THE QUESTION PAPER

My call was very gladly received by my sister who was in the midst of a monotonous job of setting a question paper for her students. She needed a distraction which I willingly obliged. These days we happen to be enjoying our telephonic conversations a lot more than usual. The reason being we dwell upon the stories from the past that have been handed down to us from our ancestors.


They are not stories of valor being passed down the generations in musical forms to infuse courage. They seem like tall stories stretched by imagination, not only to us but also to an innocent bystander. These have become so believable to us by virtue of being repeated so many times during our family reunions. The stomach churning laughter they induce keeps those anecdotes so lively till today.


Tippan chacha, was a guest who came from far away to take a departmental examination for promotion in the city where my grandparents lived. Our grandparents were too glad to have him visit them. As for one of their broods, my mother, who was much younger than him, enquired about his performance after seeing his question paper.


He claimed his competence and adeptness in finishing the paper much ahead of the scheduled time. First page went well then as she turned the next page to check for the other questions he realized he had forgotten to turn the page and see. Hence, had left the remaining three questions unanswered. The way he tried to snatch the paper from my mother's hand revealed the sudden realisation of his folly. Now that Tippan chacha had committed this blunder he was penalized by his nephews and nieces in the family and as a penance had to take them for “Pakeezah” movie to the cinema hall. Needless to raise any queries regarding the result of the examination but the movie was wonderful in their words.


My sister called me the next day as she finished compiling her examination paper to inform me that simply out of compulsion after our conversation she wrote “continued on next page” at the bottom of her examination sheet lest someone may miss the second page like Tippan chacha.