It’s been a while. I haven't been able to post anything on this blog for a while, not because I didn’t get time but because I was lazy(tbh). But to make it sound more excusable, I was building up the momentum of stories to share with you guys.
I realized that the year is coming to an end with a tone of melancholy. I would say this year was full of unforgettable experiences. I am sure the previous years were also full of memories but I feel this year was the most memorable one or who knows I might be in some delusion as I remember this year the most.
Speaking genuinely, the 2022 chapter of my life taught me a lot of things in my life and those are the lessons that I would never forget in my life. People who know me might say you don’t even remember how you gave your Chemistry exams. How are you supposed to remember the entire life syllabus of this year? Well trust me people, I might not remember Chemistry but I surely remember this year.
As taught in my Communication Skills lectures, I think I’ll have to take this monologue in a flow and in a chronological order. When I say lectures, I’m sure you might be wondering where is this guy anyway? What is he doing? Just hold your horses and wait a while, I'll surely come back to you Mr. or Ms. X.
Beginning with the beginning of the year, due to the COVID-19 situation in Bhutan, I had my board examinations postponed towards the end of February stretching to early March. Very crucial but also the most exciting moment of my life! In the midst of the preparation for the boards, college admission rejection was what I remember. I would say those rejections hurt more than the rejections from my own crush. First the decision came from MIT, my dream uni which I was literally begging God to make it come true, but unfortunately I got that sweetest letter of rejection. Well one thing I realized was, college rejection is one of the bitter-sweet rejection you will ever get in your life. Next on the list was Harvard, Princeton and Cornell, well I didn’t make it but I think I will have stories to share to my children if I happen to find a wife which I highly doubt.
That happened in the midst of preparing for the board examination, the real deal came when it was 3 weeks away from the board examination. Prior to that I was on a full swing of focused mode which I got rigorously by battling with my procrastinations. But the sad part was, just 2 weeks prior to the exam, I felt ill and got bed ridden for a week. Well I was happy that I couldn’t attend the extra classes teachers would take during the self study time, but I was worried because the exam was just way closer to me. Well I’ll have to thank Haba(Tshewang Dorji Haa) and other friends who struggled through the thick snow in bringing me and my other friends who were sick like me - the source of energy, the state of the art, “Food!”. Had it not been Haba and some other friends who brought food to us on time, I’m sure I would not be writing this blog today. So a big thank you!
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Now after one week of being ill, like a scripted drama, I was all well and good. So that last week was where I had to do the most. Not sure what kind of personality trait I have but I am sure of one thing, I analyze anything that comes to the forefront first and then act on it. That’s why before getting ill, I had printed around 800 pages of questions coming from past papers, trial papers and various reference notes. Well don’t get me wrong, I didn’t print it in one day, well that would surely be a hell lot of paper if I were to print in one day. It was basically the summation of these small numbers of prints that I used to make as soon as the preparations began. So that last week was solving those problems in the question and I think that practice was what gave me confidence for the boards. Exams are really scary. I know you all can relate with me with this part of it. But they are also an exciting period for me. Let’s relate it with pressure, by which I mean the physics of pressure, pressure being force over an area. The fear of exams was the force and area was me. In order to reduce the pressure, I had to increase the content I consume. In doing so, the exam time for me is usually the time when I understand the concepts better and I usually am able to relate and visualize the wonderful concepts which are being taught in classes.
Then, when time came for the examination, I gave the exams my best and I am sure the luck was still not in my favor. I remember I used to make a call to my dad after every exam, and he continuously emphasized to at least have faith in god and pray for their blessings, but I reluctantly did it. Right after every exam, we had to meet our Director in his office, where we didn’t talk about how was the exams, but we used to binge upon talking about various things such as our future, the visions, sometimes listen to music, then relook onto the past photos which I usually wouldn’t dare to look at. And of all these talks what struck me was - where will I be at this point in next year? Well I think I have the answer now. I am here at NIIT university, India pursuing B.Tech Computer Science and Engineering. If a phrase had to answer that question, it would have been from MIT to NIIT. That was one lesson, you don’t know what life will offer you cause it’s like an ocean where you the sailor is sailing through it. Sometimes a thunderstorm might hit on the way and divert you to another path, well that’s the reality of life.
I think I have broken the flow here, let me get back to the flow, the exams ended and I was excited to go home. I stopped thinking about how I did my exams and focused on what's next. Meanwhile, school had planned a small graduation ceremony and dinner before we ventured onto the next phase of our life. Well we had the prestigious “Walk of fame” where while walking through the crowd of clapping hands, I was confused whether I deserved it or not. But then I was taken aback by what I have done in the last six years of my life. I think I most certainly deserved it. Then came a dinner party, where I think my batchmates saw the last time together reminiscing the past years of our lives. Truly a nostalgic and memorable night!
Then I departed for home, not immediately but some time in April. I started preparing for the Advanced Placement Exam(AP Java). Till the mid of April, life was flowing straight without ups and downs but as the result day started getting closer, I started having nightmares of me failing and seeing my marks in my dream. Usually, during those days, I woke up in sweat as I was tussling over those life threatening nightmares. One thing which I still remember and kept chanting on was begging god to at least make my Chemistry over 70. When the day the board exam results were announced, as expected the result management system was facing technical issues due to server overload, a common issue in Bhutan which I wish to fix sometime later. So first they shared a test link where they had the system working, so through that I accessed my marks. The moment I saw my marks, I could not accept what was given. I tried checking my index number time and again. To make myself feel better, I just kept on telling myself, “yoeth don’t panic this is just a test link, the result might be dummy marks” - but later when the actual link came, the results remained the same. I could do nothing but accept it. Well, accepting it was not easy, so many strings were attached to this one page of marks, my life felt like it was dependent on it. I thought everyone had difficulty during this examination, but when I checked the merit ranking, people who did good did good. That period of my life was a bit of a thunderstorm in my voyage through the ocean of life.
To be continued…