I studied in a Hindi Medium school till 5th standard. I had an
excellent academics till that time. After 5th, my parents planned to admit me
in an English Medium school. I was damn afraid. I always had that inferiority
complex when it came to English schools. But, even after all my pleadings and
promises of doing even better in the present school, I was admitted to the new
school. I was a bit late in joining my 6th standard in the new school (1 &
a half month almost). Then I had to cover the syllabus which was already
covered and I was supposed to make a few friends from whom I had to borrow
their 'fair copies' for copying. I did!
After then came the summer break. I was damn excited and a bit
relieved too. I spent most of the 40-day break in making fair copies by copying
from my friends'. But, I wasn't able to complete my Homework in time as most of
my friends completed theirs at the last moment and I couldn't get the time to
copy it! I couldn't do it myself either as the English Grammar was too hot for
me to handle.
Well, the vacations got over. On the first day after vacation, in
the morning assembly, our School Principal addressed us. She talked about
different topics ranging from the significance of morning prayer and physical
exercises to upcoming terminal exams and the significance of Homework. At the
end of her speech, she asked, "Is there anyone who hasn't completed his
homework?"
I thought that I'm gonna get in trouble if I don't raise my hand,
as I thought that the teacher in the class will castigate me for not raising my
hand in the morning assembly when the homework will be checked later in the
morning. So, I raised my hand!
Principal asked me my name. I answered in my shivering voice. Then
she asked me the reason for not completing the work. In my shivering voice, I
made 'the second mistake of the morning' by saying, "No one gave me their Notebook to copy!"
The other half of the story:
The morning assemblies in typical Indian schools are noisy. Amidst
the prattle, my excuse went unheard by the principal, but, my friends sitting
around me got it! They chuckled and started murmuring. A few gazed at me too. I
realized my mistake.
Principal asked again the reason for non-completion. It was the
time to unleash Plan B! I started looking at the floor and behaved as if
I'm the dumbest of the lot! As soon as the Principal shifted her attention from
me, my friends pulled me down and I sat even when I wasn't told to do so. I got
an important lesson that day: Plan
B's are awesome!!!
