I Felt Jealous Of Her....

I felt jealous of her when the results were out…

In our school, three of us, Radha, Sethu and I, had a healthy competition always, to remain in the top position or at least to find a place in the first three toppers. Till the ninth standard, we were only the three students who secured the highest marks in the aggregate scores, provided no additional marks were given for extracurricular activities.

The day our school reopened after summer vacation, all teachers urged all of us, who were promoted to the tenth standard, to score good marks in our SSC board examination, which is conducted at the end of the academic year. Teachers cautioned us that it would become a turning point in life, for many. Only those who could get good marks would be admitted to the city college for further study, the teachers said. Many poor students even though they could score good marks, could not afford to pay the college fees, because of which they had to abandon their further studies. It was the practice at that time that all those who could not get admission preferred to go for some vocational courses or some work as an apprentice, for a petty salary. After the first semester exams, I got the second position among the three of us in the school. This made me a little bit proud and I became lazy to put extra effort to score more marks, because most of the times, in the past, I got the third position only. Naturally, in the second semester exams, I was pushed again to the third position, as before.

Everyone in the class was taking extra pains to score the maximum marks in the board examination, as advised by teachers. Days and months moved very fast and our school days also were on the verge of an end. The school had arranged a farewell party for the whole class, on the final day of the class, but before the commencement of study holidays.

The final exams were over as per the schedule and all of us had a good time to rejoice till the results were out. When the results were declared, I was pushed to the fourth place in the class, which was really a bolt from the blue for me and teachers. A girl, named Sheela, otherwise not that much smart enough to be in the first top three, snatched the first position in the school, which made all of us envy, especially me.

I met her at the school, when all of us went to collect our final mark sheets. I felt very jealous of her on that day, for no fault of hers. I just avoided her, took no time to even congratulate on her stupendous victory and I walked away fast, in shame, collecting my mark sheet.

I could get admission to the nearby college. I did my graduation from a “boys-only” college, while she studied in a “girls-only” college, as was informed by some of my classmates. I never got a chance to meet her and apologize, for my foolish attitude.

But when I met her after graduation for a job interview, accidentally, she was in good spirits and showed no reluctance to say hello to me. We talked for some time after the interview was over. She never indicated about my thoughtless action of not congratulating her on the day we met at the school.

Then I felt very bad being jealous on her on the day we collected the result of SSC exams, though it made a permanent scar in my heart. We said goodbye on that day and never had a chance to meet her again till date, but I hope to see her once more.