quizzes

Around 1:15 PM every day, the class suddenly gets all tense. One of our scouts goes out every 5 minutes for information, for information can truly win the battle. Suddenly the scout returns breathless and slips into the class whispering, Quiz @ 3.
Quiz! the dreaded word hits us. Some of us groan, the thought of yet another afternoon nap lost made worse by the event of a quiz. Some of us turn ashen, as we realize procrastination has led us to a point where we know neither head nor tail of the syllabus. Some murmur among themselves, the elite few who have ghisaofied for the test and are ready to smash all existing records

5 mins before 3, there are a bunch of students standing outside the hall. There are different types-- - guys like Sandesh(Rip Van Winkle of our class) and Rakesh(photographer) who stand relaxed, content in the knowledge that they will ace the test and get out of the claustrophobic atmosphere of the classroom within 10 minutes. There are the nervous many, clutching books and notes in their hands and trying to make sense of feverish squiggles made while we were sleeping in the classes. Finally we have the Sapta Rishis(the 7 knowledgeable seers ) to whom we turn to for advice/ help when we dont understand stuff( The Saptha Rishis of our batch include Debasish, Vaibhav, Chinmay, Pratik, Ankur, Nikhil Gidra and Bhavin)

The quiz is invetably a collection of highly mysterious Greek and Latin phrases and concepts which we have to translate into Etruscan and match against the available answers. Usually all four options seem totally correct or totally wrong. Once in a rare while , simple questions seem to turn up and we spend more time wondering where the twist is.

At the end of the quiz, the remaining few trudge out and swear to work harder next time and walk down to the canteen. By the time we have descended the stairway to knowledge, we have already forgotten the quiz .