The PU Results were out. Three boys had failed. If they had failed in VIP Subjects like Physics or Math, the story would have been accepted by all. But in Languages? Really unbelievable! They have scored over 75% in other Subjects which would fetch them at least a payment quota seat in a private Eng. College. They, in fact were waiting for CET Results eagerly. They were sure of getting a 50 in the languages.
The trio was from reputed families of intellectuals. Ramalingam failed in French, P.V.R.N. Shastry in Sanskrit and Renuka Prasanna in Kannada. If they had cleared them, the College Results would have gone up by 3% and they would have joined some professional courses of their parents’ dream.
The languages had spoiled their precious year. You know when it comes to PUC, who cares for language Marks? Probably, the teacher who taught them! I was worried as Shastry had failed in my Subject adored not for its antiquity, but for its highly scoring syllabus. My record of keeping 100% passes for the last few years had been tattered. I had become a not so good a teacher overnight.
Shastry’s parents were angry at me. His grandfather was a prativadi bhayankara. an authority in Grammar, rather professor emeritus of those days, defeating scholars over intricacies of Sanskrit Grammar. His dad was a scientist, mother a software engineer. How can PVRN Sastry fail? It was a Subject of discussion in the family circles, I was told. His uncle from US had called him whether Sanskrit had boosted his percentage, as it did in his intermediate exams. His aunt from Australia almost fainted that her kin had failed in a stupid subject instead of Science or math. The boy has refused to go for retotalling or revaluation as he had written all the 40+ questions, verbatim with no answer to them.( This was very confidentially revealed to me) No kind soul would award him any marks, he knew his inner truth.
Renuka kept a golden silence. He was just in tears, uncontrollable. His mother, probably a strong lady insisted on getting a photo copy. The father, who was in Gulf, spoke to her over phone, ‘Let your Son learn a lesson of his lifetime, do not encourage such things.’ They were undecided.
They asked the Kannada teacher. She said, ‘when he has no respect to elders, how can he get good marks?’ any way apply for one let us see. She was very sure he would not pass. The teacher knew him from the First year of his course. R. was least interested in taking Kannada as his Language. He preferred French, which he adored, for reasons better known to him and his B. friend Daniel. His maternal grandfather Mallayya is well known for his masterpiece on Kannada Vyakarana. In fact, I studied from the same Book, in my school days. The mother loved Kannada, as it was their Mother Tongue. She had no guesses even that the boy would fail in his own language with such well known family credentials.
Renuka told his mother, ‘Amma, leave me alone’….. the Kannada Teacher always demotivated me. Else, I would have at least passed.’… Like a politician, he said, Do not ask me anymore, he shut her mouth politely.
Ramalingam liked French, struggled hard to speak, but had not answered his orals properly and also some marks-fetching questions for reasons well known to him. His teacher muttered, how can he fail? Such a nice fellow. Probably, if he had answered those worthy questions, he would have got through his French, she opined. Ramalingam was looking dull and deflated. His father was an Ex -Serviceman. He was staring at his son. His body language indicated, come home, let me see…. However, he was ready to apply for a photo copy or revaluation or even seek legal advice in the matter.
All the three are nice fellows according to me. I pitied them. I called PVRN Shastry to my side and told him not to worry and apply for a photo copy. He nodded his head. The mother was not convinced. She asked me how the evaluation this time was. I replied it was very liberal rather, giving maximum marks wherever possible up to 30.Later probably the Examiner looks at spelling errors.. You can apply for a photo copy for your reference and further steps” I told her.
She said, my father never did all this to me. I never scored less than 95 in Sanskrit. Even my husband was a good scorer, more than me. Even now, he remembers shlokas taught by his teacher…She told me if possible, she will personally coach Sanskrit to him for PVRN’s suppli. PVRN was looking at me whether I would give him any important questions to learn. I kept my silence. I did not hate Shastry but was not happy with him the way he took his exams, rather casually.
The next session for II PUC began. Without naming the trio, I sternly warned my students, with of course my sugar quoted words of counseling that all subjects are equally important. All of them seem to agree, most of them with nodding their head. I also added what consequences they have to face for passing the exams in Supplementary appearance. They might not get a seat to study further in a reputed College, so on and so forth. I felt by this I could send them some mild message, I was not sure.
Still a question remains with me. Should all students go for professional courses? No one is interested like me, who changed combinations quite often?
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