Thursday, February 7, 2008

.NET Panic

Came back to the class after a "Strong cuppa coffee"...
"Aditi, the midterm results are out shouted my neighbor, check how much you scored?”
To it I replied, "Hey take a chill, it’s just an assessment to check how good the tutor is!”
(N meanwhile I was logging in to my web mail)...
Ouch!!!!!!!!!Shouted me! I have scored in 40's!!And then laughed my neighbor, "I told you its not your cuppa"(.NET she meant)...
There was a chaos in the class, everyone running around to find who scored how much?
And believe me no one asked me, cuz they all thought I was dumb. (Thanks to my super intelligent tutor and my 'I don't no nothin about .NET' attitude).That evening was probably the weakest I’d ever felt! I thought I’d lost all in life. I’d never scored so low in my entire life. And the icing was people coming over and rubbing it on REAL HARD...
Now when I think of that day I don't blame no one. We Indians are brought up in an environment where scoring more than the neighbors’ chintu is more important than the child's emotional satisfaction(families can go on cold war if I score lesser or vice versa, either which ways they go on a war)..
Getting back to my status after the midterm results,
The in charge called us for a meeting the next day and made us realize how worthless we were and how unaffected the company would be if we were thrown out (they were indicating our exit if we din clear the final and deciding assessment)
It just hit me so hard. The heart began acting emotional (N I had to rushed to the loo) the mind yelled “Be practical”!! They tried their level best not to be in sync. I was in such a fix. Being rational looked hazy to me in the washroom mirror!! Silence within me was killing me. Agitation and Irritation were haunting.
I just kept to myself that entire day and went back home.
It was time of reckoning again, with my final exam a week and a half away.
Neared the EXAM time and I start getting anxious and spend sleepless nights. The thought that often lingers in my mind is that, is the examination which tests the true ability and the knowledge of the person? Does it in any way show how much the person has command over the subject? The answering of these questions will lead me into the never ending debate with my conscience. And then its all the more tough when I come from engineering background where I used to get my books a day or two before the exam(I'm sure all the engineers will agree with me on this one, at least the true eng;-)) and I used to still clear.
I am of the opinion that examination on the whole should be banned. Since examinations do not test the true ability of the person. Why should a person prove himself or for the matter of fact herself by the medium of examinations??
Anyway, the officials conducting the exam thought otherwise:-(
N hence I worked worked and worked like a dog! Left no stone unturned. I sat in office till 9 each day, went to a friends place each weekend to understand the tough topics. People around me were concerned(I mean the one's who cared viz. Mom, Sudha mam, Krishnan, Adity) about my behavior. I kept to myself and those were the only days I didn’t go to the House of Joy (and hence lost the trophy later ;-)) and didn’t have lunch with Adity.
As the days neared I stopped taking calls from home(My folks are way too sentimental about me and the whole .net panic had taken on them, they told me to quit and stay at home peacefully!!)
The "D" day arrived and I did my objective well in the first half. Then was the coding assessment after lunch. Gas agency design was my job. I did it really well.
But, ppl!!
It wasn't anything lesser than a Farah khan movie climax..
The authorities came to us and told us 3 days later that our codes looked similar and seemed like a replica of the tutor’s code. Hence we would have to take another assessment all together.
Can things go worse????????????????
But, surprisingly, it was cooler and better this time. I wasn't nervous, neither scared. I'd given up on being stressed. I went to celebrate the New Year despite the exam day after!
We came to office all set like the Spartans in 300.But!!!!!!!!!!!Again!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
We were divided into a group of 60 each and sent to different offices of MT and different systems without network connections!!Beat that folks!!
New problem statement, Comp's on my left and right left unoccupied.
I did all that I could. Didn’t discuss about the exam at all and went and slept. Told everyone including parents I was cool and not bothered about the result. But the only thing in my mind was What if I don't clear and they chuck me? What about the humiliation? I'll never be able to talk to the friends I made here? N blah and blah...
And then the cultural day came up and I was occupied in the preparations.
Can my life be any peaceful people?
My results came just 10 minutes before I was to go to the stage and compare.
But curiosity kills . I couldn't wait. I went and checked my results.
I screamed and jumped. I had cleared successfully!!
And all that effort didn’t go in vain..
But 1 thing that keeps haunting me ever since I was a kid is
"Do a few decimal points in marks make one child smarter than the other?"
I'm still searching for that answer.

8 comments:

Aneesh Hiremath said...

Let me start by saying I am exam phobic. I cannot handle an exam as well as you can. I appreciate the way you did.

But yet, the metric system cannot be replaced by an unorthodox method to test one's ability.

What remains to be replaced is our attitude towards tests, and such. How? well thats another blog.

Aditi Chauhan said...

@ and Aneesh ,
U do the needful

Suresh S Murthy said...

Hey Adi, I am really happy for you that inspite of the frustration you had been through, you emerged out victorious. What you pointed out about decimal point thing is definitely a thread of debate we can handle offline. But I go with your take on that!

Anonymous said...

This was nice reading. We all face this situation & it was nice to see, you have managed it so successfully. Sometimes our intuitions tells that we have made it & its when we least desire that the unexpected happens...have a nice time!

Aditi Chauhan said...

@Suresh..
Thanks again..
U've been a witness of those times, so I think u knew wat exactly I tried to convey!

Aditi Chauhan said...

@Kalyan,
I tried so hard and got so far,but in the end.............

Harisha - ಹರೀಶ said...

Aditi, I agree on your point that only the marks can't be the judging metrics. However, I do like exams since they are the driving forces for me to open the books, albeit at the eleventh hour!

Also, I adore the way you present your articles :) Way to go!

Aditi Chauhan said...

@ Harish,
Thanks ;-)