10th standard

Once I moved to 10th standard, every body had the same question to ask me "What will you do after this? Which college will you join? Will you take PCMB??", Gawd!! How I hated those questions!! especially when it came from nosy family friends/relatives whose sons or daughters had scaled through II PUC with flying colors and were in the midst of engineering or medicine.Bah! people never learn!

The pressure to perform well was always there throughout the year. I had a bunch of easy going friends Uma, Parimala and Vasu, and all we discussed was which actor was dating whom, which movie was releasing when, where to shop for good shoes and outfits. My dad and mom like any parents were keen on me doing well in my finals. So I was packed off for tuitions. The tuition class was taught by one Mr. Kaduru Ramaswamy. He was an excellent teacher, very principled and very strict. I would wake up at 6 a.m and my dad used to drop me every day to the tuition class. I used to suffer from a bad case of wheezhing and asthma like attacks during the months of July through September so it was quite a challenge waking up early in the morning,especially when you have spent the previous night gasping for breath and used endless puffs from the nebulizer.

Tuitions were fun, as Ramaswamy sir used to make the lessons very interesting and he used to share some of his experiences at Marimallappa high school - Mysore where he had taught for more than 20 years. I used to be really worried and nervous when he would start asking questions during Maths tuition. I was scared of not being able to answer his questions. There were a bunch of mean girls too let me call them G, AP, K and other carmel convent snooty brats. They used to laugh at my prowess (lack of it) in Maths and make faces. I would be very embarrassed and would cry sometimes. A sweet girl called Sandhya Reddy who used to sit next to me would comfort me. She had failed the previous year and was repeating her 10th. There was another nice girl called Suma Panicker who was very helpful and would offer me tips on solving Mathematical problems.

Ramaswamy sir took special interest in students who were weak in studies, they were supposed to stay back for an additional 30 mins to interact with him and work on previous year's question papers. As you guessed, I was in that group too. Initially I would be ashamed when I saw all the other students scamper away after the class ended and I had to stay back . Eventually I realized that this was for my own good and decided to make the best use of the extra time.

As usual I had managed to obtain passing marks in Maths all throughout the year. It was time for me to take preparatory exams. I did very well in all other subjects, however, got 24 out of 100 in Maths. Now I was really worried, the final exams were in a month's time, here I was with a 24 out of 100! I realized that I would surely fail in my finals and would have to commit suicide unable to bear the embarrassment! Now when I ponder about my past, I think I was really stupid and immature to come up with such thoughts. I guess age makes you more mature and wise :)