I’m sure if my friends are reading this, they’ll say… “Waah… kya story hai….!!!!!!!!” Absolutely unreal :) So lets get started with the real story.
With lots of effort, trying to hold back my tears, I asked my HOD “For how many days??”
He replied without any expression on his face “Indefinitely… You are suspended indefinitely”.
I don’t remember if my heart was functioning at that moment, but I was sure that my brain wasn't and only my tear glands were :)
Have you ever seen school kids standing in front of the principal’s office the whole day as a punishment??? :) I did the same, not in school, but in engineering final year. Though that was not the punishment, it was a hope that looking at our innocent faces he may say… “Jao baksh diya (Go you are forgiven)”
Let me start my version of the most embarrassing day in my life.
It was 4th internal of my last subject (PC based Instrumentation). Not at all a tough exam, with no text books or any reference, there was nothing my HOD could compare our answers with. All we knew is what he knew and all he knew is what we knew. As usual I was studying till the last minute and by the time i entered the classroom, the objective papers were already distributed. 5mins out of 20 were already lost in looking out for a pen and I could not think of losing any more time in looking for my seat.
Adding more tension to my life, someone who wrote their internal horribly the previous day showed their anger on the seating arrangement sheet. Trying not to forget the answers, I tried to remember the bench in which I sat the previous day. Somehow I could locate the part of the room where I sat the previous day but could not find the correct bench. With lots of confusion if it was the 2nd bench or the 3rd bench, I opted the 3rd one.
The amazing part is that none of my nearby roll numbers had come to the exam hall. :(
"Haila.... koi toh aa jao... aur mujhe batao...mera seat kaunsa hai??? (Haila... Someone please come... and tell me which seat is mine???)"
My strong feeling said “Where you sit is not important, how you write the paper is important”
I started with my objective paper, successfully finished it and started with my subjective paper. As there was no text book for this subject, the answers were not really big. I could easily write all the 4 answers within time, though only 2 were compulsory.
Just 5mins after the subjective paper was given all the other roll numbers before me and after me came to the exam hall. As the objective paper time was up, they were not given the objective papers and were made to sit idle for the next 20 mins with the subjective papers.
Looking at few faces I could say what was going on in their mind
“arey yaar…. Objective paper mein atleast a,b,c,d option daal ke 20 mein se 10 marks toh laa lete the… abhi is subjective paper mein question ke alaava kuch nahi likh sakhthe.... Idhar aana he waste ho gaya” (Boss... atleast in objective paper we would have chosen a,b,c,d randomly and gained atleast 10 out of 20 marks .... but now in this subjective paper we know nothing other than the question itself... coming to exam itself was totally waste)
As usual the invigilator started taking attendance, and she came to know that we were not seated in an order. My bad time had started long back… I could feel that, but the feeling that exam is important than seating arrangement was dominating the other feelings.
I had completed 2 answers and was writing the 3rd one, when she came to my desk and asked me my name and roll number, scribbled something and went back to her place silently. I was not at all interested in what she was doing. I finished all my 4 questions and came out happily, if not objective paper, at least subjective paper I’ll get 20.
By the time I came out of the class room, bad time had left long back, now it was the worst time.
I happily had my lunch, went to library and was returning from the library when we happened to pass from the EIE staff room. HOD called me in and asked me in a very casual way
“How was your internal? what happened today?”
I was wondering… “Haila.....what happened? Did I write my answers so bad… he is so shocked looking at my answers that he is asking me the same day. Can't even wait till he distributes the papers in the classroom!!!"
I said, “It was good. I wrote all the answers. They were all expected ones”
“No what else happened while writing the exam?” he asked.
I was still taking it very light… “Oh!!! That thing… The invigilator said that we were sitting in the wrong places. That’s it!!!!!!!!”
RR sir gave a weird smile… “Your invigilator complained to the principal, that 7 of you were sitting together and were copying”
I was still with my over confidence that everyone in this college knows that I am a very innocent and studious girl and these people were just trying to scare me, so i gave a smile and said “ Oh!!! Is it….??? But we did not copy at all!!”
My HOD in his as usual calm style said “Your answer sheets are in the principal’s office and you’ll have to meet him at 2 O clock. Its a big issue”.
