"Whose answer paper is this? There is no roll number written on it! Did anyone miss writing their roll number? It belongs to the C division..."
Hearing this, I got up from the last bench of the left side rows of benches of our classroom and walked slowly to the dais where Anuradha Madam,our Science teacher, was standing with my answer paper.
My seating place in the class was the last bench (am not able to recollect why I was made to sit there,maybe I was too tall! :) or maybe I joined the school late and that was the only place left for me to occupy). Added to this, my place was next to the window and I could see some public life out of it and I rarely concentrated in the class, but I used to listen English and Social-Science , the reason being I liked the teachers who taught them.
General Science was the most hated, as Anuradha Madam was considered strict and I felt like Science was not my cup of tea, reading about how a wind mill works, how a cycle repairer checks a puncture in the tube, and other basic physics stuff.. huh!! this little mind perceived that as rocket science and never bothered to take it to the head much! :)
Back to the scene, I took the paper from her hand and apologized for forgetting to write my roll number, and then I wrote my number and gave her back checking my marks, they were awful..! I had got 6 out of 25 in the second unit test of Class 5 General Science subject.
I walked to my place feeling humiliated with my shoulders drooped and my head held low, that was the first time I had ever failed in an exam to my remembrance. It was more painful as I forgot to mention my roll number and whole of the class got to know my marks. The red underline that will be made in the progress report was before my eyes! I was hurt that day, didn't talk to anyone, was silent in the rickshaw back home, don't remember the rest of the day :)
Soon the month's progress cards were issued, the first to get the card will be the one who scored less or failed in most number of subjects, there were few under performers than me, it was my turn now, I received the card and went back to my place, checked the card, yes there it was , the second column for General Science was written as 24/100, highlighted with an under-line marked in red and 'Fail' in the result column.
My parents were too good for me, they dint scold me for failing in the exam rather they asked me to do well in the coming exams.
Being failed for the first time, I was determined now to perform in the further tests, and I actually did it, though I was not in the rankers list.
But still, I was the average boy!! and I managed to sneak a rank by the end of class 5 unit tests and it was rank IX (9).
Its fun getting on the lane of reminiscence and thinking how much life has changed, the priorities associated, the goals to be achieved, the modes of fun, the situations of high complexities..
This particular '6/25' incident helped me restructure my way, perform well, and as the old adage goes 'failures are the stepping stones', I consider it as one of those stepping stones, and that doesn't mean that I am successful right now, still a long way ahead and many stepping stones to cross, and stacking up some little incidents like this :)
