November Exam Fever

                  A Small Deviation....  Going back to the last post, I had intended to post only after the exams were over. I am still on the same track and I want to write in detail only after we get out of this fever. But I am just allowing myself a small deviation here. And the reason for the deviation is the currency of the subject I want to share.

           A shock awaited us (thanks to a failed/crashed ERP of the school.... a few things remain beyond contingency planning) on the very first day of the exams. Failure of the system notwithstanding, it was a sad state of affairs wherein we had to ride and dive over one another to collect an almost plain paper (well, it had a few lines....almost, I have said), fill it up and return it for signatures. The signatures were then put on behalf of someone by someone else. As a result, the first ball was delivered at 1015 instead of 1000h (am I stuck with time issues?). The crash in the system had happened a few days ago and I am sure, as I keep mentioning about leading by examples, a better approach could have been adopted. It is a different thing that that slip of a paper is now our passport to exam halls and just because of its appearance, many of us tend to leave it behind. To be on safer side, I have kept it on the display panel of my car.....just in case (short term memory loss, you see!).  Many things in life, unfortunately, enjoy certain privileges only when done properly. An admit card, after all, has to look like one before it gets the attention it deserves! And as it happens with every lapse at EBS, students attribute such an adhocism to our perpetual MISTRESS called CAT exams!

         One thing that has been disturbing many of us through this process (and the real cause of this deviation when I am writing this instead of preparing for tomorrow's test) is the amount of cheating that has been happening during exams. I mean we are shameless, to say the least. Mobiles (having a mobile is no big deal nor is having a second one) are used like anything. Once a presentation of document has been downloaded into an office enabled mobile phone, all that the user has to do is to be a bit smart and do his/her bit when no one is watching. And lesser mortals who do not have smart phones, do manage with stuff loaded as pics. We were having a brief chat before the commencement of exam today and I found many of the students genuinely disturbed about the whole issue. I did, from my side, offer an unsought for advice by saying that no one can do wonders by cheating (maximum would be scoring reasonably OK marks) but then they had a logic too. The issue is that guys had cheated through cellphones even during midterm exams when we had been made to fight battles on a losing ground (read chairs with extended arm-rests). Being a huge hall and also because of seating style and also being the first time for our 'honest' batch, that lapse been digested by many of us, of course after a few loud hiccups and burps. But this time around, it has been pretty bad. Two to three invigilators in a room with only 30 odd students and still no difference....! 

          It was really unfortunate to see a few students being sent out only for turning their heads around while at least one stalwart was left without penalties even after he had been  caught red-handed, copying from his cell. But then it had happened yesterday. Today, fortunately, things did start to turn around when, after a round by the Director, a few students were caught and sent out. Some  more thought needs to be given to this aspect since in addition to being unfair to others who play a fair game, it is morally wrong and can not be allowed. Unfortunately, numbers are pretty high. Like in today's case, for every person who was caught, at least three managed to get away. I hope some deterrence will now set in.

      It is something like delegation of powers. Before any powers are delegated to anyone, the superior authority needs to ensure that the other person who is being bestowed with such an authority, is fit and capable of handling the same. So, before management and faculty, in a good faith, decides to repose faith in us (we being the PGDM students), it needs to be ensured that we are up to it and do not take things for granted.

         More about it later. Tomorrow is IT exam and I do not want to be caught on a wrong foot and that too for a reason as ITish as writing a blog when I was supposed to study!!

           Good Luck and Adieu!