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IT COULD HAVE BEEN A DISASTER

May 6 2008 | Views 1107 | Comments (86)

The day had broken alright – well as alright as possible given the circumstances. I had to go... Expand

The day had broken alright – well as alright as possible given the circumstances. I had to go over to the exam centre and take the last paper of the M. Sc. Final year examinations. This done, I would be a Master of Science. But the things were not as simple as this. This was the specialization paper. The specialization I had chosen was Industrial Biochemistry. A subject I hated from the very depths of my guts and my heart. Then why had I chosen it? Practical considerations. The Head of the Department’s daughter – a classmate of ours – had taken Clinical Biochemistry as her specialization, a subject that I loved. But since she was there, it was a foregone conclusion in our minds that she would be getting the highest marks in practical examinations. Ergo, if I wanted to save my position – first in the University – I had to choose a different specialization. So, the choice was Industrial and I hated it.

The subject told us how alcohol was manufactured and how different vitamins were produced at the industrial scale. There were flowcharts that were too long and too devious to remember. And in any case, my heart was not in it. To make the matters worse, our Industrial teacher was a buffoon. We could never understand what he taught. May be his heart was also not in it. All this had made us study the other subjects and skip this one till the very last. When we finally picked up the books for this one, we found that the course was undoable at the short time left at our disposal. We did the best we could under the circumstances.

And so, the day had broken as well as it could.

I occupied the desk allotted for my roll number. In a few moments the question papers were distributed. The seven of us who had opted for the Industrial specialization were all there in that room. The other guys in the room were from physics and looked as scared as us.

I read the question paper as slowly as I could, taking in everything calmly. That’s policy. I do a few things when I get the question paper. The first thing I do is close my eyes and make my mind blank. It somehow drains all the fear and helps me become calm and focused. I tell myself it does not matter. If I am lucky, I will know all the questions and will have choice for the ones I like best. If I am not so lucky may be I will get five – the quota that I have to solve. If I am unlucky, I won’t even get five. But it does not matter. If I get only three, I will have more time answering those three and make it very difficult for the examiner to cut marks from these. I then open my eyes and read the questions slowly, deliberately, without hurrying at all and without any worry. Once this is over, I tick those questions that I will be solving and set priority based on how well I know the answers. The best one is to be solved first. To the first one I devote almost half of the total time. The reason is simple. The first one creates the impression on the examiner. If the first one is wonderful, you end up getting more for the rest than you deserve. Agreed that the time remaining for the four residual questions is less, you are in your stride by the time you tackle them and your hand has become liquid and is ready to race across pages.

I slowly tick-marked the questions I could answer well and it was all I could do to stop myself from jumping for joy. All that I had read the previous night had appeared in the question paper and I was going to do far better than I had thought in my wildest dreams. Besides, the questions were about what I liked a bit in this otherwise boring subject.

For the next one and a half hours I poured my heart about penicillin – as much as it is possible for any human being to talk heartily about penicillin that is. But that was not without interruption. This interruption from Irfan, my classmate, started barely five minutes after the question papers were distributed.

“Saala, America mein set kiya paper lagata hai,” (It seems that the paper has been set by someone in USA) was the first observation he made loudly. It brought smile to my lips although I failed to see what had brought that expression to his lips – the paper was quite straight forward.

“Ae paaniwaale,” he said next to the boy who had brought in the first few glasses of water for the examinees, “Jitni baar aaye, do glass yahan bina puche rakh dena. Saala munh sookh gaya hai paper padh kar,” was the next pithy observation. (Hey water boy, from next time, whenever you come, just give me two glasses without my asking. The mouth is getting all dry.)

“I should have brought a towel, the handkerchief is insufficient,” was yet another remark.

“Abe too likh kyaa raha hai?” he poked me from behind and asked next. “Yahaan to kuch aata hi nahin hai aur too hai ke likkhe jar aha hai.” (What the hell are you writing? I can’t write anything since I do not know anything and you are writing away to glory.)

I had to look back and tell him to keep quiet and write whatever he knew and that he should stop being overly dramatic about something that was essentially simple. At this he turned back and announced to the whole classroom that I had cheated all the classmates by studying surreptitiously all the while keeping everyone else in dark. I had an inward smile going at his antics even while I struggled to write the best answer I could.

I had trouble deciding the scope of the answer to the second question. So I asked the invigilator for permission to briefly discuss it with Irfan. Permission was granted and I turned back and asked him,

“Irfan, question 2 B, riboflavin. Do you think he is asking the whole industrial procedure?”

“Riboflavin?” Irfan asked. “There is no riboflavin in my question paper.”

“Come on Irfan, it is no time to joke,” exasperation must have showed in my tone. “Question 2 B riboflavin.”

“To make matters clearer, there is no question 2B either in my question paper. It is just question 2, no A or B in it.”

That blew the whistle on something that was wrong. Seriously wrong. I showed him my paper and he showed me his and we found out that the two sets differed from each other like the day and the night!

“Madam,” Irfan stood up and addressed the invigilator, “he has got the simpler set. I also want the same.”

To cut a long story short, it was quickly discovered that I had the wrong set – the one belonging to Industrial Microbiology and not Industrial Biochemistry. The two papers differed only in title and not in content. So I did not smell anything foul at all reading the questions. I should have looked at the title which I did not. But the authorities of the centre were equally to blame – there was not Industrial Microbiology student in that room so what was that paper doing in that room?

Soon the chief officer came over. I was made to stand out of the room and talk to him. I requested him that I be given the correct paper and from the time I was given it, I should get full three hours to answer it. The chief officer said that the mistake was mine and that I would be given only the remaining one and a half hours to answer the correct question paper.

