The Prank Which Went Too Far
Yesterday I was watching MTV Bakra, which reminded me of a funny incident which happened a long time ago. There are some pranks which are unusual and some pranksters who are even more unusual. This post is about one such prank and prankster.
I was in X standard, so it was time for our first board examination. Ours was the ICSE board, which along with my school is very particular about English Language paper. Already, at that time the passing percentage in any subject at my school was 60, and when it was Eng. Lang., teachers were very strict in marking. And when it was Comparatives, the situation was much more tougher.
Comparatives were our pre-board exams. One was six months before the boards, the other was three months before. Every thing from paper setting, examination process, to marking was akin to boards. We had to go to a different center to take exams, the invigilators use to from outside, the paper checking was be done by the teachers from other branches(our school has 20 branches in Lucknow at the last count) and the result was announced as a combined for all the branches. Some reckoned, it was tougher than even boards. A good performance here was a perfect morale booster. The major hurdle was English language paper, the Mt Everest.
We were a group of four( Hemant, Amit, Abhinandan and myself) who used to sit together. Our first Comparative was about to begin and we all were nervous. Just a day before the first paper, English Language, Amit announced that he had come to know about the topic of Composition(similar to essay) for the paper . Composition was the key in this paper. It used to be about 40 marks. A score above 20 was princely while most used to get below 15. If the Composition went good, chances of securing 60 over all were bright.
But there was a catch. Hemu and Abhi were delighted but I wasn't because Amit was a big prankster. He had played many a prank on us and we had felled for them. I was sure that this was his one of those pranks, but the other two guys could not see it. Once again, he looked so believable. The topic he told was - " As I was walking down the road...." . We had to write a story after that.
Both of them swung into action. They wasted 3 hours writing a story each , went to our English Language teacher for getting it checked. They didn't tell about the paper-out stuff but got the essay checked for corrections and mistakes. When they were sure that the essay is as close to perfect, they returned home and mugged it. I knew this was the prank which had gone too far. I was pretty sure that the day after was not going to be good for Amit as Hemu and Abhi will be up his throat . It didn't went good for Amit but for different reason.
When the paper was presented to me next day, to my utter shock, one of the topics of the Composition was to write a story after " As I was walking down the road...." . I couldn't believe it. This time it was for the real ! I cursed myself for not believing Amit . I could see the happy faces of Hemant and Abhinandan while writing the paper. I expected the same countenance on Amit's face but he looked very strange. Neither smiley, nor weepy. The real story unfolded two hours late.
That was a prank no doubt. But the amazing part was that it turned out to be true. Amit, himself had done no preparation for the essay as he had lied and that explained his sheepish expression during the paper. Needless to say, the only two persons who passed in English Language were Hemant Kumar Upadhyay and Abhinandan Jain. This is nothing to take away from both of them because they were brilliant students even otherwise .Later that year both were the toppers from our school in ICSE.
Amit, the prankster and myself, the skeptic had failed in the paper of Eng. Lang. in the Comparatives. Captain Amit Kumar Srivastava is still the same old pranksar. I pity his Indian Army colleagues.
I was in X standard, so it was time for our first board examination. Ours was the ICSE board, which along with my school is very particular about English Language paper. Already, at that time the passing percentage in any subject at my school was 60, and when it was Eng. Lang., teachers were very strict in marking. And when it was Comparatives, the situation was much more tougher.
Comparatives were our pre-board exams. One was six months before the boards, the other was three months before. Every thing from paper setting, examination process, to marking was akin to boards. We had to go to a different center to take exams, the invigilators use to from outside, the paper checking was be done by the teachers from other branches(our school has 20 branches in Lucknow at the last count) and the result was announced as a combined for all the branches. Some reckoned, it was tougher than even boards. A good performance here was a perfect morale booster. The major hurdle was English language paper, the Mt Everest.
We were a group of four( Hemant, Amit, Abhinandan and myself) who used to sit together. Our first Comparative was about to begin and we all were nervous. Just a day before the first paper, English Language, Amit announced that he had come to know about the topic of Composition(similar to essay) for the paper . Composition was the key in this paper. It used to be about 40 marks. A score above 20 was princely while most used to get below 15. If the Composition went good, chances of securing 60 over all were bright.
But there was a catch. Hemu and Abhi were delighted but I wasn't because Amit was a big prankster. He had played many a prank on us and we had felled for them. I was sure that this was his one of those pranks, but the other two guys could not see it. Once again, he looked so believable. The topic he told was - " As I was walking down the road...." . We had to write a story after that.
Both of them swung into action. They wasted 3 hours writing a story each , went to our English Language teacher for getting it checked. They didn't tell about the paper-out stuff but got the essay checked for corrections and mistakes. When they were sure that the essay is as close to perfect, they returned home and mugged it. I knew this was the prank which had gone too far. I was pretty sure that the day after was not going to be good for Amit as Hemu and Abhi will be up his throat . It didn't went good for Amit but for different reason.
When the paper was presented to me next day, to my utter shock, one of the topics of the Composition was to write a story after " As I was walking down the road...." . I couldn't believe it. This time it was for the real ! I cursed myself for not believing Amit . I could see the happy faces of Hemant and Abhinandan while writing the paper. I expected the same countenance on Amit's face but he looked very strange. Neither smiley, nor weepy. The real story unfolded two hours late.
That was a prank no doubt. But the amazing part was that it turned out to be true. Amit, himself had done no preparation for the essay as he had lied and that explained his sheepish expression during the paper. Needless to say, the only two persons who passed in English Language were Hemant Kumar Upadhyay and Abhinandan Jain. This is nothing to take away from both of them because they were brilliant students even otherwise .Later that year both were the toppers from our school in ICSE.
Amit, the prankster and myself, the skeptic had failed in the paper of Eng. Lang. in the Comparatives. Captain Amit Kumar Srivastava is still the same old pranksar. I pity his Indian Army colleagues.
posted by Unknown at 10:26 AM
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