WHAT GOES AROUND COMES AROUND-2

Xeroxing escalates, nights turn sleepless and students burn the midnight oil gearing up to face the exams. I had seriously and sincerely prepared for the Level-1 (neveau-1, French) exam, leaving nothing to chance. On the examination day, outside the exam hall, all classmates stood there shaking hands with smiling faces and wishing words exchanging best of luck. A question rose in my mind “Do these wishes work if preparation is not worked upon well?” My logic, before giving me any time to look for a solution, posed another question, if preparation is well worked upon, do we need wishes. These thought abruptly ended as the bell rang, it was time to move into the hall. Inside the hall it was pin drop silence, long rows of benches, housing seventy five to eighty students, three to four supervisor moving up and down the hall. I was fully engrossed, in writing the answers so much so that the fragrance of the lady supervisor walking past me, though alluring, did not think of giving her a look till the end of exams; the reason being if I ran short of time then what? I did not want to lose time. My eye flipped on two things; the wrist watch and the number of questions to be answered; two questions remaining and forty five minutes to go. They were questions on near future (futur proche) and recent past (passé récent). It took me some time but finally I was able to work out successfully; still ten more minutes to go, I checked the answer sheet for any mistakes those might have gone unnoticed. As I handed over the answer sheet the lady supervisor the acceptance occurred with gleaming eyes and smiling face. I left the hall.

Leisure hours and vacations pass away swiftly, silently and stealthily. The same happened with me too, it was time for the announcement of the results. Students attempt the exams in varying capacity but the eagerness to know the result is a thing that every student carries with almost the same intensity. The next day I was at the department’s office. A group of classmates were already there to know the results, I too was eager to know my result. As I made myself ready with a pen and pad to note down the result. A voice from behind called me and said, give it to me, I will write it for you. It sounded to be a familiar voice, but to ascertain myself, as I turned around there she was “my class teacher”. In normal circumstances it is always the student serving the teacher but this was just the reversal. What could have made her act so? I obediently gave her my pen and pad, she noted down the marks and that was it.

We were in Level-2 (neveau-2, French), one more time she was my class teacher. Level-2 had more in roads in to the language; we were enjoying every bit of it. One day I saw her  upset, the usual charm was missing, she left the class twice in between to meet the head of the department. The class ended, the student had left, as she lifted her bag to leave the class, I stopped her and asked, “Is everything OK”, she denied, I insisted. It is then she made clear that the exam data were missing and the head of the department was not happy. I told her “Can I help you?”, she asked me How?. I told her, remember, you wrote it with your own hands and gave it to me. She told “It has been long time, do you still have it?” The next day I handed over her the sheet and the problem was solved. One again the charm was restored and things got normal.

This particular incident left me thinking. I asked myself “Who helped whom?” with a short term perspective the answer would be “madam helped me” and with a long term perspective it would be “madam helped madam”. After all in life “what goes around, comes around”