NOT SO VITAL ONE HOUR OF MY LIFE

Today, when I woke up, I felt unusually refreshed and relaxed. I spent the morning reading "Hickory Dickory Dock" by Agatha Christie. I guess I am the only person left in the planet who hasn’t read the book yet. Today I had to invigilate as exams are going on in school but since my name was in the list of the reserved teachers, I took it for granted that I would be exempted from my duties.

I was in a mood of relaxing and reading the aforementioned book and have a stress-free afternoon. Crushing all my hopes, I was given a 3 hr- duty to invigilate. Two hours went by smoothly. At 4 p.m there were only two students in the room, one of whom left soon and I waited impatiently for the other to leave. Even without being asked he told me that he was not over with his paper. I, not quite acquainted with his type, humbly assured him that he could take his time as the exam was scheduled to be over at 5.

Gradually time passed and the kid looked more settled and at ease than I had expected. He wasn’t writing anything but seemed to be scrutinizing every single word he wrote. He had a naïve face with the invisible tag of a confirmed budding scholar. He wore high-powered spectacles. His cheeks were stubbly and his hair was not even remotely organized .I gradually became impatient. I am generally a lazy person who does not suffer from pangs of guilt for lazing around. But the moment I feel restless it’s maddening. He didn’t look like someone who would adopt unfair means in his exam, nor was there anyone from whom he would seek help. So I began to feel that I was wasting my time sitting there and unnecessarily keeping an eye on someone who was sincerely minding his own business. Suddenly every single moment of my life seemed priceless. I initially tried to comfort myself by thinking that I was doing my work but soon it occurred to me that he could manage to do whatever he was doing on his own without my presence. I tried to identify myself with the kid recollecting my school days but he was so completely unlike me that I promptly dumped the idea. I never can imagine myself so serious and sullen and in spite of my relentless effort I could not remember a single examination when I bothered to revise my script.
I soon started figuring out how I could utilize my precious time as the kid seemed too absorb in his script to leave early. Mind you he was not writing since 4 yet he seemed to be quite complacent. I felt I could utilize the time by walking within the classroom. I immediately felt the urgency of walking and reducing the extra calorie. I began to regret for all the morning and evening walks ,that in spite of my meticulous planning ,never took place. I started strolling across the room being acutely conscious of every single additional adipose tissue of my body. I tried to make up for all the walks that never took place. As a matter of fact I felt I was free to stroll, walk, stride, hop if I liked as the kid seemed totally unaware of my presence. But on second thought the idea seemed not even distantly feasible. So I decided to stick to strolling only. While strolling I brooded on my life long laziness and procrastination. The thought disturbingly extended from the morning and evening walks to everything that I could have done but did not. It pricked me how I wasted the vital 26 years of my life. After a prolonged contemplation when I looked at my watch it was 4.30, still half an hour left for the exam to get over and the boy looked as engrossed as before. I stood at the door desperately looking for another soul to empathize me but could only find a bearer shutting doors of the other classrooms. A few of my colleagues who were passing by sympathized at my pathetic condition; a few blamed my luck and the rest laughed at my predicament. At 4.45 I heard a faint call from the boy. I perceived a genuine ray of hope and became sanguine that the boy was finally going to submit his answer script. A 15- minute early respite in such a situation seemed to be a palatable relief. But as I turned back I had inkling that I was wrong. I think I frowned unknowingly as he looked quite doubtful in his approach. Summoning all his courage he requested me to call for a computer teacher for clarification of his doubts. I could not control laughing. The computer teacher looked amused and reluctant at being called barely 10 minutes before the exam was scheduled to get over. The diligent kid patiently waited for the final bell and I kept wondering what I could have done had I been equipped with a sledge hammer. After the seemingly never ending one hour of complete inaction I was finally liberated. However do not think my hour long self reflection served as an epiphany and brought about a remarkable transformation in me for I spent the entire evening chatting with my friends, listening to music, watching movies and posting my first blog.