Memoirs of ISC 2007 – English Literature
There was nothing half-interesting about our journey to school this time, though Al Futtaim cleaners were polishing my corridor floor when I walked out today, and they got all mad when I stepped all over the polish. But hey, we are talking about my God Damn boards here, I need to get to the lift.
The highlight of the morning was my dad’s outburst, as in a positive one, full of energy. We started discussing my future, only this time it was exciting rather than confusing. It feels good to have your path laid out, now all you have to do is to walk/run it and pray that it’s a decently smooth journey.
English Literature was our first real test. No Bashir, no non-sense, no free marks (English Language) – studying was essential. What I liked about my “studying” was that I really enjoyed Richard II. It’s a brilliant play, and Shakespeare is friggin’ inspiring genius. I actually enjoyed some of the poems too – Prayer Before Birth, Story Of Lost Friends, Flute Music and A Walk By Moonlight are all deep and interesting. Anyway, my point is studying for this exam wasn’t all that bad. However I did get annoyed with my writing in general, I really need to start reading more books.
The paper was as “student-friendly” as it could be, but I can’t really judge how well mine went. I am not all depressed and irritated, so I guess that’s a good sign, but then I also don’t really care that much, so it’s also confusing. One man not confused is Shrivats. In his after-exam interview, the only thing he had to say was – “27 sides.” This study-beast has a clingy chest infection which causes him to burst into a multitude of coughs quite randomly. Now that could prove to be an obstruction towards his ambition of doing the double by topping the ISC, already having topped the ICSE. But, today this chest-infection was a source of mockery for Karan Khanna, which I don’t find funny in anyway. Despite his chest infection, Shrivats is going to kick your sorry ass Karan, because he seems to have had a rocking English Literature and Language exam. You, Karan, on the other hand visited the toilet, yawned, yawned again and finished your paper half an hour earlier. That doesn’t sound too good. Anyway Shri’s odds need re-adjusting and Karan needs an eruption to cool off. Whereas Govind seemed a little distressed about forgetting to write the “first bit” of the Garden scene. But chill Gov, I don’t think it should be that big a problem. Bharath’s went well – I think so anyway, because well, he wrote 3 practice essays for Prayer Before Birth. Whereas Aaron is going to beat Shrivats, apparently he too, like Shri and Kau came close to mugging up the entire of Richard II. Ali didn’t like his Garden scene essay, but he is still going to get full, though Aaron will beat him, somehow.
Nothing more I can think off. Oh, Annika learnt about the Extra-Booklets and Twins Ltd. Soon the rest of the girl’s section will also be enlightened. I think they are the highest consumers of extra booklets in the whole darn world. Guinness, you there? Ladies, Unmukt is a close third. Maths on Monday, and the die-all Chemistry on Wednesday to look forward too. Dad’s playing the Devil by tempting me to go for the Federer V Haas match today. Should I? I won’t get myself to study today anyway, how much ever I try.
P.S. Life sucks and there is nothing you can do about it, sometimes.
Odds for “Who Will Top?” as they currently stand: [screw you anonymous]
Bharath 3:1
Shrivats: 2.5:1
Govind: 3:1
Unmukt: 3.9:1
Tejas: 780800:1
Memoirs of ISC 2007 – English Language
It’s 8:00 AM and I find it very difficult to get up, though I am wide awake. There is this weird feeling in my stomach. I somehow struggle out of bed, and a long visit to the bathroom flushes out the stomach issue. No no I don’t have diarrhea, it’s PBS – Pre Board Stress. Nerves for English Language? I don’t get it. But a few more visits to the bathroom make it evident that I should not run away from the truth. I get some hard core English Language studying in, and then try some music to soothe the nerves. But it doesn’t totally work. A random profane conversation with Ali is what helps.
Anyway it’s 10:40 AM, time to head to school. Shayaan, Ali and I wait for a cab. But we don’t find one. I am not panicked, Ali is around. Shayaan and Ali however do get a little panicked and we contemplate that the worst case scenario would be running to school. Wow, now that would kick your ass Tejas, wouldn’t it? But Shayaan freaks at the prospect, because I guess only he is smart enough to realize that even running would take over an hour to reach school. I have this peculiar banana peal in my hand. I wasn’t able to devour anything else. We get into a private super-expensive Taj hotel cab. Ali freaks and we think we might have to pay 300 dirhams. It’s then the turn of the banana to make the cab smell. Now put that earlier sentence in wrong Hindi and you’ll see what I said. We discuss pointless English Language doubts and questions. And finally we reach school at 11:15 AM.
