Sob sob…I heard an
intangible sob on the other end of the phone.
“What happen, Sonam?” a
protective and concerned sister in me spoke.
“I got a semester back.” I
gathered the paused words she managed to speak in between in sobs. Failing is
definitely not great news. Hiding a little disappointment in me and after a
moment of preparation of speech in mind, I repeated “It may not be true. Did
you confirm it? It’s ok. Where are you? Office…Just don’t cry in the office.” I
couldn’t imagine colleagues staring at a crying intern in the office.
She asked me to check
online on her college website. A worst fear was confirmed when her roll no. was
punched in the command box. She failed in three modules out of six with a verdict
of fail written in capital letter. I punched another roll no. randomly and when
screen displayed result.
“Your friend Miss X failed
in all modules and I am glad that you managed to pass in three papers.” I could
hear a little laugh mixed with sob.
“Apa will scold me.” I heard
a terror in her voice.
“Don’t worry. I will tell
him and I am sure he will understand. “ I told her unsure of myself.
Every child is scared of
revealing a result to parents especially a failure, we were not exception. The
fact that we siblings have not failed before aggravate the situation. Though
they may not have mentioned, I know that parents have great expectation from us
“Do you want to tell me
now?” I asked.
“No!” she screamed.
“Ok. I will tell him after
I get my results. I am also scared but I think I will manage to pass with one
or two reassessments.”
“Ok.” I heard a sob again.
“It’s ok dear. It’s not a
big deal. One of my friends failed twice.” I made a blunt attempt to make her feel
good by telling that she is not a first to get a semester back.
Four days passed since her
results were out and I still haven’t talked with parents. My results weren’t
out. I was restlessly apprehensive and a dream of flying downwards was
escalating a worst fear in me.
I was in a shower when Sonam Choden banged a door, “Tshering result out dewa, we are the only two with reassessment
(RA) in DCS- II.”
“What DCS-II, only two of
us?” I shouted back.
“Yes, only two of us. I
don’t feel like studying in vacation.” She said.
My heart sank with
disappointment as I didn’t expect to get RA in DCS-II. I didn’t perform that well
in ECT, so I asked “Me neither. I didn’t bring any books. Better report early
to the college and study. What about ECT?”
“All passed in ECT.”
“OK. I will rinse my hair
and come out soon.”
“Tshering……” Sonam
screeched.
“What?” in an irritated
tone I answered.
“We passed without any RA.”
She cheered.
“Wait ok. I will kill you.”
I meant it when I said.
The fact I passed clean didn’t
wash away the tension building inside. I had a task to tell the news of sister’s
result.
After rehearsing for
several times, I dialed apa’s number and conversed “Apa…how are you? I am fine.
Yes, I am staying with friends in Chukha. 6 weeks, I will come home after that.
Where are you? What are you doing at school? Today is Sunday. Oh..at farewell
party of a teacher. Ok…result is out and I passed without any RA. Yaya….call me
back when you are home. I have something to tell you. Yaya.” I couldn’t tell
then as I didn’t want to ruin his mood.
I called ama and told
about my results. She asked about sister, after few seconds of silence I told
her “Ama…Sonam failed this semester.”
“Is Daza fine? “Was ama’s
first question. There was neither scolding nor disappointment in her voice but
a concerned about the well being of a sister.
I couldn’t hide from ama
that little sister was distracted, worried and scared. Then only, mother
figured out why Sonam was avoiding call from her. She asked me to console and
tell her not to worry. Mother will be always mother, the well being of the
children always come first. I was fool to make ama worry unnecessarily; I could
have skipped crying in the office part.
I had to explain the wheel
of academic of RUB to her.
“So, Sonam will not go
college for next six months. I will talk with Apa. Tell Daza not to worry much
and eat well. “ Ama asked.
When I talked with sister
yesterday, she was laughing that Apa told her that he failed when he was in
class four but also he never gave up. I love the way how Apa wittily conveyed a
message to Sonam. Hopefully, Sonam seemed to understand what Apa meant. Apa has
always been like that always joking and making us laugh. Ama is bit serious and
reserved. We were worried with the false presumptions that they will scold us
for failure. They never did, they always support us.
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