my Science Revision Exam

We were a big joint family then.. my dad was the youngest one of all the five brothers.. we were all staying together in a BIG house.. happy times.. Each brother used to have a living-cum-dining-cum-bedroom( a single room) and a kitchen and a bath.. There used to be a common hall where u can always find my pattima.. (now I miss her soo much).. Imagine cousins staying together in a house.. kaathadi, cricket, hide&seek, a rented movie casette in a rented VCR player..It was all fun and fights..

it was 1997.. few cousins finished their UG and started working.. few were in college.. few in school... me and my bro were also schooling.. myself 1oth std and my bro in 7th std..
I never used to be a night owl then.. (though I am becoming one now :-)) .. I used to get up very early in the morning and read..and could even wake up promplty without an alarm.. (now my morning maid rings the grrrrr..grrrr bell a hundred times.. but still it sounds to me like a lullaby..) .. that day I woke up and looked at the clock.. it was 4 o'clock in the morning.. good I thought.. 5 more hours left for my revision exam.. Science.. just 2 more chapters to revise..I knew the book upside down.. coz it was just one month left for the public exam.. closed my eyes for a small prayer and decided to freshen up.. we were in the first floor.. and I have to cross a 20 ft long pathway to reach the bathroom.. ( we used to dry clothes along the pathway) .. the bathrooms were outside (verandah sort- open area with one bathroom for each family) .. half- sleeping, I went and freshened up... I was walking back to our room and when I just crossed the pathway.. I heard a loud THUDDD.. I could hear my cousin's pomeranian bark .. and someone running towards the steps.. I wanted to shout THIEF.. THIEF, but couldn't.. then in sometime ( i thought it was minutes later.. but it was an hour) my mom came and she had the shock of her life.. I was gagged with a cloth in my mouth and I was lying there near our room door.. she shook me hard and took out the cloth from my mouth.. it was then I shouted .. THIEF..THIEF.. almost after an hour.. my earrings and finger ring were missing.. the THIEF had hit me hard on my head and took them away..

I started crying by that time.. all my cousins had woken up and had surrounded me.. they started to console me, but still I didn't stop crying.. I couldn't come out of the shock.. but evryone else had come out of it.. they started guessing who the thief could be .. auto-drivers nearby?? someone from the mansion nearby?? etc etc.. me still sob.. sob.. The robbery was reported at the nearest police station.. a policeman in mufty came to our house and started asking me questions..that made me feel still worse.. I started crying very loudly... those days I've seen policemen only in movies ... even the very sight of a police station in the road makes me close my eyes tightly till I cross the place..

hmm.. it was 9am .. my Science Revision exam started.. but the paper was all wet with tears.. my mam asked me if I was ok.. I said no.. and started shouting 'THIEF.. THIEF'.. she had the shock of her life..

In my 18 years of education (including lkg and ukg), the only exam I ever failed was my tenth standard Science Revision exam.. I didn't write even a single word in the paper other than my roll no. :-)