I am Devaang. That is all, and I write this realizing I am probably the worst person to be giving advice to anyone.
If there is a God, He is probably laughing his ass off while I write this, in the knowledge that circumstances change everything, and one drunken outward shift of the angle you see your object from can change the way you see life, and everything about it.
And perspective is about all I have to offer from where I’m at, really.
I got 61.5% in my boards, and like with all below average students, I remember my marks and the circumstances around which I got it more accurately than most toppers that sighed with relief at their 95’s ever will.
I did a summer crash course for the law exam, most of which I ended up bunking. Not trying to be cool (I am) but the main reason was that the one mock CLAT exam I had answered saw me top amongst those who bothered to write that particular mock, and I wanted to sign off on a high.
Topping a rudimentary mock exam seemed good enough for me at the time, and was enough to give me a head-rush, so I imagine you best keep that in mind throughout, in case I ever come across as pseudo-intellectual (I am).
That was the first feeling that rushed back to me when I found out I had scored 143, to get me into NUJS.
Just like topping the mock, the rush of blood to the head and to the outermost layers of the skin lasted for the same few seconds. The only difference – the hangover still lasts to this day.
I never studied really, just loved tripping on the stupidity of the current affairs of the world, and the expertise of the leaders in having fun playing with it all.
That was the only part, I realized, that could be studied. The rest was all aptitude, which to me means the ability to extract the fun out of the loathsome.
Halfway through law school, I realize this is the most important factor there is.
Everything is going to bore you eventually. I see the most optimistic of my friends being dissatisfied with Best Speaker and Best Adjudicator prizes because of their inability to have fun while they were at it.
The only successful trick I can offer, then, to any aspirant would be to have as much fun as possible in those two hours. Don’t listen to those that tell you this is life-changing, you already know and loathe all of that.
Those two hours require you to chill in God’s shoes, look around and trip on all those poor souls tearing out scraps of their heart in the knowledge that they are 120, 119, 118, tick tock minutes from disappointing all those praying for his/her success.
You’ll soon see the twisted fun side to it, and eventually look down at your paper and realize all’s never lost, not even with you, and hopefully win yourself 5 (or more) years of time.
That is the greatest gift of a fun experiment I imagine I’ll ever get, and if you ever try it – proceed with no caution, speed-breakers are an illusion.
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Devaang Agarwalla is a student at NUJS, Kolkata. If he is God, he is Adonis.