Memories In The Time of Football Fever ~

It was in the year 1978. I was in Class X. In our English Language class test, we were given a topic on Football, to write. That was a topic close to my heart. I was confident that I would not only get very good marks but be the highest scorer in the class, too.

When we got back our papers , I saw that I have scored only 3 out of 10. I felt shattered. I was otherwise the favourite student of our language teacher, Mrs Deepa Dasgupta and I too liked her a lot. I didn’t say a word to her. Questioning a teacher was not something, I ever did.

When I went home and showed the marks to my father, he was very upset. He refused to sign my paper l but wrote a note to my teacher instead, asking what made her mark me so low. I was very unhappy at this. Parental intervention on school matters is not something the sixteen year olds appreciate much, we all know.

Next morning, I somehow gathered the courage and met my teacher in the staff room, with my father’s note. She, who was an unusually kind and sweet natured lady, looked at me and very harshly said, ‘Go and tell your father that I am not a fool to know that you have copied this essay from a magazine or a newspaper. But since I was the invigilator myself and I couldn’t catch you on the act, I have given you those 3 marks as a grace.
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It is needless to say that I felt extremely humiliated that day but I somehow did hold back my tears. When I went home and told that to my father, he laughed. I was shocked once again. It took me many years to realise that as a passionate football lover school girl, I could not have received a better compliment than what I got from my teacher, that day.