The debate went on for five more minutes and my heart sank. Not only was the correct question paper deathly difficult, I was going to get less than half the time to answer it. My dreams of retaining my positions went up like smoke in thin air. The new danger was whether I would even pass the examination!

And then suddenly, light dawned in my head. It was like a whole perspective change, a new goggle to look at things in a completely different color. A goggle that showed a rarest of rare advantage where till now there was a deathly disadvantage.

I turned to the chief officer and said, as calmly as I could, “Sir, I agree to all your conditions. I want only one concession if you can give it to me. Will you please allow me to attach the previous question paper and the answer sheet that I have been writing upon with the new answer sheet?”

I knew his nod was essential if the advantage that I was seeing was to become a reality. So I was calm. I did not allow the real intention to show on my face. All that showed on my face was a severely troubled young boy who had lost half the time and was in dire straits and was asking for clemency.

The chief officer nodded and, for the second time that day, I could have jumped for joy. I knew there an then that not only would I pass this exam, not only would I now get more marks in this paper than I would have got even if the previous paper was the real paper, but I would also retain my first position and, actually, improve upon it.

The next part was even more crucial. What was I going to tell the examiner? I decided that I would not put any sentiment into my description of what had happened. I would just state it as a matter of fact and also not request him for any leniency. As far as I remember, this is what I wrote on the first page of the new answer sheet:

Sir,

I was by mistake given the Industrial Microbiology paper rather than the Industrial Biochemistry paper. For one and a half hour I have solved the wrong question. I am attaching the wrong question paper and the answer sheet for your perusal. I have to solve the correct question paper in only half the time. Therefore, I will try to answer mostly diagrammatically. I will imagine diagrams where none exist in the textbooks wherever necessary. Text will be provided only where it is absolutely necessary. This is the only way in which the whole question paper can be solved in half the time. I am sorry for this but I am also helpless.

I knew what was going to happen. The examiner was sure to read the previous question paper. From it, he/she would get the idea that this was indeed a brilliant student. He/she may also have formed an opinion that given full three hours, this student would have written extremely well. My roll number was after 5 students who were not really good. So, my answer book coming after them would make the examiner think even more of my answer than otherwise would have been possible. The way I had described the situation without asking for any mercy whatsoever would also have a positive effect. In the end, all this would propel me much higher than I would have gone had I got the full three hours to solve the correct question paper.

At the end of one and a half hours, I submitted the answer sheet and came out. I was happy. My competitor, Irfan, was doubly happy.

“You have lost your position,” he told me.

“My loss could be your gain,” I told him tersely.

He smiled.

I laughed inwardly.

The results came. I had not only retained my first position but had increased the distance between me and the second. I HAD ALSO SCORED THE HIGHEST MARKS IN THE INDUSTRIAL BIOCHEMISTRY PAPER!

The story is simple. The message that follows and that you must understand if you have to succeed in life is equally simple:

There is no situation which is advantageous or disadvantageous in itself. A situation is just a situation. Advantage or disadvantage in it is your view, your perspective of it.

Put differently, there is no situation with a built in disadvantage. It is you who are blind to the advantage. Your perspective is marred. Put on a different goggle and the whole scenario can look transformed.

So, train your mind to see advantage in every situation. Mind you, I do.

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Comments (86)

Avinashjee posted 2 mnths ago

Hi BS,
Thanks for your comments and also for the commendations. Somehow the whole thing clicked just as i had thought and changed my life with that. I have always been able to see both sides of a coin since then. So pessimism comes to me only momentarily.
Regards
Avinash

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Avinashjee posted 2 mnths ago

Hi Aditi,
I have always been a mixture - sometimes I think that there are two persons living inside me rather than one. Sometimes I cannot move against the diktat of the heart and at other times it is the head that rules. The latter is more often by percentage.

But this example taught me truly how to look at a situation. Since this incident somehow i have always been able to see the advantage in any given situation. In retrospect this is the best thing that ever happened to me.

Thanks for the comments.
regards
Avinash

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B S Keshav posted 2 mnths ago

Terrific!
Loved the whole thing...
Every situation definitely has a solution... all you need is a different perspective.

I was afraid they would ask you, "If you are so brilliant, why didn't you read the title of the paper?" :-) But then, a student keyed up to tackle an exam with minimal preparation can be excused if he goes straight to the questions.

cheers,

Keshav

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Avinashjee posted 2 mnths ago

Thanks for the kind words Thomas.
Avinash

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Avinashjee posted 2 mnths ago

Hi Prachi,
Sorry for the delayed response.
I am happy that you found this useful. Will write more - promise.
Avinash

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Avinashjee posted 2 mnths ago

Hi Usha,
Sorry for my delayed response to your comment.
Thinking on your feet is important and difficult. The blood circulation to the brain is going against gravity when you are standing! It seems there is more to the phrase "sleep over the problem" than what is made out. If you lie down, blood reaches your brain more easily and so you can think better!
Regards
Avinash

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Avinashjee posted 2 mnths ago

Hi Ashu,
Good to see you in my drawing room.
It does most definitely happen like this. Do try.
Thanks
Avinash

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Avinashjee posted 2 mnths ago

Ranjini,
Even that has happened with me - wrong schedule copied over the phone. However that did not make me sweat because I was very easy with the subject for which i did not prepare.
Thanks for the comments.
Avinash

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Aditi Ray posted 2 mnths ago

Hi Avinash,

I noted with wonder the pragmatic approach in your choice of paper (industrial rather than clinical) because of the ultimate target that you had at that stage... topping the class... which was much more forceful than your love for the subject per se...very focussed... [not very sure if I could have made a similar choice with head rather than heart... ... ], kudos for the presence of mind that you showed in the exam hall.. that was brilliant.

Aditi

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