STUCK

 

It’s really amazing when the final exams get over. After a year full of studying, learning and writing we get time to relax before the next session.

Post-examination time is not only relaxing but even exciting. We get a chance to buy new course books in this break. While going through the brand new books a feeling of wonder engulfs me. The chapters which now seem so foreign to me would soon become familiar after a year.

Even the bag looks so tidy when it is packed with new books which are yet to suffer wear and tear. Being promoted to a new session we get a new classroom, and sometimes even new teachers and new co-peers.

Really it feels quite nice at times to grow up. The feeling of pride which one gets when he/she declares his/ her new class is one of a kind.

 

 But the current circumstances have changed the way things used to function earlier. The Pandemic introduced the concept of online studies. Now sitting in our home’s safe environment we can attain learning.

It was a year full of new experiences for everyone. We learnt to live digitally. We learned to talk through the screens. We learned about varied apps which helped immensely. Even our projects and exams got digitalized to an extent.

This year we might have gained a lot in terms of technology but we lost a lot too. Our school being till only grade tenth, made our last year go behind the screens. We all were successful in attaining the invisibility formula as the cameras were usually switched off due to ‘bad network’.

 

Our session was supposed to begin on 16 March 2020 but owing to the rising cases it was delayed. Finally, the lockdown was imposed and we were forced to sit down at home.

The starting weeks were fun, even laughable. No one felt the seriousness of the situation. It was all assumed to be to be a good change and working on the screen was great.

Even I personally felt great studying at home (initially). It was nice to sit on my own study table and not fight for more space whereas in school it’s a daily thing to measure the table and divide it into two parts for both the partners.

Also, I was directly positioned under the fan unlike in class where due to rotten luck I used to always get a seat away from all the fans.

But then this new excitement started to fade and in came the routine (which is always monotonous).

Hopes were flickering, cases rising and the pandemic was omniscient. Our first periodic test was conducted online. The teachers reminded us that the next periodic would be there in school, hence we should remain serious. But destiny forced us to give our periodic test two digitally. Even our periodic test three was given online. Finally we were able to go to school to give our pre-boards but that was in March.

That’s when I realized how bad it was for us tenth graders. In the month when we should have been giving our board exams, we were giving our pre- boards. Our board exams were postponed till May!

Things were fine until pre-boards. A person was jam-packed with practice, revision and learning but after pre-boards we were STUCK.

We were literally ‘STUCK’ in grade tenth.

Every other child was being promoted. A fourth grader was promoted to fifth, a sixth grader to seventh, and an eleventh grader to twelfth grade. Even our juniors became our co-peers (sort of).

But we are still in tenth.

My younger brother was really smart to remind me that now there remained only a three class gap instead of four between us.

It’s really a bitter feeling. It gets quite monotonous to ruffle through the same books, notebooks and sample papers which have already been discussed in the online classes.

I think that this time is only beneficial for those whose syllabus is still pending. For the students whose preparation is complete, this time is a bit straining. It is forcing us to re-revise everything daily lest we should forget it.

Our school was sympathetic towards us and has hence organized evening doubt classes for us. What do they call our batch now, anyways? Surely, we are not called grade tenth because now there’s a new grade tenth. Maybe Grade tenth 2020-21 or grade tenth stuck because of Corona Pandemic. I suppose they can simply call us STUCK.

Anyways these doubt class offer help and hope. Help in revising the topics and hope that we are not forgotten.

Sometimes, I am afraid of being forgotten. What if they just skip our batch because we are the problematic ones? But still this theory seems a little far fetched.

This pandemic has really changed people’s attitude towards grade tenth. Earlier grade tenth was ‘the board class’, it was most important for everyone. People used to pay attention on its students and even gave them honor and advice.

Now, some will just say casually that we are lucky to get some extra weeks to study. Don’t they realize how frustrating it is to keep studying the things we studied whole year round?

Some would point out the reduced syllabus but they forget that the paper will still be of same marks. So, the examiner has the chance to put in even the difficult questions from the things which are coming. Because when quantity is less the quality is high.

Now our exams are coming to a point of being  cancelled. This will just ruin us. Our entire year we geared up for them and now no way could we be fine with them getting cancelled.

The Pandemic is really angering us. It is continuously pushing off our exams. It feels that we are not STUCK in grade tenth but are instead STUCK in quicksand which is pulling us in with our every attempt to escape.

 

I believe that 2020-21 grade 12^th and many other people waiting for their respective exams at different levels can understand our pain right now.

It’s sad that till now we didn’t get a chance to say, 'We are promoted to grade 11^th.’

 

‘The dark clouds cover the sun like a curtain falling on stage…

Slowly every bit of sunlight is hidden…’

COVID Pandemic too came over like dark clouds and it smothered us. But then the clouds can never extinguish the sun, they just manage to hide it for some time.

Finally, the sun cuts through them and appears shining bright and every flower smiles.

Similarly, we too would be able to wade through this problem. So, what if we are stuck? Now we have got the time to cherish grade tenth. Grade tenth usually passes quickly with the students being loaded with revision. We do have the time to cherish grade tenth.

We can revisit every intricacy and capture every tiny detail. The books may be old but there is always something new to learn.

We are STUCK in quicksand and are struggling to be free. That’s when we forget that it doesn’t do us good to struggle with quicksand as it will just pull us in further but if we relax and calm ourselves down we can be brought out with a single pull.

So, all we can do now is be STUCK in grade tenth and revise waiting for someone to throw in a rope’s end which will help us climb out of this peril.