No one seems to be tensed, and everyone proceeds into the hall as excited as ever. Shrivats is a little more excited than usual. There is no physical barrier between the girls and boys this time so Shri claims that he will stare his “buttocks off”, in his own style of words. Alas, hormones rage for different people at different times.
Mr Bloud’s prayer and the-external-examiner's-struggle-to-open-the-“sealed package”-that-is-our-ISC-board-papers fails to amuse us. An eerie nervous silence now prevails in the auditorium. We get the paper. It’s simple. Essay topics are good, and I know immediately which essay the twins would do, the one on “One World State” obviously. Later, everyone boasts as to how good their paper was. Ashiq’s was “superb”. Tejas wrote the coolest essay ever in the history of essays. Ali’s getting full, and he also learnt that he got full in Computer Practicals – I tell you, he’s going to break barriers this year, Shrivats beware. Aaron was supremely confident. Eddie and Rubin put on a few cheeks, I mean weight, but hell I shouldn’t be ridiculing. Rohith was awesome, and Imaad kinda forgot that he had an exam today. Shayaan is on the moon as usual, and is skipping Act 2 in Richard. Unmukt kick-started his deadly eco-rant in his “Money” essay, which was also the essay I did, but less eco-ish. My paper was okay, as I don’t think you can say how good or bad it really went. But I felt decent after it, so I guess that’s all that matters. Govind has “studied his ass off for everything” (:p), so his odds need to be altered obviously. Romit. Harry and HIS HAIR. Oh. My. God. [sorry Ashiq, hear OMG is so needed] Literature tomorrow, and I have 4 poems left, and I am blogging. Brilliant.
P.S. Odds . Okay I don’t care if it makes sense or not, so .|. : Odds for “Who Will Top?” as they currently stand:
Bharath 3:1
Shrivats: 3:1
Govind: 2.99998:1
Unmukt: 3.7:1
Tejas: 78080:1
Memoirs of ISC 2007 – End Of “Study” Leave.
So long “study” leave. For all those that did satisfyingly study, and not get distracted – kudos. I, on the other hand was nothing but distracted, and this uneventful month went by quite slowly. But there were positives. I discovered and invented newer ways of passing time. But this month will be legendary in its own way: [in reverse order]
- Facebook revolutionized most if not all of our lives.
- I didn’t miss a single Arsenal match.
- Got into Illinois, but then the whole of Grade 12 did. I am not complaining, it gave me satisfaction anyway.
- Redial Entertainment work continued. We finished making backdrops for an event headed by Princess Haya – Sheikh Mohammed’s youngest wife.
- I had an unexpectedly pleasant birthday. Thanks you guys, with a special mention to Ali and his dinner treat. KFC did make us put on a few kilos, for we kept stuffing ourselves, complaining about how bad and fatty the chicken was.
- Dads and Mum’s anniversary.
- American Idol
- More Facebook, more MSN, more pointless conversations, and unnecessary excuses NOT to study.
- The Official Farewell - with its toasts, with the awesome percussion and singing, and with a visibly half-annoyed Principal thanks to the ‘mixing’ and the photography.
- The Farewell “Before Party” with all its “storming outs” and the consequent rumours. It was night when Modern High and its couples broke barriers, and where there was a whole twist of feelings and emotion, for me, and for many others.
- Sister’s birthday and her Spanish departure.
- Sports Day and how Aquila didn’t win. Damn it Aaron! Neil broke the 12-second barrier.
- And umm amidst all that, a little bit of studying too.
Now it’s time to face the music as they say. Let’s just hope it’s not as sour as we think it might be.
P.S. Almighty Lord, chemistry is unbelievable.
Memoirs of ISC 2007 – Chemistry Practicals
Chem is tree. Ha Ha. Funny joke huh? Well ‘Chem Pracs’ was a joke, an annoying, half-funny joke.
