The first Sunday of May is celebrated as World Laughter Day. Laughter, where a gentle curve on the face widens gradually and turns into a huge grin with the giggling or loud bursting sound of happiness emphasizing its appearance. These moments are rare when we truly and whole heartedly burst out into a laughter till we literally shed tears of joy. Such a beautiful experience, everything appears like a clear sky in the heart. Even recollecting these moments brings the smile back on our face and we relive those incidents for a few more moments. They might be the moments spent with our family or friends or watching a movie or even some terrible looking moments, which we have gone through in the past which had soon appeared nothing but our non-sensible perception of the situation. Remember the Hindi movie, ‘Munnabhai MBBS,’ where Dr. Asthana tries to reduce the stress of the situation by forcing himself into an artificial laughter. Laughter has that magic of melting the humongous iceberg of stress into a lighter feeling like a crystal-clear stream of water.
On the World Laughter Day, I was just relaxing and trying to recollect such moments that drove me crazy and made me burst out in laughter. It opened the gate of memory lane where I encountered the day, when I understood the literal meaning of ‘my heart sank into my boots.’
I remembered the day during covid lock down. No one knew what exactly it was but everyone was gripped by the tension of uncertainty and fear. The board exams had got postponed twice or thrice due to rapidly spreading corona virus across the world and finally they got cancelled due to the uncertainty of the situation. More than a month had passed in the dilemma of whether the exams would be conducted or not. Finally, it was concluded that the exam for the remaining few papers would not be conducted in lieu of the concerns about health. Once this got resolved, the other problem cropped up, how would be the results calculated for the cancelled papers.
Board exam is an important stepping stone in students’ life. It opens the doors for the career options of their choice. It was the year my son had appeared for his boards. We were all glued to the website awaiting the notifications from the Council. Finally, the problem got resolved and it was announced that the council would apply some formula which would be in the best interest of the students. The date of the results was announced. Unlike normal situation, when results are declared during the summer vacation, this time it was during the month when the schools had already reopened for next academic year’s online classes. We had started conducting regular online sessions and coincidently I had my online classes on the same day and time when the results were going to be declared on the website.
I am still amazed to think how teachers were blessed with an uninterrupted internet connection and they never faced any problem with their gadget’s cameras while it appeared that the net service providers had conspired against the students, frequently disconnecting their internet and glitching their cameras.
That day I was on the cross roads, as a teacher I had to conduct my classes and as a mother, I was very much eager to know the result my ‘own personal child.’ (Since we refer to our class children as our children, every one usually gets confused as to which child we are mentioning as our child.) I had told my people in the house that I would be having online class but they could inform me about the result quickly without disturbing the session. Someone could just knock on the door, inform me about the percentage and go back so that my class would not be disturbed.
As the clock started ticking, I started getting restless, yet I was completely focused on the class, doing my duty as a teacher. The teacher somehow always wins against a mother. The clock struck three and I had butterflies in my tummy (This is the time when results are usually uploaded on the council website). Around 3:05 I could sense some movements, running around outside the room and gradually the footsteps coming towards my door. I was expecting to get a knock when suddenly they faded away from the door. By now, my blood pressure had started shooting up, yet I was trying to focus on my breathing and my class when I heard sudden running around of my son and my husband outside, calling each other frantically and then calling his grandfather who was taking a nap after lunch. I was completely clueless and restless when suddenly my door opened. It was my husband and before I could ask anything, his expressions caught my attention. Not being able to decipher what they meant, I was about to say something when he looked at me, my laptop and left closing the door behind, without uttering a single word. I was completely mad at him but could not help. The running around outside the room increased and it was becoming impossible for me to control my anxiety; each moment felt like several hours. I looked at the clock and it showed five more minutes, Oh my God! How to bear these five minutes, but I had no choice as no one bothered to come to my room. Finally, the class got over and I rushed out of the room only to witness everyone cheerfully hugging and congratulating each other. When they noticed me, they realized that I was the only privileged one who was kept in the dark about the whole episode. As if they did nothing wrong, all came cheering and offered me sugar (Due to the lockdown the sweets were not available which are always distributed when we announce any good news) Now it dawned on them that they had yet to tell me about the result, which I had already guessed by now looking at the celebration.
Those moments were so stressful; thousands of weird thoughts had crossed my mind. It was pandemic, exams could not be conducted for all the papers, The result calculation was something which no one was aware of. Earlier in the month prior to it we as a family had sailed through it together and here these three men had happily forgotten the minority in the house when it came to the celebration of the success.
Whenever I recollect this incident, I just burst out in laughter thinking of all the stress it had caused. That was a moment that hit the panic button for me but now when I turn back, I find it so funny. In life most of the times what we dread, never really happens. So, laugh out loud to the heart’s content and just be happy.