Looking back at 2006

Finally, 2006 is coming to an end. What a long year this has been! As I sit here, in front of my PC on the ultimate day of the year, let me just look back at 2006 which was dominated by studies.
1. In late February, my annual exam of class 8 started. The very first exam was Physics. I made a colossal mistake in that exam. The question paper had six long questions, among which we were required to answer four. But there was a printing mistake due to which the the question number had started from 2 and ended at 7. Although I saw this, I didn't observe this and thought that there were seven questions. Immediately, I decided to leave three questions and answer the rest. In the process, I lost 15 precious marks. Besides losing all hope of staying among the first three in class and getting the beautiful present of Harry Potter 6, I learnt a very good lesson. From that onwards, I always make sure that I attempt the required number of questions in an exam.
2. Surprisingly, I stood first in my annual exam, whose results were declared in March. From my mother's words I realized that this had been the result of sheer hard work. Two of my exams( Physics and Maths) didn't go well at all, but I worked hard for the rest. And, that clicked very well. Hard work really has no other alternative.
3. Before my new session had started in April, I had always imagined that life would be difficult in class 9 with seven tuitions. There would be no fun and studies would be everything. It turned out to be something similar only. But, after giving the first term exam of class 9 for 15 days, I was quite happy to be returning to my usual routine. For the first time, I discovered that tuitions not only meant studying, but also meant a lot of fun. By then, the groups of students at the different tuitions had become good friends with one another and so, the number of jokes and the laughter increased. Studies were there too. But, it was a different kind of fun.
4. I also discovered that doing project work is the worst, boring, tedious and time-consuming thing in this world. I've had to work harder for my projects than for my actual studies at times. What's really bad about projects is that their marks(20 marks) don't influence your result in a big way. Yet, you have to apply your best capabilities to complete them perfectly. In the ned, the marks you get in your theory (80 marks) decide your fate. Sometimes, if you get a lot of marks in theory, the teachers intentionally give you less for your project.
5. The most remarkable thing that I discovered in 2006 was BLOGGING. The credit for this goes completely to my cousin,Woodsmoke who introduced me to the fascinating world of blogs in July. Right from Wednesday evening, I start waiting for Friday afternoon because that's the time when I check my own blog and other blogs. It's always a welcome change after the first four busy days of the week.
6. Many significant events took place in my life this year which were concerned with things other than studies. Like, my parents' health detiorated a bit during May-June, but they recovered again during August. There were two tragic deaths which influenced the life of some of our close people terribly. We went to Goa during the Puja. Mammam was busy as ever in the first half of the year because of the Assembly Elections of Bengal. Baba got transferred back to Kolkata in April. My grandfather went through an eye operation in October. But the big change took place in my studies. All the above mentioned events took place. They brought with them different phases. Ultimately, we were able to overcome the bad phases and usher in the good ones. Last week, I won my last battle of this year when Baba was forced to buy a new mobile handset(coloured). I kept on telling him to buy a new one because his previous mobile had become very common with drivers and rickshaw-pullers. He didn't pay any heed, but that mobile had grown old and refused to work anymore. So, it meant victory for me.
I wish all of you, who are reading this blog, a Belated Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. May all your dreams come true and may you be successful in the coming year.