The next moment I knew, I was in deep trouble. I silently went to the class and told this to all my friends… They told to their others friends and other friends told their other friends. This way the whole class came to know and also the other 6 guys who were accused of copying like I was.
It was 2 O Clock, while entering princi's office I could listen my mind saying “Santoshi haazir ho!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”
All the guys were standing behind me and I was standing beside my HOD. The room was absolutely dark like a jail's interrogation room.
“So you people copied. You want to tell anything???” He said trying to look angry.
I started… “Sir actually I was late to the exam hall, the seating arrangement sheet was not …” Before I could complete my sentence… “Why were you late to the exam??”
My second track said “Is that important now???? What a fool!!!!!!!!! There can be 'n' reasons for me to be late....”
I said, “Sir but we did not copy. You can check our answer sheets”
“You need not tell me what to do. I know everything” he replied.
Somehow one of the guy behind me took lots of courage and said, “Sir, How can you tell that we copied… Look at my paper, I came 20 mins late to the exam hall, so I was not given the objective paper and you can check my subjective paper, it’s absolutely empty"
Another guy added to it.. “yes sir.. have a look at our papers”
In my second track, I was smiling… “what does this idiot princi think?? We copied neatness from each other??? But he couldn't say that to me… My paper was not neat unlike the other answer sheets. With lots of effort I had written the optional questions too”
Problems had already risen till our neck and we got completely drowned in to problems when princi came to know that the 6th guy was missing. He had left the campus after the internal.
My mind said... "Lucky Guy!!!!!!!!! We are facing all the tensions and he doesn't even know that he is accused of copying and is going to be suspended”
Princi didn't move from his position .. “I think he was thinking, If he had hair on his head, he wuld have scratched it, then I wuld be sure that he was thinking..because you can making nothing out of his face expressions” he then said… “You can leave.”
That's it. We came out and then…waited for our HOD to come out. The whole class was present in front of Princi’s offce. We narrated the story to every gang of our class.
Our HOD came out. One can never find out the answers from his face, He is always calm and quiet. No change of expression on his face. :) We had to wait till he narrated everything.
He said….”You are suspended.. You cannot attend any classes. ”
I asked …“For how many days??”
He replied “Indefinitely… You are indefinitely suspended”.
With tears rolling down my cheeks I couldn't speak. Within no time a student’s association type of thing formed in our class and everyone said “If they are not attending classes… then no one is attending classes”. We are at strike.
Discussion on whether to start a strike or not went on for an hour. It was 3PM by then. My HOD somehow convinced everyone saying “Don’t make the situation worse… I’ll try to solve it. Everyone go to class and wait”
I had no hopes, my HOD can never solve it..he was a simple straightforward person. But I knew, that atleast in EIE department all the lecturer's believe that we did not copy. They even knew, princi only wanted to hype this issue so that students don’t copy. We were the guinea pigs.
5 guys and I stood for the next three hours in front of princi’s office. The college bell rang and every one came out staring at us...wondering why we were standing there... making guesses. The embarrassment which we 6 people went through was inestimable. Well, this was the end of problem for all the guys, but there was a twist waiting for me.
Princi didn’t like it when we stood all the time in front of his office without saying a word. He couldn't just sit quiet, he wanted make it look more ugly and he did the worst thing a person can do :)
Phone rang at my home!!!! My mom picked up…
“I am Santoshi’s principle speaking. Your daughter was sitting with 6 other boys in the class and copying. We have suspended her from the college.”
My mom got tensed….She called me up… My mobile was switched of. She called back Princi “where is my daughter??? I wanna talk to her… Ask her to call me up”
I was silently sitting in my bus when the peon came and said, “principal wants to talk to you”
I was thinking….“Abhi insult karna baaki hai kya?? (Is he not yet done Insulting me???) Should I be standing in front of his office the whole night???”
I went directly into his office, he said “Your mother called up. She wants to talk to you”
I said, “Ok. I’ll call her up,” and I turned back to leave.
“”, Pointing to his desk phone he said “Call up from here”
My mom said “Come back home directly and don’t cry and give the phone to your principal”
She couldn't control her anger….”What nonsense is this??? If you think she copied, make her sit beside you and give her the toughest question paper. You’ll come to know she need not copy to pass the exam and I know she is not the type of girl who roams with boys” (I couldn't hear my mom say this but after coming home my mom told me, so I know )
I could see the change on his face. He had no answer!!! “Look maam, her invigilator reported and I took action. I can't do anything” he said
Then he put down the phone and said, “Why did you sit in the wrong seat if didn't wanna copy?”
