"April came in like a lion, and left like a lamb"
I was supposed to write this over thirty days—I did it in three. Not because I was efficient, but because I wasn't. This isn't about the three. It's about the other twenty-seven (and other unaccounted fourteen days).So here goes nothing—and maybe everything
Colors of holi faded away with sun overworking his hours, April came in with a gentle slide of quizzes and schedules(nothing to worry about). Like a lion creeping behind his prey, before making a move; these quizzes were thoughtfully lined up - to mask the real predator, down the road: End Semester Exams ! But in classical engineering fashion, I kept studying at bay and more important things - like Valorant and Badminton - had my attention, while the lion kept closing in.
An ignorant prey always stays oblivious to his predators presence, till the time it finally pounces and makes it his meal. This may have something to do with my exam schedule which gave me just the right number of days after the quizzes, to think about studying but never actually do it and it's very fitting, like when was the last time, you thought about doing something and actually did it !
One day I woke up, opened my notes, and realized: tomorrow's the day the lion plunges, neck clenched in his jaws.
The prey is supposed to struggle, suffocate and eventually accept his demise, but this ain't no ideal world or metaphor. Like that, the exams came and went ! but what wasn't ideal was the realization, which maybe profound.
Exams are essentially tools used to test understanding someone holds about a concept which he/she may have been taught over a period of time, but when they start fitting in a lion- prey metaphor you know something's not right.
In my one year here I have seen exams being reduced to shallow interactions between students and the subjects; there's a syllabus, you are expected to learn each and everything and finally write an exam in theory which supposedly tests all your understanding in under 40 marks.
The problem is self evident but let me present it differently, suppose of all the irrelevant material thrown at us in Indian educational institutions, ever surprisingly so, something piques your interest and you would like to learn about it, understand it, explore opportunities in it to enhance your skill set. You engage with the material and the curiosity drives you to go beyond the class.
Cutting to the end, when the exams come you realize all that doesn't matter because the exam doesn't want you to be explorative, nor does it appreciates your interest in the subject; it was standardized for everyone and superficially skims through the subject, making sure no one fails - and nobody grows !
So much for the rant, maybe I made all this up just so you are convinced that I had a reason for being late on this entry or maybe the lion really did tear my calendar when it grabbed my neck ( for record, I believe in the latter one).
This might be it - the threshold of my creativity. This was supposed to be about april but maybe it was about the LION and maybe I still don't know how to end these things so let's just say it was about the LION, which I finally escaped...and went jousting..
Au revoir...
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