There was nothing exciting about our car journey to school except that I forgot that it was a Friday and that there would be no buses back home. Shit. But Ali’s parents came to our rescue quite brilliantly, and transport wasn’t a problem. Also Shayaan cracked a very harmless joke about “not-asking-Romit-but-Shrivats-your-doubts” which brought out Ali’s protective colours. He snapped back at the tall 'pianist', and basically, Romit, that’s a sign that you are loved, despite everything. =)
Once we entered school, the same old same old remained the same old same old. Wise-cracks and nerve-releasing laughter rang all around. Ritesh’s “ten dirhams” was a constant amidst all this. Nobody was really revising, though everyone had “sheets” in their hands. The same old teacher-brief followed when Dr Khan enlightened us with his wisdom. We made our entry into our laboratories after a short and sweet Mr Bloud prayer.
I began my escapade with titration. Soon I, and well we, switched into the same old panic gear. The titration required our solutions, which were in the conical flask to be heated, and there where no flames in the physics lab. Screwed. We did have water baths though, but they weren’t really working with the flasks. We did try, and Basheer did almost burn his hand, but all we got for our efforts were broken flasks, exploding stoppers, toppling solutions and a big scare. We were definitely not ready for this. So the whole jing-bang of "authoritative figures" came into the room trying to rectify this problem, with each one trying to outsmart the other. Special cooking-stove-like structures were then brought in. The water baths were satisfyingly manipulated, and 25 minutes later, the titration experiment actually started making sense. But it didn’t need to make sense, because “pssst, 20.1” – go figure.
Organic was easy. We all know why – as Omar (yes Ali, your brother) said, Basheer Zindabad! But even besides him and his great services, it was indeed easy. As we prepared to dive into our mixture analysis, another “psssst…pass it on” occured. So, anyway, mixture analysis was a breeze. We did show all our confirmatory tests to the examiner, now didn’t we? Everyone came out of their respective labs happy, showering wedding congratulations to our man Basheer, and greeting their fellow compatriots with toothy victorious smiles. Everyone got everything. Yay!
Shrivats broke all records today. He asked for an extra booklet to supplement his 16 pages. But my sources say that he wanted to “re-write” the entire paper in thirty minutes because he has scratched something out somewhere. Now something like that confuses me - Should I increase his odds or decrease them? Govind, Bharath and Unmukt seemed un-distressed, so umm, their odds kinda remain the same, though I have reason to believe that Unmukt has more drive, but as I discussed with you Unmukt, there is a fine line between confidence and overconfidence. Ali is getting full as usual and he might actually get additional marks thanks to his seduction skills, Ritesh is doing “brilliantly”, Tejas actually got everything this time, so I think I need to cut him some slack and get rid of one of his zeros. Romit, Yuvraj, Ashiq and everyone else I can think of did well. The girls also seemed happy and the “external examiners” were just awesome. Dr Khan was so tensed, until the end, obviously.
One of the external invigilators, who happened to be some football coach of some school came to me in the middle my grade 12 board examination and whispered in my ear, “So you finally get the cup, hai?”
Anish and Ali couldn’t stop laughing during the car-ride home.
P.S. Odds for “Who Will Top?” as they currently stand:
Bharath 3:1
Shrivats: 3:1
Govind: 3.001:1
Unmukt: 3.5:1
Tejas: 780800:1
Current Investments: 0 – you cheap bastards.
Memoirs of ISC 2007 – Physics Practicals
I sleep really well last night. Just before, I had filled my ‘pencil’-box with loads of pens, pencils, rubbers and so on, made sure my clothes and lab-coat was ironed, my admit card was around, my alarm was set, my bag was packed and my face and only that was shaved. The physics practical exam doesn’t require studying, apparently.
By 6:20 A.M. Ali, Shayaan and me are in Shayaan’s mum’s car, and after the usual check-ups, there is an eerie board-like silence. Yup our boards have finally begun, and so has the tension and the studying, and the increasingly periodic excretion. But back in the car, I scold Ali for laminating his Admit Card – don’t do it, ever, the ‘authenticity’ (thanks Zafar) of an official document no longer remains once it is laminated. But then Ali commits greater sins, first of which - he forgets to sign the friggin’ Admit Card before laminating it, and second, he lies to us about it, only to confess later on. Loser.