I replied, “I was late.. I didn't even know I was sitting at the wrong place. You gimme another paper now, I’ll write it very much in front of you. Then atleast you’ll believe that I didn’t copy.”
The worse had already happened, so I didn't think before telling him anything. He gave a weird expression and I knew it was time for me to leave. I left his office and directly went home.
Next day I went to college as usual. All my friends said, “Forget it now… Come and sit in the class”. When I looked at my HOD he said, “No, don’t go against him and make him angry”
All the classes were going on and I was sitting idle in front of princi's office. Only one hour was left for lunch, when my HOD came and said, “Your work is done, All of you have to do is write a letter that you’ll not copy again and give it to the principal. Then you can attend your classes.”
"What a relief!!!!!!!!!"
But not so early... there was a small twist again!!!!
The guys said, “No!!!!! Why should we accept that we copied when we did not copy at all???”
I didn't support the guys. To come out of this embarrassing situation, I was ready to accept that I have copied from childhood till now. Standing in front of principal’s office like an 8 year old kid, at the age of 20 was heights of embarrassment and why do I have to fear when I know that I am not wrong and the world can put me to test and they will know the truth.
Somehow our lecturers convinced everyone and we wrote a letter, signed it and submitted it to the principal. I donno what did he get with all this nonsense, but I didn't think of that again. I was back to normal. No one picked that point again ever.
The moment princi said "you can attend your classes" I ran towards the temporary classroom where Operating Systems class was going on while every one decided that they’ll start attending classes after lunch. I excused my OS sir to enter the room. Everyone's face in my class brightened up and my always confused looking OS sir was looking less confused and more happy to find me back in his class, so that he can look at me after every 5mins, give me a sweet smile and read my face expression to find out if I was understanding what he was explaining or not :)
That's how the most embarrassing situation in my life ended. None of my friends brought up that topic again but I was happy because now I clearly knew who were my true friends and who was faking all the time.
This whole experience taught me some two things :
1) Never expect people to help you when you are trouble.
2) In the exam hall, where you sit is more important than what you write in your paper.
With lots of effort, trying to hold back my tears, I asked my HOD “For how many days??”
He replied without any expression on his face “Indefinitely… You are suspended indefinitely”.
I don’t remember if my heart was functioning at that moment, but I was sure that my brain wasn't and only my tear glands were :)
Have you ever seen school kids standing in front of the principal’s office the whole day as a punishment??? :) I did the same, not in school, but in engineering final year. Though that was not the punishment, it was a hope that looking at our innocent faces he may say… “Jao baksh diya (Go you are forgiven)”
Let me start my version of the most embarrassing day in my life.
It was 4th internal of my last subject (PC based Instrumentation). Not at all a tough exam, with no text books or any reference, there was nothing my HOD could compare our answers with. All we knew is what he knew and all he knew is what we knew. As usual I was studying till the last minute and by the time i entered the classroom, the objective papers were already distributed. 5mins out of 20 were already lost in looking out for a pen and I could not think of losing any more time in looking for my seat.
Adding more tension to my life, someone who wrote their internal horribly the previous day showed their anger on the seating arrangement sheet. Trying not to forget the answers, I tried to remember the bench in which I sat the previous day. Somehow I could locate the part of the room where I sat the previous day but could not find the correct bench. With lots of confusion if it was the 2nd bench or the 3rd bench, I opted the 3rd one.
The amazing part is that none of my nearby roll numbers had come to the exam hall. :(
"Haila.... koi toh aa jao... aur mujhe batao...mera seat kaunsa hai??? (Haila... Someone please come... and tell me which seat is mine???)"
My strong feeling said “Where you sit is not important, how you write the paper is important”
I started with my objective paper, successfully finished it and started with my subjective paper. As there was no text book for this subject, the answers were not really big. I could easily write all the 4 answers within time, though only 2 were compulsory.
Just 5mins after the subjective paper was given all the other roll numbers before me and after me came to the exam hall. As the objective paper time was up, they were not given the objective papers and were made to sit idle for the next 20 mins with the subjective papers.
