Goondaraj

[Guest guest]

 

There were confident announcements that there would be no goondaraj with the new

government taking charge in UP. However, what followed in the first few days

after the election proved to the contrary. The goondas were too conspicuous to

be missed at a number of places and they were celebrating in the only manner

known to them. Journalists were beaten up. Traffic was disrupted. Buildings were

burnt. Officials were threatened. This has always happened. So, there was no

surprise in it.

 

People generally read about goondaraj, but I have witnessed it closely. I

studied for my Intermediate at Bareilly. The incident during our final exam was

a testimony to the brazenness of the goondas we hear so much about. The

examination centre was an old school. It had a high compound wall running along

the classrooms. The top of the wall was at level with the ventilators. Scores of

boys, looking appropriately menacing, kept sitting there.   

 

Each room had an invigilator to keep an eye on the examinees. He would

intermittently go out for a few minutes to have a chat with fellow invigilators.

There used to be complete transformation of the scene inside during this short

interval. Books, notebooks and sheets of paper rained down through the

ventilators. There was a mad scramble to pick up whatever your friend had thrown

inside. The material which had been used was thrown back. Everything became

quiet before the invigilator returned. This was repeated every time the

invigilator went out.

 

I was personally involved (unwillingly) in the tamasha that was enacted during

every exam. That day we had our English exam. There were two sections. I had

written the answer to two questions of one section. Things became suddenly

interesting after that. My classmate, sitting four places ahead in the row on my

right, wanted to see one of the answers I had written. There was no way for me

to accept his request. When the invigilator went out, he (the classmate) coolly

walked up to my desk and took away the answer sheet, assuring me it would be

returned after a few minutes.

 

I started writing answers to the questions of the other section. I thought I

would get the other answer sheet back when the invigilator went out the next

time. But that did not happen. He did not leave the room for the whole duration

thereafter. It was then that I felt the pressure mounting: I was yet to write

the final answer carrying twenty marks. Ultimately, the time for the exam ran

out. I was extremely worried that I would not even get the answer sheet back. I

was totally relieved when my classmate handed me the sheet back with the same

confidence. I wrote the paper for only eighty marks.

 

Everybody was disappointed with my marks in English. It left my father perplexed

for a long time.   

    

Bharat

[Guest guest]

I have heard of extreme cases of such incidents here too, including cases

where even teachers were brought into exam halls and made to write the

answers on blackboards in government schools. Sometimes by goondas, and

sometimes quite voluntarily by the teachers too so that their students

would make good grades.

Unfortunately I have never experienced it even first hand. Not to say that

I wished someone would " help " me thus in any of the exams I took.

Ravin '82

On Mon, Mar 19, 2012 at 4:52 PM, Bharat Sharma wrote:

> **

>

>

>

> There were confident announcements that there would be no goondaraj with

> the new government taking charge in UP. However, what followed in the first

> few days after the election proved to the contrary. The goondas were too

> conspicuous to be missed at a number of places and they were celebrating in

> the only manner known to them. Journalists were beaten up. Traffic was

> disrupted. Buildings were burnt. Officials were threatened. This has always

> happened. So, there was no surprise in it.

>

> People generally read about goondaraj, but I have witnessed it closely. I

> studied for my Intermediate at Bareilly. The incident during our final exam

> was a testimony to the brazenness of the goondas we hear so much about. The

> examination centre was an old school. It had a high compound wall running

> along the classrooms. The top of the wall was at level with the

> ventilators. Scores of boys, looking appropriately menacing, kept sitting

> there.

>

> Each room had an invigilator to keep an eye on the examinees. He would

> intermittently go out for a few minutes to have a chat with fellow

> invigilators. There used to be complete transformation of the scene inside

> during this short interval. Books, notebooks and sheets of paper rained

> down through the ventilators. There was a mad scramble to pick up whatever

> your friend had thrown inside. The material which had been used was thrown

> back. Everything became quiet before the invigilator returned. This was

> repeated every time the invigilator went out.

>

> I was personally involved (unwillingly) in the tamasha that was enacted

> during every exam. That day we had our English exam. There were two

> sections. I had written the answer to two questions of one section. Things

> became suddenly interesting after that. My classmate, sitting four places

> ahead in the row on my right, wanted to see one of the answers I had

> written. There was no way for me to accept his request. When the

> invigilator went out, he (the classmate) coolly walked up to my desk and

> took away the answer sheet, assuring me it would be returned after a few

> minutes.

>

> I started writing answers to the questions of the other section. I thought

> I would get the other answer sheet back when the invigilator went out the

> next time. But that did not happen. He did not leave the room for the whole

> duration thereafter. It was then that I felt the pressure mounting: I was

> yet to write the final answer carrying twenty marks. Ultimately, the time

> for the exam ran out. I was extremely worried that I would not even get the

> answer sheet back. I was totally relieved when my classmate handed me the

> sheet back with the same confidence. I wrote the paper for only eighty

> marks.

>

> Everybody was disappointed with my marks in English. It left my father

> perplexed for a long time.

>

> Bharat

>

>