Sometimes you do not have the time to think through what choices are made. In the moment, things just happen and you don’t care about them. But in hindsight when you evaluate such scenarios, an inch here or there could’ve been fatal (not necessarily your life)

In Pulp fiction, when Vincent and Jules go to procure some money for Mr. Wallus, they are open fired on from the opposite end of the room and not one bullet passes through them. Jules declares that this could only happen if God himself wanted this to happen, which could also be a sign to forever retire from the profession he was in. While watching the movie, it felt like this can only happen in Tarantino films. Real life is too real for something like this to happen. It isn’t.

Now I am not putting up for debate whether its God who stops this or if it is someone else; whoever you consider divine, let them be the savior. I wanted to share an event of my life, which, if there was no divine intervention, I would really not have been where I am today 😝

Class 10 : I was sitting for my ICSE final board exams and I clearly remember it being the biological science exam. Science exams used to be 1 hour and 30 minutes long. During our pre-board exams (supposedly helped with preps and so in our school we had 3 of them) I could finish most of my papers well within the time limit. This real board Biology paper felt lengthy. I had started off slow and I still had 5 subparts of my question left to answer when the prelim bell rang. This bell would indicate that 5 mins remained for the misery to be over. And to my horror, the answer booklet finished.

You weren’t supposed to get up and get sheets. On raising the hand, a silhouette of a person would be visible slowly proceeding, walking in the most casual manner, towards you with a sheet of paper in the hand. I waited. I believe around three minutes remained when I started answering those questions. I needed only one sheet of paper and I finished within the time limit. But there was one big oops moment. I had written the answers on the last sheet of the answer booklet. Not the first. These booklets came with holes punched so you weren’t supposed to poke any new holes or they would be considered tampered. In my mind, rang the cautions of our class teacher that evaluators barely turned over a blank page to check whether more answers had been written on the booklet. Writing 15 PTOs (Please turn Overs) was not an option. The evaluator would turn 2-3 times and think that it might be a prank. So in the heat of the moment I tore the last sheet, aligned the holes and put the two booklets together in the worst fashion.

To give context on my craft skills, during class presentation a ceremony where every student’s hand made items are displayed (whatever it may be) my item was so bad, that it was decided best not to be displayed !!

I was pretty stoked that I had come out of the situation victorious. Little did I know that any torn booklets were also considered tampered and hence not evaluated. 😁😁😁

I usually walked home after discussing about the next exam, how this one had passed and how we were one more day closer to 2 months of vacation. This took about 15-20 minutes. I suppose this is when the invigilators count the number of students present, the number of booklets submitted, tally the additional booklets disbursed and so on.

I never had any money on me when I was in class 10. Occasional 5 rupee changes from buying milk/veggies would land me an iced fruity stick (apparently IIM L students had come up with the product). Other days, I usually begged my friends for some change on the promise of a grand treat on my Birthday. Quick disclosure : I never threw a birthday party in my entire school life. However, I was always present whenever they were thrown 💕💕. I was looking in my bag for a pen I had borrowed before the exam, when luck struck and I found a 1000 rupee note. Yes !! they used to be a reality back then. I remembered, I had got it at HOLI which was a couple of days prior to the exam, from a close uncle and had it in the bag so that it could not be acquired by my mother. What better day to treat friends and show grandiosity. We partied on patties and soft drinks for about 30 minutes when the news of this rave reached beyond bounds.

More friends joined, one of them the kind of students who “verify” their answer with teachers post the exam. I never had the heart ❣ for such things. Conversations led on, and Akash revealed that the teacher was looking for an idiot who had tampered with the answer booklet and it was being considered to be a case of cheating. I knew who this person was. I ran towards the tin-shed which was makeshift place for having out regular school assemblies. The same place turned into an examination hall pandal. The boat had almost sailed. Had it not been for a dried SEALED stamp, the answer booklets would have left forever. While the peon was scrambling to get some quick ink, I quickly explained the situation to the head invigilator. I contributed to the ink situation by breaking the nib of the borrowed pen and draining its refill on the stamp foam. The invigilator explained to me what blasphemy means. She was from a a convent school. Then she went on to tell me that I had committed a blasphemy (if ICSE was a religion) But, like all convent teachers, she was kind enough to consider this an honest mistake in the name of holy Jesus. She let this go.

I was kept a close eye on in the upcoming exams. All went well. I passed with flying colors 😝

The point to note is that multiple things happened which never could’ve happened on a normal day.

1. Me hiding the money in the Exam bag.
2. My mom not enquiring about the money for 2 DAYS.
3. Me deciding to give grandiose party instead of saving it for 200 ice stix.
4. Me letting “good kids” join the party and having an active conversation with them. (which made me realise I had made a mistake on the paper but I kept a brave smiling face)
5. The stamp missing.
6. A kind hearted teacher being the head invigilator.

When I look back at the incident, it really gives me goosebumps. I still remember how scared I felt multiple times that day. I felt scared till the time I received the final marks on the day of board result. Seemed like the good kid was wrong. My answer was right and I had scored a 100 in biology 💯 !!!

DIVINE INTERVENTION INDEED.

PS : Add some of your episodes in the comments below 😀 😀

General intervention personal story