Looking at few faces I could say what was going on in their mind
“arey yaar…. Objective paper mein atleast a,b,c,d option daal ke 20 mein se 10 marks toh laa lete the… abhi is subjective paper mein question ke alaava kuch nahi likh sakhthe.... Idhar aana he waste ho gaya” (Boss... atleast in objective paper we would have chosen a,b,c,d randomly and gained atleast 10 out of 20 marks .... but now in this subjective paper we know nothing other than the question itself... coming to exam itself was totally waste)
As usual the invigilator started taking attendance, and she came to know that we were not seated in an order. My bad time had started long back… I could feel that, but the feeling that exam is important than seating arrangement was dominating the other feelings.
I had completed 2 answers and was writing the 3rd one, when she came to my desk and asked me my name and roll number, scribbled something and went back to her place silently. I was not at all interested in what she was doing. I finished all my 4 questions and came out happily, if not objective paper, at least subjective paper I’ll get 20.
By the time I came out of the class room, bad time had left long back, now it was the worst time.
I happily had my lunch, went to library and was returning from the library when we happened to pass from the EIE staff room. HOD called me in and asked me in a very casual way
“How was your internal? what happened today?”
I was wondering… “Haila.....what happened? Did I write my answers so bad… he is so shocked looking at my answers that he is asking me the same day. Can't even wait till he distributes the papers in the classroom!!!"
I said, “It was good. I wrote all the answers. They were all expected ones”
“No what else happened while writing the exam?” he asked.
I was still taking it very light… “Oh!!! That thing… The invigilator said that we were sitting in the wrong places. That’s it!!!!!!!!”
RR sir gave a weird smile… “Your invigilator complained to the principal, that 7 of you were sitting together and were copying”
I was still with my over confidence that everyone in this college knows that I am a very innocent and studious girl and these people were just trying to scare me, so i gave a smile and said “ Oh!!! Is it….??? But we did not copy at all!!”
My HOD in his as usual calm style said “Your answer sheets are in the principal’s office and you’ll have to meet him at 2 O clock. Its a big issue”.
The next moment I knew, I was in deep trouble. I silently went to the class and told this to all my friends… They told to their others friends and other friends told their other friends. This way the whole class came to know and also the other 6 guys who were accused of copying like I was.
It was 2 O Clock, while entering princi's office I could listen my mind saying “Santoshi haazir ho!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”
All the guys were standing behind me and I was standing beside my HOD. The room was absolutely dark like a jail's interrogation room.
“So you people copied. You want to tell anything???” He said trying to look angry.
I started… “Sir actually I was late to the exam hall, the seating arrangement sheet was not …” Before I could complete my sentence… “Why were you late to the exam??”
My second track said “Is that important now???? What a fool!!!!!!!!! There can be 'n' reasons for me to be late....”
I said, “Sir but we did not copy. You can check our answer sheets”
“You need not tell me what to do. I know everything” he replied.
Somehow one of the guy behind me took lots of courage and said, “Sir, How can you tell that we copied… Look at my paper, I came 20 mins late to the exam hall, so I was not given the objective paper and you can check my subjective paper, it’s absolutely empty"
Another guy added to it.. “yes sir.. have a look at our papers”
In my second track, I was smiling… “what does this idiot princi think?? We copied neatness from each other??? But he couldn't say that to me… My paper was not neat unlike the other answer sheets. With lots of effort I had written the optional questions too”
Problems had already risen till our neck and we got completely drowned in to problems when princi came to know that the 6th guy was missing. He had left the campus after the internal.
My mind said... "Lucky Guy!!!!!!!!! We are facing all the tensions and he doesn't even know that he is accused of copying and is going to be suspended”
Princi didn't move from his position .. “I think he was thinking, If he had hair on his head, he wuld have scratched it, then I wuld be sure that he was thinking..because you can making nothing out of his face expressions” he then said… “You can leave.”
That's it. We came out and then…waited for our HOD to come out. The whole class was present in front of Princi’s offce. We narrated the story to every gang of our class.
Our HOD came out. One can never find out the answers from his face, He is always calm and quiet. No change of expression on his face. :) We had to wait till he narrated everything.
He said….”You are suspended.. You cannot attend any classes. ”
I asked …“For how many days??”
He replied “Indefinitely… You are indefinitely suspended”.
