The Promising star

NTSE days

    NTSE, it was not just a word. It was an emotion. The full form of NTSE is National Talent Search Examinations. When Kani was studying his ninth standard, he got a chance by his school to prepare for NTSE exams. Though initially, Kani hesitated to go, his maths teacher named Madhiyarsai, convinced him to take up that exam for the provides scholarship opportunities for the students who get pass marks in that exam. Kani then accepted to go for the exam. Those times, the NTSE students had the privilege to leave the school early in the evening to go to the place, where NTSE coaching was provided. The coaching was provided by one of the non-profitable organizations of the town. They give this training not only for that one school but 3 other schools also get this training opportunity. 

    There were students from two boys-medium schools and two girls-medium schools. This was the first time when Kani got an opportunity to study with girls in his class in his entire school life period. There were some girls for whom Kani had some fear in those days. Also, during the practice exam times, the boys got the privilege to sit nearby the beautiful girls of the class. This was like a dream-c*m-true for boys at that age because they never had an opportunity like that in their life before. 

    One day, Kani had a chance to sit near a beautiful girl during the exam. Kani was a type of guy who never looks at girls if he seems to be noticed by them in doing so. He instead used to put attention on them only when he was cent percent confident that no one of the class would notice him, including the particular girl he was look into as well. During that exam time, Kani even overplayed as if he was a good boy in the class by diverging eyes somewhere apart from the girl's sight. But he slightly noticed that she was noticing him. He found that not by looking at her straight. But he instead used up his watch, to look into the girl's face. This was how he was clever in those days. 

    The boys were so mischievous that they purposely do something to make the girls get irritated. They used to buy lollipops and eat that in front of them which causes agitation to the girls. Also, they often used to make humor inside the class all the time. 

    One day, Santhosh and Vinoth had a great fight in the class and they both exchanged words with each other. They called each one by girl's name during the fight. At first, Vinoth called Santhosh, "Chandni Madam", for which Santhosh said Vinoth, "Auto". Vinoth again repeated the same word and Santhosh called him, "Vinodhini" this time. Once again Vinoth teased Santhosh, "Chandni Madam". Santhosh got angry and shouted him calling him by the name, "Vinetha". Everyone in the class including girls were stunned in hearing this because there was a girl named Vinetha at that time in their class. With a moment of silence, everyone had a nice laughter on this. Then, they started their usual work soon. 

    Kani was good at Algebra at that time. When the teacher would give them problems to find the unknown from 2 equations given, Kani used to come up with his answer, on spot. While others would solve them in papers, Kani used to solve them with his mental calculations. This made his friends call Kani by a new name, called "Manakkanaku", which means mind calculation. 

    Kani had so many lovely memories by this time. The girls were also naughty at that time, they used to chat in Tamil if no one is there but when boys come, they talk, "Why girl? What girl?", by adding a girl as a suffix at the end of every sentence they speak. The boys used to get irritated by this behavior. But they never took it seriously instead keep things all for fun. 

    One day, as all boys were standing in the school ground, suddenly a loud noise came from the place where girls stayed. They shouted, "Chandni madam" with a loud voice. The boys can't control their laughter and they all looked at Santhosh at the same time and laughed at him for a long time. Kani had a great time during those days. Also, they used to get cine movie songs book from the shops nearby and memorize the lyrics of the song when the classes were going on one-side. Also, they used to buy a round-shaped sweet those days, which was made out of Roasted Chana dal gram in a powdered form that tastes really like heavenly immortal nectar for them. Some other chocolates like Bonkers and Fruittella were also equally good in taste those times. Most of their time, they used to spend their time in a leisure manner by eating, playing, and making fun of others. They used to spare only less time for their studies. 

    The teachers who handled classes for them were unique. One of the teachers named, Mr. MRK was always strict with the students. He handled physics subject for them. He always makes fun of the students in the class but all for the sake of their good future ahead. One day, as Kani was taking down notes in the class, he came near Kani to see his note. He noticed that the diagram was not neat. He then looked at the pen that Kani was holding in his hand. He shouted at Kani that why he was using such a tall pen to write. Kani placed the pen cap on the backside of the pen. Kani then removed the cap from the pen's back and shown it to the teacher. The teacher then left the place with no words to tell anymore. Everyone who was laughing at Kani also remained silent for a moment after that. Also, there was a Chemistry teacher named, Murugesan at that time. Kani liked him very much as he used to teach Chemistry in such a way that everyone in the class could understand those concepts in a crystal-clear fashion. Maths subject was handled by two staff. The profit-loss topic was dealt with by one staff and the mental ability topic was dealt with by the other one. The former staff was simple in her dressing habit while the latter one was costume cautious. The history subject was taught by Chandra Madam. She used to be friendly with all the students in the class and she used to motivate them every time in making the students learn every subject with more passion and dedication. 

    The students used to take up several tests during that time in two areas. One was the SAT and the other was the MAT. The test consisted of 90 MAT questions and 90 SAT questions. They will be given 120 minutes totally to complete all the 180 questions and the wrong answer won't carry any negative marks. Kani used to get poor marks in the revision test conducted periodically but he eventually managed to improvise his scores in subsequent exams. A student named, Jeya Sugil Kumar used to come first most of the time in those tests. 

    One day, a girl came closer to Kani with a piece of paper in her hand. All were stunned at that very moment as they thought it would be a letter. But what happened was different. She just gave that paper to Kani before everyone in the class and went back to her place soon. Before Kani came to read it, the paper was plucked by one of the boys in the class, and in that paper, it only had some maths questions to be solved that day. The maths teacher gave it to her and asked her to inform the class to solve those problems. That was a surprising moment for everyone. Life is full of many surprises like this and we should always be ready to act accordingly the way it goes. Soon, the results for the main exam. 

    Kani got failed in the exam by 3 marks. This made Kani worry a lot but he then accepted that. Life is neither an equation to be formulated nor a formula to be tabulated! Life is just like that as it should be! More than 10 students from Kani's school managed to clear the first level of the exam. The second level was a very tough one and only one student from Kani's school named, Giri Shankar managed to clear the second level exams. Giri also cleared the third level with a great margin and he got the title 'NTSE Scholar'. The whole school was feeling proud of his achievement. That's was a remarkable feat because the scholarship would give him fees concession in his studies not only till his school life but life-long, even in his college period also. Kani was so proud of Giri, like all others, after this incident.