The neighbor’s son got 98% why didn’t you?

“Arre tumne suna, Mr Sharma ke bete Bittu ke 98% aye!” *looks at me* “tumne bhi Bittu jitna padha hota to tumhare bhi itne aate”

Translation: ” Did you hear, Mr. Sharma’s son, Bittu scored a 98%” “If only you had studied like him you would have scored good as well”

The board exams will soon be over and the results will be out, and such remarks could be heard reverberating in every Indian household because there always will be an asshole “Bittu” in your neighborhood or relation who will upstage you when it comes to marks. I am not Bittu, I am me, I did the best I could. Screw Bittu and his marks!

After movies like “Taare Zameen Par” and “3 Idiots”, we thought maybe Aamir Khan’s efforts would have some effect on the way people thought and just maybe they’ll understand that not everyone of us is a Chatur Ramalingam or Ishan Avasthi’s brother! But that doesn’t mean we won’t succeed in life! Do our marksreally define our intelligence or merely our retention capacity?

Who is to say that a 98 percent scorer would DEFINITELY be a billionaire and that, say, an 80 percent scorer won’t? Who’s giving that guarantee?

Today’s world is highly competitive. It’s not just studies that one has to excel at. Parents want us to be a good sportsperson, spokesperson, singer, dancer, painter…. but RELAX PEOPLE!!! We are one person, a single being, WE CAN’T DO IT ALL! It’s time to understand this.

The pressures of the exams are not the only ones in a student’s life. There is always the pressure to look good, to appeal to a certain someone, to stay in touch with the latest happenings, friendship, relationship, family! A student is under THIS much pressure. And when it comes to examinations, the pressure of it alone is enough to drive the student off the edge and it is doing so! Students are committing suicide because they couldn’t fulfill the ‘over expectations’ of their parents or because they couldn’t get into that premium institute.

I say this as a fellow student who went through the “doomsday” ordeals (Yes I mean result declaration day -_- ) . The results are out, badgering us, comparing our scores, all this won’t change the marks on our mark-sheet. It won’t change who we are, so accept us and see where we rise up to.

And for God’s sake, don’t let “Bitto’s” marks or any Tom, Dick or Harry’s marks or the annoying neighborhood auntie’s taunting remarks make you doubt yourself, for all you know, you just might be Bitto for someone else in some other aspect of your life. 🙂