I have a nice stable job with a good stable salary. It is not a corporate job and so I can come home by 5 in the evening, max. I have a fair, pretty wife, whose family has a lot of money. I also have a house and a Maruti car. My life is complete.
This is what people say would happen to me in the next five years if I clear the NET exam. I clear the NET exam and I shall have a fair, pretty wife whose family has a lot of money or else I shall marry a penniless ugly hag; I clear the NET and I shall get a stable income or else I shall be running from door to door for a job; I clear the NET exam and I shall have a happy settled life or else I am doomed! Well, is it really that dramatic?! I know of a lot of people who have not given the NET and yet have a stable job (even in the corporate world!), a nice house and a pretty wife. And how does it matter whether my wife is rich or penniless as long as I have money enough!
Well, giving into the pressure I went to sit for the exam a second time. Because of this exam I missed out on meeting a friend in Cal, missed out on a trek, missed out on a crucial football match, missed out on a feast, and missed out on sleep! I was woken up at 5 in the morning!
A freezing chill greeted me in the morning as I left for the bus stop for the ride to Burdwan. Jumped onto a bus and sat beside a snoring woman and a broken window, and reached Burdwan just as the sunlight was getting warm. It was a blessing to stand in the sun and bask. I warmed myself up before going inside my exam center. But boy, what an experience it was!
There were women all around, hundreds of them, dressed up and strutting around (obviously with books in front of them). But what struck me as odd was that all of them were on the verge of being pretty, but just not pretty. They were good looking and fair, you would surely give them a second look, but just not pretty. I guess it was the books that had this effect! I was wedged between four girls on four sides. I thought it would be my lucky day but as it turned out, I WAS WRONG!!!! They seemed to have taken a bath in perfume and deo, and by the end of the first half an hour I had a throbbing headache and aching to escape! And I did escape, 45 minutes before the first half of the exam was to get over.
I came out of the hall at 11:15am and gave my mother a call to report my status. She picked up the call and on hearing my voice shrieked, “Have you not given the exam?! What happened?!” It took a lot of effort to convince her that I had actually given the exam and had come out early. In the meantime my father arrived after a fulfilling photoshoot of his alma mater. We decided to watch the noon show at the planetarium which was opposite my exam center. It was a nice one hour show, interspersed by children jabbering excitedly beside me.
I returned to the exam centre at one for the last leg of the NET exam. The exam commenced at 01:30pm and was supposed to get over at 4. It was a pretty straight forward subjective paper of 200 marks. I knew all the questions except two. One was about the Veysara temple style. I know nothing about it and have never heard of it! I am against submitting a blank answer so I tried to guess. The word Veysara seemed to be from the south, so I wrote a page on south Indian temple! I finished the paper and asked permission to leave. The whole hall stared at me. The invigilators consulted among themselves and decided to let me go. So I left the exam hall at 3, an hour before the exam was to get over.
My father asked me jokingly whether it was my aim to leave the hall at 3 so that I can get back home and play. Hardly could he imagine how close he was to the truth. When people asked me how the exam went I gave a diplomatic answer – I have answered all the questions, and now the results will say how I did. A good way to keep off criticism or extra probing. NET is a very important exam for people who are interested in that field. As for me, I would rather enjoy a game of football.
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