We arrive in school earlier than we should, only to realize that Aaron, Rubin, Tejas and the remaining Sharjah gang reached school at 5:30AM – an hour earlier. Brilliantly safe, you guys. After the previous English Language experience, any earlyy arrival time earlier is better. However, it is now that the board-exam nervous-feeling starts to disappear. A lot of laughing at the same Rohith-jokes, a lot of singing of the same Ali-Tejas songs and a lot of random talking-updates follow. That’s what I am going to miss most about school, the same old same old fun =). Anyway, Bharath enters, and is greeted with a bowlful of love (hugs) and a chorus of Happy Birthdays, by everyone except Rohith. Why? Rohith has forgotten his lab coat. All the jokes don’t seem funny any more, and he actually switches into panic gear, but thankfully, only temporarily.
Finally the time to be half-serious comes upon us. Reshmi Ma’am gives us the potential-could-be answers, and the last minute reminders and tips. We line up, the girls on one side, boys on the other, and Mr. Joseph above us, on the stairs. The external examiner, who has flown in all the way from India, as in THE man, is late. So Mr Joseph unleashes on us the longest and brestest-sorry best-est of prayers, and we finally move into our respective laboratories.
The paper is simple. But I still end up messing up the first, easy Optical Bench experiment. It’s my turn to switch into panic gear, but I calm down after manipulating and rectifying the stupid error. There is a randomly fascinating moment amidst all this. Basheer, our school’s lab assistant, moves to each table, and mumbles random numbers – 33 2 35. Hmm, interesting. Anyway, one experiment down, one to go.
The second electricity experiment seems easy-peesy. But I screw up. The supposed answer is 2, and I know it’s 2, but even after manipulation I can only get 1.64. I put all the blame on the stupid Ammeter, it couldn’t stop vibrating it’s God-damned stick. Anyway, I might lose a couple of marks there and for potentially S.I. Unit related mistakes. Damn.
But as Dr Khan said, the ISC exams are very student-friendly, and today's paper (+ the "experience") was a little more 'friendly' than it should have been, but hey, I am not complaining. The after-shocks and the after-hurray’s were the usual. A lot of confirming-your-answers-with-the-Physics-teacher took place, though different teachers gave us different answers (yeah Aaron, confusing, though I sincerely hope that the Mrs. is right).
From what I’ve heard, a certain Linda hit the nervous breakdown button, but relax girl – you will be fine. Tejas’ ultra-manipulation didn’t work for Question 1, Ali kicked-ass and is getting full, Shayaan got some weird slope for question 2, but the right final answer, Romit seemed satisfied but confused about his P-resistor’s value, Ameya seemed satisfied with a 15 on 20, the girls seemed to have been generally rocking, but Aarthy T seemed a little distressed, the twins were as confident as ever, Unmukt seemed more worried about reprimanding Mrs Balachandran for the apparent false-news that she was spreading and Bharath, my man, seemed to have hit the nail on the head, but Govind’s paper involved a lot of scratching. Hmm, that might make me want to reduce the odds for him.
Ali had a very child-filled entertaining bus-ride home.
P.S. Odds for “Who Will Top?” as they currently stand: (investments start at a minimum of 50 fils)
Bharath 3:1
Shrivats: 3:1
Govind: 3.00001:1
Unmukt: 4:1
Tejas: 7808000:1
Memoirs Of ISC 2007 - Prelude
It's time for another memory-sustaining phase on this blog. Our fate-less, pain-in-the-ass ISC Exams have finally begun, and I don't want to forget the good or the bad experience it might turn out to be. So these future posts might contain painful details, and intricate, incomprehensible tit-bits which might be only for me to get and a few others to laugh about. So ignore, read, enjoy or hate it. And for those who actually give a shit (as in can relate), please feel free to add your own experiences too.
To all my fellow ISC and ICSE exam givers, and umm also to the regular school exam-givers - Good Luck!
Oh one interesting part though, in the race to have your name printed on the school boards as ISC topper, I am betting on Bharath and Govind, and obviously supporting them. Kick-ass guys, all the way, though a certain twin will definitely be competition.
P.S. Fate-less for me, so Bharath don't jump on me! And umm, a few betting odds as to who might top, that you might want to consider investing in:
Bharath 3:1
Shrivats: 3:1
Govind: 3:1
Unmukt: 4:1
Tejas: 78080:1