The biology lab wears a different look today, with separate spaces allocated for each student. Its our XIth biology practical test, and barring a few most of us clueless as to what we were supposed to do with the stuff that lay on the table – some test tubes, microscopes, dye, plants, slides etc. Our internal examiner kept sitting on one end behind a large wooden table, calling one of us one at a time and grilling on Viva rounds. As we wondered about clueless, staring at our tables, students kept going towards that table when their turn came by - it was happening according to roll numbers, like most other things in the school.
My roll number is 3295. 3296 left school half way through and 3294 is a close friend of mine and we shared similar fate by virtue of our numbers. Time passed by without much activity on my table, as I kept throwing questioning look at 3294, only to be answered back in the same way. Losers as we were, throughout. News came that we would be called in pairs for the viva, instead of one-at-a-time, as we were running out of time.
XIth exam is perhaps, the most frightening time for a senior in Sainik School, where we self license ourselves to do stuff that is ‘out of the rule’ only to be countered in the XIth exam by our teachers – it being an internal examination, assessed by our own teachers, unlike the XIIth Boards.
We could finally hear our numbers (3294 & 3295) being called out and we moved hesitantly towards the chairs across the large wooden table facing Mr. Ghosal. Mr. Ghosal is a tall man and slightly dark skinned. Infamous for his flaring nostrils when he gets agitated- the sight became more frequent as his tolerance level dipped low ever since he came back from the ‘Staff college’ two years back as an NCC officer. I somehow managed to retain my name in his list of ‘good students’, only to be deflated in the incident that I am narrating today.
So, we occupied the two wooden footstools, as he flipped through the two notorious science books – Part I & Part II, the contents of which, I had seldom seen. So, he looked at 3294 and shot his first question. 3294 looked intelligent as he pondered about the question, until he came up with a stupid answer. Without responding to his answer, Mr. Ghosal looked at me with hope and repeated the same question. I fumbled, and repeated what 3294 said, in a hope of not being worse than my neighbour, since I dint have the answer myself. I imagined a slightly blown up nostril of our interrogator, as he flipped through the pages of the Part I book even more vigorously.
He shot his second bullet at 3294 and my goodness, 3294 was way off the mark. His explanation was from another part of the book, and Mr. Ghosal finally couldn’t tame his nostrils! He attempted to hit 3294’s knuckles, with a pencil, as he dodged them. I have been suppressing my laughter for a while now, and finally out it came. I wasn’t surprised when 3294 stared at me and followed suit. I tried hard to contain my laughter, and do the necessary damage control, but that was not to happen.
Mr. Ghosal shot his final bullet to me. ‘What are the characteristics of a sea horse’?
An image of a White Sea horse floated in my mind and I was happy, I knew what it was. But when it came to answering his questions, nothing came out in the form of words or sentences. As I struggled and repeated the word…Sir, errr…. sir, he looked at me with encouragement and said, ‘say son’ …And out it came, “sir it lives in water”. For a moment, it felt his nostrils will blow up. He gathered his calm and said, “Oh really! I dint know that”
I don’t remember, how long did we two laugh. Frightened to the bone with the constant prospect of being ‘flunked’ in the practical and being sent to pack out from the school, we laughed even louder. Nothing moved around us, as we two laughed and the entire class looked at us with horror.
“Look at these two clowns”, Mr. Ghosal said laughing, as he was infected by the clowns’ laughter. As the NCC officer within him resurfaced its claim for some decency, he looked at us and asked, “So gentlemen, tell me, which hormone is responsible for your laughter”. We looked at each other, and neither of us had the answer, and we laughed more.
I would like to thank Mr. Ghosal through this story. We both got decent grading in our Biology practical and managed to get promoted to XIIth.
My roll number is 3295. 3296 left school half way through and 3294 is a close friend of mine and we shared similar fate by virtue of our numbers. Time passed by without much activity on my table, as I kept throwing questioning look at 3294, only to be answered back in the same way. Losers as we were, throughout. News came that we would be called in pairs for the viva, instead of one-at-a-time, as we were running out of time.
XIth exam is perhaps, the most frightening time for a senior in Sainik School, where we self license ourselves to do stuff that is ‘out of the rule’ only to be countered in the XIth exam by our teachers – it being an internal examination, assessed by our own teachers, unlike the XIIth Boards.
We could finally hear our numbers (3294 & 3295) being called out and we moved hesitantly towards the chairs across the large wooden table facing Mr. Ghosal. Mr. Ghosal is a tall man and slightly dark skinned. Infamous for his flaring nostrils when he gets agitated- the sight became more frequent as his tolerance level dipped low ever since he came back from the ‘Staff college’ two years back as an NCC officer. I somehow managed to retain my name in his list of ‘good students’, only to be deflated in the incident that I am narrating today.
So, we occupied the two wooden footstools, as he flipped through the two notorious science books – Part I & Part II, the contents of which, I had seldom seen. So, he looked at 3294 and shot his first question. 3294 looked intelligent as he pondered about the question, until he came up with a stupid answer. Without responding to his answer, Mr. Ghosal looked at me with hope and repeated the same question. I fumbled, and repeated what 3294 said, in a hope of not being worse than my neighbour, since I dint have the answer myself. I imagined a slightly blown up nostril of our interrogator, as he flipped through the pages of the Part I book even more vigorously.
He shot his second bullet at 3294 and my goodness, 3294 was way off the mark. His explanation was from another part of the book, and Mr. Ghosal finally couldn’t tame his nostrils! He attempted to hit 3294’s knuckles, with a pencil, as he dodged them. I have been suppressing my laughter for a while now, and finally out it came. I wasn’t surprised when 3294 stared at me and followed suit. I tried hard to contain my laughter, and do the necessary damage control, but that was not to happen.
Mr. Ghosal shot his final bullet to me. ‘What are the characteristics of a sea horse’?
An image of a White Sea horse floated in my mind and I was happy, I knew what it was. But when it came to answering his questions, nothing came out in the form of words or sentences. As I struggled and repeated the word…Sir, errr…. sir, he looked at me with encouragement and said, ‘say son’ …And out it came, “sir it lives in water”. For a moment, it felt his nostrils will blow up. He gathered his calm and said, “Oh really! I dint know that”
I don’t remember, how long did we two laugh. Frightened to the bone with the constant prospect of being ‘flunked’ in the practical and being sent to pack out from the school, we laughed even louder. Nothing moved around us, as we two laughed and the entire class looked at us with horror.
“Look at these two clowns”, Mr. Ghosal said laughing, as he was infected by the clowns’ laughter. As the NCC officer within him resurfaced its claim for some decency, he looked at us and asked, “So gentlemen, tell me, which hormone is responsible for your laughter”. We looked at each other, and neither of us had the answer, and we laughed more.
I would like to thank Mr. Ghosal through this story. We both got decent grading in our Biology practical and managed to get promoted to XIIth.
2 comments:
dera sishir... dats the most circulated story of our batch... thanx for narrating it once again....
Nicholus, will dedicate my next post to you. Some stories that werent known by many. Like the kabaddi story. When am I getting to read your next story?
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