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Testing Times

Come tests and exams, and my neighbour's kids are at their studious best. They love to read their lessons loudly.Their study is about forty feet away from mine. Since the windows are usually open on both sides, I can hear them quite clearly.
Often, I'm tempted to yell out, 'Read softly' or mention about it when I see them. But, something holds me back. What, if their marks come down because of reading softly? I would feel very guilty :( So, I simply shut the window and switch on the fan!

Sometimes, I wonder about what the Americans would have done. The other day, a US- based relative was telling us about how, one of his neighbours, a dog owner, had to get the voice box of his dog removed. Thanks to the dog's constant barking, a lot of people were deprived of their sleep. Someone started a signature campaign and got the minimum number of signatures required and the poor dog lost it's voice :(
Parents of wailing babies are not spared of complaints and that's why, one sees most American babies in pacifiers.
 Maybe, we should send some 'Maata Snehabodhanandamayee' to the US. She can go on some talk show and preach basic tolerance. Maybe, I should take up this job!
I can almost imagine myself, smiling and nodding now and then, at the host and the audience - 'Let barking dogs bark and wailing babies wail. After all, they are forms of expression. Listen to a child wail and you can identify the need by the tone of the wail. Ditto with the dogs. Company deprived and confined within the four walls, the only way that a dog can express his boredom is by barking', and so on.
The major hitch that I can see here is the whole world calling me 'Maata'. I will wait for another 25 years for that. Till then, this job is up for grabs. The name too :)

Comments

  1. I know how testing these times are! On the eves of tests and exams, you can find at least ten people mugging loudly in various corners of our hostel:(

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  2. Poor you! My sympathies.

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  3. My sympathies to you, too!

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  4. Testing Times! The time when you have nothing to do but study, study and study. The worst part, some random person comes home and sees me roaming about the place, I am posed a question,"Odella mugita?" and my best friend, my MOM, comments sarcastically that I can even write the exams that are due next year! I will be left with no option but to shut myself up in the room! On top of that, I've got neighbors who are seldom seen! Wish there were no descriptive exams.. If all papers were multiple choice questions, I'm sure I would've finished the six papers within 3 hrs!

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    Replies
    1. No, no! Only MCQs will further dilute the ability to describe things effectively. And, students who wish to take up arts will be severely affected.....

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    2. Point! I accept the fact that I am lazy to write but my opinion was from the point of view of Science students.. When the concept is known, it doesn't matter whether it is descriptive or objective.

      Delete

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