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A bell rang, ‘Half an hour more,’ one of the invigilators shouted

in his hoarse voice. At that time, I heard the supervisor’s voice
from one end of the hall.

‘There is an announcement. Please listen. You
know there are 8 questions in the History
paper; 5 on page 1 and 3 on page 2. You
are expected to answer only five. This
instruction was omitted by oversight

while printing the Question Paper.’

What! Eight questions! I took out
my question paper and looked on
page 2 of the paper. A cold shiver ran
through my spine. Three questions had
escaped my notice! Thank God for the

announcement!

I ran home. I saw my mother standing
at the gate, anxiously waiting for me. ‘How was your last exam?’

I showed the paper to her and told her the whole story.

As I was saying this, I could notice the emotions on my mother’s face—anxiety, fear, relief
and finally gratitude and happiness. ‘God has saved you,’ she exclaimed. ‘This time when
you go to Kerala during your vacation don’t forget to go to the Guruvayoor Temple . He
2
has saved you. He, no one else!’
Mother had prepared some delicious snacks for tea. As I was

eating them, Father came in. How do you feel Just a Minute!

He was in his usual jolly mood and patted me on the back when your examinations
saying, ‘So you are a free bird now. Planning your trip to are going on?
Madras, I suppose? I know that is the star attraction. Then to
Nilambur, and to Trichur , your grandfather’s place where you
3
will eat plenty of jackfruits, and grow fat!’

He laughed again. He cast a glance at my mother with a glint in his eyes—‘By the way,
how did you do your British History paper?’

‘So-so,’ I said sheepishly.
hoarse: rough and unpleasant
‘Why so-so? Let me see the paper?’ omitted: not included something
oversight: a careless mistake
sheepishly: in an embarrassed
2 a Hindu temple located in Kerala manner
3 now, known as Thrissur
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