My board examination marks have been such a disappointment for my parents: I only got 64 per cent. My parents thought I would score more; they always push me, thinking it’ll help me get better grades or marks.
My whole life I’ve been that kid who is not bright enough, the one with the learning disability, the one who gets picked last in sports, or anything else for that matter. And I got to say it really sucks. Even now I’m using autocorrect.
Yes, I can’t speak fluent English. And schools these days always pick the ones who are good. They always teach the bright ones more, not giving the same opportunities to kids like me, not teaching us much. They are afraid that if we lose in the examination that’ll ruin the school’s reputation. So they pick the nerds and they get trained and trained. That just makes them more intelligent and kids like me more dumb. Seriously, there will be equality the day a teacher picks a below-average kid for something. That’s the day the whole school system will change, letting us learn, teaching us more.
So my results came out at 11-30 a.m., and I got a billion messages from random people. They all send the same message: “Dude how much?” Even people who I had not spoken to for years messaged me asking for my marks. When I said I got 64 per cent, the first reaction was, OMG! What did your parents say? Even a Class 6 kid messaged me on Facebook: he wanted to know how much I had got. Relatives and family friends, everyone was calling my parents. And they all want to know my marks. Even our plumber called my father. None of them ever care to wish me on my birthday, but they all want to know my marks. Some of those people don’t even know my name, for heaven’s sake.
And then there are the other parents bragging about their kids who got 90 and 98 per cent. And every Class 10 and Class 12 student is posting his or her marks on Facebook. Everyone is updating their status saying they got a 90 or 95 per cent.
Seriously, people, why do you want to know all this?
And, yes of course, my parents are mad with me, and very embarrassed. But will you please stop comparing me with my older sister, that other daughter who makes you so proud?
I would say that asking a student for his or her marks is like asking a woman her age or a man his salary.
(The author has just passed out of a school on the outskirts of Chennai, that offers the ICSE stream. E-mail: creya.sathi@gmail.com)
