Oh Poor Sir
"Oh! Poor Sir!", I exclaimed, after coming out of the examination hall. "How much effort does he put to make me learn something from the course! To what extent will he advise!"
It was the Minor II of yet another Selected Topics course by Prof PKB. I had written about my previous attempts with a similar course. This time I had decided to sit through the course. I was not even auditing it. I was not willing to give Prof PKB the trouble to evaluate my performance in the course, to be liberal in the marks distribution and to forcefully pass me in the course. "It pains him very much to fail a student. And that too a student for whom he is teaching the course without any earnings", I thought. "No. I cannot write a test in his course", I had decided. So when the time for the first minor came, I tried to mug up some Greek letters from the notes. All the preparation was last minute. After a night out full of cramming, I decided that I am not writing the minor. Little did I know that it would be a great shock to PKB. When I entered the class after the minor, he was so upset with me that I felt pity for such a nice heart that he has.
With that experience from the first minor, I had made up my mind to write the second minor. "Let him be satisfied by the fact that I attempted". A day before the minors, he called me to his office and asked "Girish, are you writing the minor this time?" Though I was sure of writing, I hesitated to answer him. Readers, please feel sorry for me. I had to listen to an hour's lecture on the need for examination and how we can assess what we know. "Tests shall not be for grades, but for your own good", he commented.
But as a saying in Hindi goes Bhainse ke aage been bajane se kya phayda. That is my condition. I took his advice, read a few portions (which were not in the syllabus for the test). All that I read was the preliminary stuff. In the end, when I got the question paper, all I had to do was return the answer paper blank. But to my surprise, I wrote 7 pages, drew some diagrams and came out cheering. I am happy that he is not going to give marks to me. He will just point out the mistakes.
I am going to get an epsilon > 0.
It was the Minor II of yet another Selected Topics course by Prof PKB. I had written about my previous attempts with a similar course. This time I had decided to sit through the course. I was not even auditing it. I was not willing to give Prof PKB the trouble to evaluate my performance in the course, to be liberal in the marks distribution and to forcefully pass me in the course. "It pains him very much to fail a student. And that too a student for whom he is teaching the course without any earnings", I thought. "No. I cannot write a test in his course", I had decided. So when the time for the first minor came, I tried to mug up some Greek letters from the notes. All the preparation was last minute. After a night out full of cramming, I decided that I am not writing the minor. Little did I know that it would be a great shock to PKB. When I entered the class after the minor, he was so upset with me that I felt pity for such a nice heart that he has.
With that experience from the first minor, I had made up my mind to write the second minor. "Let him be satisfied by the fact that I attempted". A day before the minors, he called me to his office and asked "Girish, are you writing the minor this time?" Though I was sure of writing, I hesitated to answer him. Readers, please feel sorry for me. I had to listen to an hour's lecture on the need for examination and how we can assess what we know. "Tests shall not be for grades, but for your own good", he commented.
But as a saying in Hindi goes Bhainse ke aage been bajane se kya phayda. That is my condition. I took his advice, read a few portions (which were not in the syllabus for the test). All that I read was the preliminary stuff. In the end, when I got the question paper, all I had to do was return the answer paper blank. But to my surprise, I wrote 7 pages, drew some diagrams and came out cheering. I am happy that he is not going to give marks to me. He will just point out the mistakes.
I am going to get an epsilon > 0.
Comments
Poor soul :(