Cracking the code of sessional exams-A divine intervention

Sessional exams were conducted very seriously in RIT, though many of the students lacked seriousness. Lack of sincerity towards the exams resulted in poor marks for the first sessional exams and the significance of the second manifold. After few papers those hopes were also shattered and I could see sorry faces all around me. Next day was the last exam, the toughest of the lot; Power Plant Engineering (PPE). Somehow I had to crack that. I prayed wholeheartedly for a divine intervention.

As I walked alone to hostel with a dejected look, the question paper of the afternoon exam fell from my hand. I retrieved it after running behind it, as the wind blow the paper to a long distance. I got hold of it and looked at it. To my surprise it turned into a PPE paper. I pinched myself. No, I am not dreaming. It is definitely the PPE paper. I turned it around and on the other side I found the question paper I just wrote.

I ran to hostel and announced it to all. At first nobody believed me as they have never seen me going to church or praying. I showed them the paper. They gathered around me and read the paper. No use; they were yet to open the book. They checked the details on the paper. It was matching with the details of the paper they just wrote and the date was that of tomorrow. After consulting with Maman, our topper, everybody agreed that it was the PPE paper. I went to church that evening accompanied by a number of non-believers to thank god for his gift.

The news spread like a fire. Muthu send a copy to LH for Mechrani. Weral started negotiation with local Mechs for a copy of paper and finally settled the matter for a huge sum. Everybody except Maman stopped studying and keech started. As time passed by, I started to get tensed. "If it flopped, I will be crucified by all".

The exam day came. I waited anxiously for the paper and collected same from the examiner with shivering hands. "It was the same paper". My prayers resulted in a divine intervention. I could see all faces turning towards me and respect in those faces. I decided to go to church every day and to increase my praying hours from nil to maximum.

Biker Boys were standing outside the exam hall. They came late and got the copy of the paper very late .They were busily reading the answers after a thumbs up from ‘post’ inside the exam hall. Our Course Coordinator (CC), who was making a last round of inspection, saw Biker Boys standing outside the exam hall and reading. He went towards them and urged them to go inside. In their rush to hide the paper, it fell and he had a glimpse of it. I, sitting in the front bench, was sure that he didn't recognise the paper and sighed.

A few hardcore football fans compared the happenings to the infamous goal of Maradona in 1986 world cup football, where he scored first goal via an un-penalized hand ball known as ‘Hand of God’. Those filthy stories didn’t discourage me and I continued my visits to church. My reply to them was the Bible quote. "Whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it and it will be yours" (Matthew 21:22)

One day suddenly CC came to class and announced with a very serious tone."Some malfunction had happened in PPE exam. Somebody had stolen the paper from staff room and distributed among students. Whoever it is, if he want to complete the course, should come and meet me in the staff room immediately". He left the room and after consulting with friends I decided to tell him the truth. "If God had given me the paper, he would look after me and would save me from all trouble" I thought.

I entered the staff room with the paper in my hand. I handed over the same to CC and as he had gone through it, I explained him the things in detail. He listened to me carefully and finally allowed me to leave the scene without much fuss. After that meeting my belief in god further strengthened.

It didn't last long. The ‘Hand of God’ turned out that of a press worker who mixed the papers and printed. Once the hype surrounding the paper was over, many such stories surfaced. They all kept quiet during exams and scored good marks. I ended up with pass marks in PPE. This revelation didn't subside my belief, though shaken it.

Our CC decided to give the contract to another press. The news that the press owner, whose house is situated on the way to church, is on the look out for the person responsible for him losing the contract, completely dampened my belief and visits to church.

An eventful encounter with Joe de Franc

“Da nakki, enthdutteda m***** ithu. Purathottokke irangi nadanoodeda m****. Ethu neravum murikakathu computeril irunolum. Nee enth’da athinu garpham undakkan nokunno”. I was in front of my computer when Werel, came to my room and told this.

It was a lazy afternoon, about 3 pm and wirel came to my room wearing jeans and shirt. In hostel werel’s dresscode was just a lungee, worn half mast, whose top edge lie 12 cms below his navel and bottom edge was always 20 cms above kneecaps, just like the skirts worn by Deepika. Seeing him in his shirt and jeans, I guessed, that he is back from Kottayam, but was surprised to see him come to my room straight from Kottayam.

After a few seconds of chit-chat, to my second surprise, weral invited me for a drink. Thinking of weral two things that come to our mind are his miserly nature and ability to obtain money from others by fooling them. Knowing weral for past 2 years, I humbly declined his invitation. Knowing what was in my mind, weral took out a pint bottle from his jeans pocket and said “Nee cash kodukendada m****, ithu ente treat aa”. It was ‘Joe de Franc’, which was categorized as “expensive” by us at that time. I should say it was my third surprise in a short span of two minutes. Weral has become very unpredictable, I thought. But later towards the end of this story, I understood that weral could never change; he is all what he is.

Weral was a celebrated drinker who could simply take 6 to 8 pegs in a stretch and I, a novice who got contented with 2 or 3 pegs maximum. After lot of assurance from weral that I need not pay even a single penny from my pocket, I accepted the invitation and we moved to our RIT canteen to savor the drink. Though cautious of some concealed, puckish and hideous plan under this treat, I was deeply moved by werals hospitality and his genial gesture to offer me a drink. We talked about RIT, our hostel life, teachers etc enjoying the Joe de frank. It turned out to be a nice evening and we were at our third peg.

While making the third and last peg, weral asked me about my DOM (Dynamics of Machines) exams. I graciously told him that I expect a decent 75+ for the university. “So you could get more than 70% with your 28 for internals, right?” I was astonished by werals’ strong analytics and his knowledge on my internal marks. He was a mark savvy and keeps an eye on everyones’ percentage but I never thought he knew everyone’s internals. Could be that he guessed, as all of us got somewhere between 25 to 35, yet 28 was six out of six. “Are you going for an improvement?” I was wakened from my thoughts as weral asked it. “No” I said promptly.

He offered me the last peg and said “In that case it shouldn’t be a problem”. I started smelling a rat. All those fears I had in deep in my mind surfaced. After all weral could not treat someone from his own pocket. Werals’ face had that very old, very same, wicked smile. The two pegs I had didn’t allow my cheek muscles to frown. I slowly learnt that the Joe de frank was nothing but my DOM textbook.

I could do nothing but relish the last peg peacefully and silently. With the gratitude towards weral for sharing his fortune with me, we walked towards hostel in each other’s arm.