Asha Iyer Kumar :
Even as the jamboree unfolds Down Under, you are at work, grinding away and losing sleep over a contest of a different sort. This piece is dedicated to you. It is likely that in the midst of your present labour you will have no leisure for newspaper reading, but I sincerely hope that your well-meaning parents will allow you an extended bathroom break to give this article a once over.
It would be foolish to dumb you down with stories about my studenthood and the relative ease with which we got past it, for times have changed, I know. Times have changed, for better or for worse, and in this period I have seen your generation going molten with stress in an attempt to fit into various definitions of success.
Your crop is endowed with seamless intelligence and an undying appetite for accomplishment to match, and given the nature of the material world, these are indispensible ingredients for surviving smartly. Yet, with all the credentials you so abundantly possess, you are edgy all the time. You are on the precipice, needing only a nudge to plunge into various degrees of mental condition. You live in the fear of failing to make the cut, secure a seat, build a great career and lead a cushy life. It pains me to see you so knotted and snarled up.
Yes, exams are an important and serious matter, for unfortunately they are the only means to decide your intellect in our system of education. But again, it is only an exam. It’s relevance need not to be escalated to the level of a catastrophe. It need not be viewed as the final frontier of your lives, beyond which there is no existence.
At worst, the exams are tests that you need to give to cross into the next phase of your lives.
You need not think that you are putting your head on the guillotine. You need not live in dread, you need not imagine the worst eventualities, you need not even think too hard about ifs and buts. All you need to do is give it your best without walking the fire of anxiety.
Drop the tension, for the only purpose it serves is weaken you in moments when your intellect needs to be sharp.
Ditch the fear, for all it can practically do is freeze your nerves when your brain needs to be alert. Decide to put your best foot forward, and do it without faltering, which only means arming your faculties to the best of your capacity.
Remember this – anything negative is detrimental, and that includes excessive worry and imagined disasters.
How unfortunate that many of you consider the exams to be a test that decides your right to live! Of course, your parents have dreams for you, but what are their dreams without you?
That you may have crushed their dreams by not returning a perfect score is not a valid reason for you to do daft acts that will leave them mourning in your memory for life. Their love for you is infinite and it will never demand that you come to harm. Never.
Hone your skills, stay on course, keep your nerves and give it your best shot.
Underlying all this, let there be a constant prayer in your heart. Tap that Supreme source and surrender to His will. Let there be no more fretting or unease. Just chill. Remember again, it is only a test of your academics, not a judgment on your lives.
A word to daddies and mummies as I sign off – our children are our assets. Let us not make them our trophies to fill our boastful chests. Even when they fall short despite their best efforts, let us tell them that, to us, they are the best. They fear our expectations than their failures. Trust them. They will do well in life.
Even as the jamboree unfolds Down Under, you are at work, grinding away and losing sleep over a contest of a different sort. This piece is dedicated to you. It is likely that in the midst of your present labour you will have no leisure for newspaper reading, but I sincerely hope that your well-meaning parents will allow you an extended bathroom break to give this article a once over.
It would be foolish to dumb you down with stories about my studenthood and the relative ease with which we got past it, for times have changed, I know. Times have changed, for better or for worse, and in this period I have seen your generation going molten with stress in an attempt to fit into various definitions of success.
Your crop is endowed with seamless intelligence and an undying appetite for accomplishment to match, and given the nature of the material world, these are indispensible ingredients for surviving smartly. Yet, with all the credentials you so abundantly possess, you are edgy all the time. You are on the precipice, needing only a nudge to plunge into various degrees of mental condition. You live in the fear of failing to make the cut, secure a seat, build a great career and lead a cushy life. It pains me to see you so knotted and snarled up.
Yes, exams are an important and serious matter, for unfortunately they are the only means to decide your intellect in our system of education. But again, it is only an exam. It’s relevance need not to be escalated to the level of a catastrophe. It need not be viewed as the final frontier of your lives, beyond which there is no existence.
At worst, the exams are tests that you need to give to cross into the next phase of your lives.
You need not think that you are putting your head on the guillotine. You need not live in dread, you need not imagine the worst eventualities, you need not even think too hard about ifs and buts. All you need to do is give it your best without walking the fire of anxiety.
Drop the tension, for the only purpose it serves is weaken you in moments when your intellect needs to be sharp.
Ditch the fear, for all it can practically do is freeze your nerves when your brain needs to be alert. Decide to put your best foot forward, and do it without faltering, which only means arming your faculties to the best of your capacity.
Remember this – anything negative is detrimental, and that includes excessive worry and imagined disasters.
How unfortunate that many of you consider the exams to be a test that decides your right to live! Of course, your parents have dreams for you, but what are their dreams without you?
That you may have crushed their dreams by not returning a perfect score is not a valid reason for you to do daft acts that will leave them mourning in your memory for life. Their love for you is infinite and it will never demand that you come to harm. Never.
Hone your skills, stay on course, keep your nerves and give it your best shot.
Underlying all this, let there be a constant prayer in your heart. Tap that Supreme source and surrender to His will. Let there be no more fretting or unease. Just chill. Remember again, it is only a test of your academics, not a judgment on your lives.
A word to daddies and mummies as I sign off – our children are our assets. Let us not make them our trophies to fill our boastful chests. Even when they fall short despite their best efforts, let us tell them that, to us, they are the best. They fear our expectations than their failures. Trust them. They will do well in life.
(Asha Iyer Kumar’s new collection of poems, ‘Hymns from the Heart’ is now available on Amazon.com)