With tears rolling down my cheeks I couldn't speak. Within no time a student’s association type of thing formed in our class and everyone said “If they are not attending classes… then no one is attending classes”. We are at strike.
Discussion on whether to start a strike or not went on for an hour. It was 3PM by then. My HOD somehow convinced everyone saying “Don’t make the situation worse… I’ll try to solve it. Everyone go to class and wait”
I had no hopes, my HOD can never solve it..he was a simple straightforward person. But I knew, that atleast in EIE department all the lecturer's believe that we did not copy. They even knew, princi only wanted to hype this issue so that students don’t copy. We were the guinea pigs.
5 guys and I stood for the next three hours in front of princi’s office. The college bell rang and every one came out staring at us...wondering why we were standing there... making guesses. The embarrassment which we 6 people went through was inestimable. Well, this was the end of problem for all the guys, but there was a twist waiting for me.
Princi didn’t like it when we stood all the time in front of his office without saying a word. He couldn't just sit quiet, he wanted make it look more ugly and he did the worst thing a person can do :)
Phone rang at my home!!!! My mom picked up…
“I am Santoshi’s principle speaking. Your daughter was sitting with 6 other boys in the class and copying. We have suspended her from the college.”
My mom got tensed….She called me up… My mobile was switched of. She called back Princi “where is my daughter??? I wanna talk to her… Ask her to call me up”
I was silently sitting in my bus when the peon came and said, “principal wants to talk to you”
I was thinking….“Abhi insult karna baaki hai kya?? (Is he not yet done Insulting me???) Should I be standing in front of his office the whole night???”
I went directly into his office, he said “Your mother called up. She wants to talk to you”
I said, “Ok. I’ll call her up,” and I turned back to leave.
“
My mom said “Come back home directly and don’t cry and give the phone to your principal”
She couldn't control her anger….”What nonsense is this??? If you think she copied, make her sit beside you and give her the toughest question paper. You’ll come to know she need not copy to pass the exam and I know she is not the type of girl who roams with boys” (I couldn't hear my mom say this but after coming home my mom told me, so I know )
I could see the change on his face. He had no answer!!! “Look maam, her invigilator reported and I took action. I can't do anything” he said
Then he put down the phone and said, “Why did you sit in the wrong seat if didn't wanna copy?”
I replied, “I was late.. I didn't even know I was sitting at the wrong place. You gimme another paper now, I’ll write it very much in front of you. Then atleast you’ll believe that I didn’t copy.”
The worse had already happened, so I didn't think before telling him anything. He gave a weird expression and I knew it was time for me to leave. I left his office and directly went home.
Next day I went to college as usual. All my friends said, “Forget it now… Come and sit in the class”. When I looked at my HOD he said, “No, don’t go against him and make him angry”
All the classes were going on and I was sitting idle in front of princi's office. Only one hour was left for lunch, when my HOD came and said, “Your work is done, All of you have to do is write a letter that you’ll not copy again and give it to the principal. Then you can attend your classes.”
"What a relief!!!!!!!!!"
But not so early... there was a small twist again!!!!
The guys said, “No!!!!! Why should we accept that we copied when we did not copy at all???”
I didn't support the guys. To come out of this embarrassing situation, I was ready to accept that I have copied from childhood till now. Standing in front of principal’s office like an 8 year old kid, at the age of 20 was heights of embarrassment and why do I have to fear when I know that I am not wrong and the world can put me to test and they will know the truth.
Somehow our lecturers convinced everyone and we wrote a letter, signed it and submitted it to the principal. I donno what did he get with all this nonsense, but I didn't think of that again. I was back to normal. No one picked that point again ever.
The moment princi said "you can attend your classes" I ran towards the temporary classroom where Operating Systems class was going on while every one decided that they’ll start attending classes after lunch. I excused my OS sir to enter the room. Everyone's face in my class brightened up and my always confused looking OS sir was looking less confused and more happy to find me back in his class, so that he can look at me after every 5mins, give me a sweet smile and read my face expression to find out if I was understanding what he was explaining or not :)
That's how the most embarrassing situation in my life ended. None of my friends brought up that topic again but I was happy because now I clearly knew who were my true friends and who was faking all the time.
This whole experience taught me some two things :
1) Never expect people to help you when you are trouble.
2) In the exam hall, where you sit is more important than what you write in your paper.
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