A Valuable Lesson!

Bang on the first day of September, I got a nasty blow which shook me from head to toe!

“Well done Sakshi! You have again received the highest marks – 22 out of 25.  ” Mrs. Bandi said, who was handing out the corrected answer-sheets of the Accounts  test which she had taken last week.

“Pratishtha, 18 out of 25 and Sonal, 17 and a half out of 25” she said , handing out their corrected sheets and smiling at them, “Not bad at all! I can see both you girls are putting good effort at the subject now.”

I was sitting at the far end of the desk and now, hearing the marks my friends had achieved at the test, my eyes lowered and I slunk further in my chair thinking of my soon-to be announced marks.

 Okay, so I was not really working as hard in accounts as my friends were.  The only time I half-heartedly  practised it, was during 45- minute single free-period everyday which my three friends had jointly alloted to the subject so that we could study it together and help each other. The three of them had also vowed to give Accounts two hours at home everyday without any break as it was the most tricky and scoring of all the other subjects. I knew that it was high time I tackled the bull by horns and start working on it seriously but till now I had not paid much attention to warnings by Mrs. Bandi or my Mom or my friends.

“ How bad can it be!” I thought everytime I heard the reproaches, “Board exams are still far far away and there are theoritical questions in exams too. I am good at theory, am I not? I can always scrape good marks in them. So there’s pleeeeenty of time to work on the practical portion!”

But now, as Mrs. Bandi was soon going to announce my marks for this test, I didn’t feel so sure of myself and my heart was beating thunderously against my chest . The devil who had been feeding me excuses to lay off studieng, had long since vanished from my shoulder.

“Fine!” , I thought to myself, “So what if Pratishtha and Sonal have done well ? I would have managed at least 8 out of 25, which is the passing mark.”

“Mallika!” Mrs Bandi said, turning to look at me with narrowed eyes and a disappointing frown on her otherwise ever-smiling face, “Can you guess how many marks have you scored?

“No ma’am!” I said in a meek voice, hardly daring to look up at her.

“You have received 6 and a half out of 25,” she said, “and I have not been strict in marking this time. Any other examiner would have hardly given you three.”

Sakshi, Sonal and Pratishtha stopped scrutinising their answer sheets to look sideways at me.

Mrs. Bandi shook her head and wordlessly slided my answer-sheet towards me.

My copy was full of  large ‘cross’ signs in red ink which Mrs. Bandi had scrawled right on top of my each attempted answer.  I had not got a single answer correct as they had all been practical ones. It seemed that Mrs. Bandi  had taken pity at me and given me a few marks for the primary steps of each question. My vision became obscured as tears filled my eyes.

I need signatures from your parents on these by tommorow .” she said ,turning her head towards her other three students “I need to submit these in Mrs. Bhan’s office to show the progress you all are making. All teachers have been asked to do this for their respective subjects.” 

My  mother’s smiling face swam in front of my eyes and immediately, tears began to slide down my cheeks.

“Come on!” Mrs Bandi said, opening her copy of the accounts text-book “We are going to start ‘Depreciation’ today.”

As I began slowly hiccuping, I could sense from the corner of my eye that Pratishtha was the first one to notice me crying . She gestured to the other two, each of whom glanced in my direction to look at me. 

As Mrs Bandi finally followed their gaze and saw me crying, she stood up from her chair and came to stand in front of me.

“What use is there in crying now Mallika!” she said, her voice stern and disapproving, “I have been repeatedly telling you to start taking Accounts seriously and you have been ignoring my warnings. You have a long way to catch up with your friends. Look how hard Sonal and Pratishtha are working and they have really improved a lot by practising seriously. You are the only one who has not made a single effort to improve. I am giving you a final warning now. If you don’t start taking your studies seriously soon, it will be difficult for you to pass the Board exams. Now go, wash you face and come!” saying this she turned to the black board and began to write the heading of the new chapter on it with chalk.

I slowly got up and stepped out of the class-room. I had always known in my heart that I should have started taking Accounts seriously since the beginning of the session. I had avoided everybody’s warnings and I knew that I deserved all that had happened with me in the class today. I turned on the tap in the washroom and splashed cold water on my face. The only thought which was going on in my mind was  “I wish I had listened to everyone” .

After wiping my face, I slowly made my way towards the class-room. Mrs. Bandi was dictating the definition of Depreciation and Sonal, Sakshi and Pratishtha were noting it down in their notebooks. They all briefly glanced at me as I entered the room and silently, continued working. It seemed as if I was not even present in the room.

“I deserve it!” I thought to myself as I took out my notebook from my bag and began to write.


 “Your nose is red!! You have been crying Rudolph” Venky said, coming to sit besides me on the long bench, “What happened?”.

 We were in the dining room and it was lunch time.  After the Accounts period, I had kept to myself and my three friends, probably at a loss to say anything had said nothing to me since I had cried. It had been painful to listen to them excitedly discuss their good marks and the test questions with each other as we had walked out of the  class and  I had quietly walked behind them hugging my books to my chest, my head lowered  and struggling not to cry again. 

Todays lunch was probably one of Captain Shekhawat’s best creations! Students were happily devouring hot, small tringular ‘methi ke parathe’ with bowls of steaming  potato and peas curry.
But I could hardly make myself touch my food and I kept on chanting in my mind “I deserve it! I deserve it all!”.   

“Nothing!” I replied, turning my face in the other direction.

“That’s not true!” Sonal said , coming to sit on my other side and setting down her plate of food near mine. Putting an arm over my shoulder, she said to Venky, “She has not fared well at the Accounts test and she has been crying her eyes out since last 2 classes.

“Thankyou!” I muttered sarcastically as Sakshi and Pratishtha arrived with their plates and sat right across the table to face me.

“Whhhaaat??” I yelled moodily at all of them, wanting them to just leave me alone.

“You have cried enough!” Sakshi replied crossly in the same level of volume as mine, “ I think its good that you have got this lesson today. It’s time you start giving our Board studies some serious hard work.”

They all nodded and as I continued sulking, Pratishtha stood up and gave me a whack on the head across the broad dining table.

“Enough Maalu!” she said, frowning fiercely “You will do well in the next test if you are really feeling so bad! Apologise to Aunty and Mrs. Bandi and promise that you will start studieng very very hard from now on. You are good in all the theoritical subjects. If you pull up your socks in Accounts in time, you can fare quite well.”

“She has had a bad day!” Sonal said softly, stroking my head. “It will be fine Maalu. Don’t worry!”

Comforting words from my friends lightened my mood instantly and I nodded and smiled gratefully at them.

“Its okay yaar!” Venky said, patting my head, “If you score well in half-yearly exams in December, nobody will even remember these tests. I have same plight in Physics.”

I resolved inwardly to start working very hard from that day on itself and vowed to promise the same to Mom in the evening.

“Errr…. Maalu!!” Avtar ,who was sitting near Sakshi, said, standing on his place and leaning towards me across the table.

“Such thoughtful friends I have !” I thought. Surely Avtar must have heard everything and was wanting to offer his consolance. I leaned towards him with a smile to listen to his supportive advise….

“If you are not eating your methi parathas, may I have them? There are none left anywhere else on our table!” he asked, grinning sheepishly.