cesspool memoirs
episode 01
060208
the man who knew too much
the intelligentsia
now a days i spend a lot of time watching the cable TV. i am real fascinated by the programs dealing with life and nature. life itself is the most intriguing.
it was in one such programs that i came to know about a finding that monkeys that resort to deceiving, that is good old cheating, had a better developed brain than the straight forward ones! may be this fact could explain some of my experiences in the cesspit.
while in mct i used to get a lot of supervision duties for the university examinations. i was so fed up that i in fact requested one of the office staff not to put me on duties if possible, at least not so frequently. the reason is simple - my cortex is not "that" developed.
one of the memorable duties i did was of a final mbbs examination immediately after my arrival in trivandrum. the chief was a lady anaesthesiologist in over all control of things happening in the examination hall. lecturers like me were appointed as asst supervisors (rather than the invigilators of olden times) and are allotted a couple of rows of students to take care of, like ensuring that they get the question papers and answer sheets and such. my impression, wrongly or rightly, was that we were supposed to ensure that there is no cheating as well.
i soon found that one of the candidates in the next row to the ones allotted to me was having a free exchange of "ideas" (that was before the time of the mobile phones) with his neighbours, an activity not permitted in the exam hall. my presence close to him was upsetting the gentleman and he started taking threatening postures. the fool that i am, i did not take the hint and stayed put. the gentleman candidate changed his tactics and very frankly told me in so many words that he has not studied anything and not to disturb him. i said i am not concerned with him as he was not my baby and there was some one else to take care of his affairs. the lady chief sitting within a meter of us was watching the fun and smiling away to glory.
the row next to his was allotted to me and there was a girl there who was getting involved with this chap. once i told her not to, she stopped, to my great relief! the gentleman continued with his activity in the full glare of the chief and whomsoever was taking care of that row of students.
in retrospect i now infer that this gentleman must have the relevant parts of the cortex highly developed!
co-operation
in the very same examination one of the girl candidates asked an asst. supervisor for help. she ( this asst supervisor was also a lady, an anaesthetist, sorry, anaesthesiologist) did not know the answer. so she approached another asst-supervisor, a young nephrologist, got the answer and in turn conveyed it to the candidate!
i think this is what is known as co-operation - mct style.
incidentally one of the adverse remarks in my confidential report while in the cesspool was that i am not co-operative.
the man who knew too much
another university exam duty i vividly remember was one for supplementary students. there were very few candidates and i was the only asst. supervisor. from the evidence i got from inside the exam hall it was clear that the question papers had gone out and the answers neatly written had been smuggled in.
however this carefully planned operation did not succeed - the mad man spoiled the whole fun!
obviouly this was an inside job. there were only two or three people who could have entered the hall during the time of the examination and obviously none of them were students. it was not very difficult to make out who was the culprit, i mean who was this intelligent man.
a later event i think has relevance in the above context. by then all i was doing in the pool was just signing the attendance register and making the salary bill. all sorts of plans were mooted to bell jyothi and amongst the many such plans one was to get him manhandled. as usual with all the plans of the intelligentsia of mct it did not work out. however they had moved in the pawns and for quite some time then i could see a new face in the department in the early mornings. this was some one who had real reason to nurse a grudge against me and would have done the job with gusto!
later still, even when not alloted classes i used to be given examination supervision duties. but it was always for the para medical exams and not the mbbs exams - obviously i was not upto the mark. or is it that mbbs examinations are more rewarding!
the right thing is the kind thing
the above are just a few examples. i used to land up in some sort of trouble one way or the other in most of the exam duties i had. and that was why i approached one of the office staff with a request not to put me on duty if possible.
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the crux of the thing was that cheating had become an accepted norm. many students probably had become habituated to it and do not find any thing wrong in taking out of the way help when possible. if a nut case like me land up in the hall and report some one the fellow goes for a big high jump.
i always stopped short of the reporting business for i am not exactly the malignant character being painted by the C-fraternity. my job is to prevent foul play and not spoiling the career and may be even the life of a youngster (you wouldnt know where you end up after being debarred for three or four years!) especially so when they already had to put up with the ignominy of attending my classes! i know i was not exactly following the rules; but i strongly believe in the adage - the right thing is the kind thing
my dirty mind
by the way, have you heard of an external examiner for the post graduate examination staying in the house of the candidate? (i cannot vouch for the veracity of the above fact; but the source is an insider and there is no reason why he should have told me a cooked up story)
well, what is wrong in that? you might ask.
nothing; could be that i have a dirty mind and am seeing a ghost where there is none.
why do i bring it up now?!
you see, on second thoughts i feel it is a very good practice, i mean it is beneficial to both parties. candidate can be assessed at work as well as at home! and i just wanted to put up a suggestion that this practice should be taken up by all other departments as well - that is if they dont have a similar or better system already in place. thank you!
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060204
last updated 060204
cablethe cable tv connection coming to my house supplies a good number of houses in the area and if the chaarans want to switch off my connection they will have to disrupt the tv in the other houses as well. that is a real handicap. what is the way out?
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well switch off the power supply. i have a single phase connection to my house and only a couple of nearby houses are dependant solely on this particular line. the fuse is placed conveniently at such a position where any of the goondas can meddle with it whenever they please.
if you are living in a civilized society you will find it difficult to believe. it does happen not only to disrupt the cable but even otherwise to pester you. the powersupply goes off at an odd hour in the night. you just cannot imagine the electricity board repairing the line till the morning. but the supply is restored at say after ten minutes to half an hour or so at the whim of the chaaran and his goondas! and may be once in a while you might not get the supply back till morning.
thank you my dear relatives for arranging the chaarans!