Aarya Sharma
It was 18th March, 2020 when I was in the examination hall. I completed my Hindi exam. I was sitting and thinking that this happiness was temporary as there were three more tough exams staring at me in next five days. I wished “oh God! let there be some miracle so that my exams are postponed for some days”. Quite surprisingly, very next moment my wish was granted as our coordinator madam announced that rest of our exams have been postponed and there will be no school till further orders. I was the happiest person on the earth for getting my wish come true, then and there.
I remember that my grandmother always told me that at a certain point of time Goddess Saraswati, the goddess of knowledge sits on our tongue and whatever we utter even in our heart of hearts becomes true. I was thinking that this was the exact moment when Goddess Saraswati was on my tongue.
From the very next day it was more fun with less studies and no school. I became greedier and kept on wishing for more fun and more delay for rest of the exams and God kept on granting me more time. It appeared as if goddess Saraswati made her permanent abode on my tongue. Finally, I wished that oh God! Isn’t it possible for you to send me to 6th class without rest of the three exams? I wanted this to happen because I wanted to move from Primary Wing to the Middle Wing as fast as possible. Very next day, the news came that due to COVID pandemic there will be mass promotion without remaining exams for all the classes. It was amazing and unbelievable but true that I was in class 6th class and very soon I will be sitting in the middle wing meant for grown up kids. Now I started praying for pandemic to vanish to allow me to sit in the classroom that I always wanted to be in. But alas! Goddess Saraswati had left my tongue and none of my wish was being considered anymore.
Very soon my dream world of fun, play, long sleeps and no school became a nightmare as I started missing my school friends, the feel of the school, uniform, the noisy lunch breaks, sports, fun with friends in the swimming pool, playground, library, dance, music, guitar, class-wise and house-wise competitions, gossiping with friends and much more. I started dreaming of all the activities and whenever I woke up out of such fantastic dreams I felt unhappy, sad and depressed as it was just a dream.
It was really sad that I was told every day that thousands of people were dying every day across the world due to COVID-19. A strict lock down resulted in stoppage of all activities and even getting basic food was a challenge. I started feeling guilty of wishing something so silly that was doing so much harm to everyone across the globe. However, I continued my own studies that looked so unreal and boring. I was hoping that soon I will be going back to school to sit in 6th class for the first time.
In my silent prayers I asked God to stop COVID-19 so that the life comes back to its normal course. But now the God seemed annoyed with me and things were becoming bad to worse. An unending era of online classes, online activities, online exams and online parent-teacher meetings continued. It looked so unreal and boring that I cried in privacy asking God to forgive me for making silly wishes.
One fine day I got the news that there will be no physical school anymore till 6th class and I was promoted to 7th class without stepping into my school campus even once.
Getting promotion to higher class was so painful because I will never ever get a chance to enjoy 6th class in my whole life, it is a permanent loss. I was living with this guilt and finally when it became totally unbearable, I decided to express all my ideas to someone. About my secret wish I told my grandmother who consoled and asked me not to feel guilty as it was none of my fault but just imagination. She explained to me that whatever happens, it is all due to the God’s will and we are not responsible for it. Her counselling relieved me of my imaginary scene of guilt but still one question keeps on troubling me that where is my 6th class…A painful question, Isn’t It?
(The author is a 7th Class Student from Jodhamal Public School Jammu)
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