pending notes and trying to make friends.
A week later, the History teacher steps in and asked aloud, “Who is Roll Number 51?“. She repeated this again, “We had 50 students in class about two weeks ago, now who is this roll number 51?“. There was pin drop silence in the class and everyone turned back. The reason for turning back was that I was sitting in the last row…. yes I was roll number 51,it was ME !! I got nervous, stood up with fear and replied, “Ma’am, its me. I am roll number 51“. I was shivering badly and thinking what the hell did I do. I tried answering all the questions to my best but then what made this teacher yell out. It means something went wrong, I must have made mistakes, my over confidence…. The teacher said, “Oh, ok…keep standing…Class, can anyone guess how much did she score out of 25?“. Now I felt ashamed and felt like crying, my eyes were watery now. I could sense one tear falling off my cheeks. While these emotions were making me weak and cold, bad thoughts pondered my mind…. one of my classmates made a statement, “Ma’am, she is the new girl and she should have failed”. The class bursted out laughing and I poor girl standing still, am thinking how much did I score? Was I so bad, not able to pass even 10/25? The teacher asked, “Now who made this statement, who is that confident boy in this class with excellent guesstimates”. This boy stands up with a big smile. The teacher approaches him and gives a bash… Oh !! Now, what happened? The teacher said, “I am ashamed of you .. I did not expect this from you. The reason am asking about the scores is that she scored 24.5 / 25. Can you believe it? I was not able to find mistakes in her responses…she was so clear in her articulation. We all should clap for her“. Wait a minute…seriously? Was this true ? Almost full marks ? No way..I think am deaf here… But when everyone clapped, that’s where I realized am not dreaming. Just two minutes before I was grounded… beneath the world and now I am at the top of the world 🙂 Wow !! The teacher approaches me and said, “I am proud of you …please keep up this good work, high hopes from you now”. She handed over my answer sheet and distributed the rest answer sheets to the class. That was my best day ever in the school.
This incident made me understand that the power of believing in self is important to drive towards success. Give your best shot….be a firm believer. Be patient and give your best. Good things do happen to Good People !!
And yes for that comment that came from that boy …. “don’t under estimate the power of a woman” 🙂
Do you have a similar story ? What was your roll number?
I too faced the same scenario but in English subject (Class VIII). When answer sheets of second terminal exams were distributed and all the students were asked to check on the mistakes they made and not to repeat in Annual term, my teacher announced in the class to learn from this girl the way all questions were answered and that she couldn’t find any mistake. She was proud of me. 🙂 It gave me confidence. This again got repeated in my Class-X boards when I was one of the subject toppers of my batch again in English. 🙂
Some incidents in life provide us strength that nothing is impossible a person with hard work can achieve.