The 99 story

In my 10th pre boards I scored 99/100 in maths. My maths teacher praised my paper a lot infront of other students. I used to think "Is he actually talking about me?" I used to be a very quiet girl. Not the kind of girl people talk about. But when everybody started talking about me I was suddenly pulled out of the shadows and put into the limelight. And that made me uncomfortable. I was not used to that kind of attention. Sir praised the way I wrote the paper with so much clarity. It was neatly written, all problems solved with proper steps without a single scratch on the entire paper. He kept telling the other students. "She hasn't made a single scratch. That's the power of attention and practice." Sir came to me and respectfully asked me if he can keep my paper. He showed it all the students from different sections. He never gave my paper back.

Then everyone started talking that I would definitely score a 100 in board exams. Now I have never been too much into scores. I have always believed in understanding concepts and practicing regularly. But other people's expectations started stressing my mind. I remember the morning of my maths board exams. I was lying down staring at the ceiling thinking will I be able to keep upto the expectations. I gave my exam to my best. After I came back home I was reviewing the question paper and I immediately realised I had made a very silly mistake in starting steps of a sum and it carried 6 marks. I am going to score a 94 and not a 100 I said to myself. And in the moment I felt sad. But more than the marks I felt bad that how could I make such a silly mistake. When the results came I saw I had scored 94 in maths. So my assessment about my paper was correct I said to myself. That brought me satisfaction. I had scored above 90 in all subjects except Computer science in which I had scored 88. A 2 mark loss there cost me the gold medal. But that didn't affect me at all. I hadn't made any silly mistake. I did everything correctly to my level of preparation and I was happy about it. 

One takeaway I took from all of this was that unnecessary attention is not good for me. When too many people talk too much about me that makes me uncomfortable big time. I prefer to be in my own zone which keeps my mind clear and active. Sir never gave my paper back. He kept it with himself and my friends told me he kept showing it to the 10th standard students every year!!

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