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For all those overheated, over ambitious, zealous, fervent, obsessive, fanatical, kids and their parents who worry to death about their standing first in class, securing 100 percent marks in their exams, and getting in to A- Grade colleges, here’s another take: in the run of the mill, unpretentious, convent school that I was sent to, no one worried about getting higher marks to get in to top colleges, to enter fabulous careers or to fuel future ambitions. No one looked so far. Sure, there were girls who’d stand first regularly and walk off with all the prizes but even they appeared to be following the compulsions of their brilliant nature.

But even in this sweet innocent age, my parents stood out by their completely laid back approach to our studies. Thosewere the days when I and my best friend would compete to stand forty- third and forty- fourth in class. Each year, however much we told ourselves that things would change, somehow when the exams came around, we’d goof off from studying and we never managed to make it even one notch higher.

But whereas when the day came to collect our report cards, my friend was a guilty, nervous wreck, scared to go home and show the report to her parents, in my house my report card was a matter of great hilarity. “So, you’ve stood forty-third again?!!” my mother would laugh. While my father couldn’t stop guffawing“Three on hundred, in Maths?” He’d sputter, “How on earth did you manage that?”

After a great belly full of mirth, we’d all thank God that once again, somehow, I’d manage to scrape through, by the skin of my teeth, and pass to the next grade. There was never any big deal about which college we would apply to. Those decisions were taken on the basis, of where one’s friends were going, how far the college was, and what kind of canteen the college had.

Sure, some of us applied to foreign universities, and went abroad, but even that was done in the most haphazard, happy-go- lucky way. I remembereven I got caught up with the bug to go abroad, don’t ask me why,perhaps because all my friends seemed to be applying, so I xeroxed a friend’s list of universities and sent off letters of application off too. When the hundreds of university forms came back, I collected them all in a nice box, admired the stamps and foreign letter paper and then forgot all about them after that. I still have them somewhere.What I am trying to say is that with all this innocent irresponsibility we didn’t turn out too badly.

People from my generation are media tycoons, pillars of society, and captains of industry too. What I’m trying to say to kids and parents today, I guess, can be summarised in thesame word that kids these days like to use, when they talk to us: chillax!

Email: s_malavika@dnaindia.net