Higher Secondary Examination March 2011

As I entered the examination hall
A class of blue and white checks
Stood in revered silence,
Not knowing if to wish or to sit,
Responded positively to my greeting;
The eerie silence was broken
With the rumbling of foot steps
to keep their precious bags out of the hall.

Answer scripts were distributed;
Along with it, a string of dos and don’ts,
Made the boys and girls confused
With trembling hands wrote some
“hIGhir soConDary ExamINaTiOn macH 2011”
Which was an eye opener
Of their ignorance to the teacher and that was I..
Confidently wrote they, their register numbers,“Sex” for six,
“For” for four, “Therr” and “thiri” for three: And “faif” for five.

My frustration grew leaps and bounds,
Standing there I cursed the authorities,
For allowing the standard of education to deteriorate;
Yet they falsely claim of cent percent literacy
In ‘God’s own country’
With ‘Devil’s own People’,
who makes the lives of students a game
In their hunt for political gains.