First Cut-off blues by Neeraj V Murali

First Cut-off blues

Waiting for the to-be-released first-cutoff list is worse than waiting for your board results. I believe most of us can accurately gauge the range within which we will score, right? Of course, there are exceptional cases wherein an expected 80% boomerangs to 95% or glides down smoothly to settle at 72%. However, after the first few bursts of euphoria, you begin to have trepid moments. Even after having scored a comfortable 90%+, uncertainty hovers around you. Some 3 lakh applicants and just 54000 seats, isn’t it an unequal ratio?

On top of that, news pours in about how thousands of students have scored above 90% and are vying for the popular courses. Your confidence falls a notch below. You feel as if your whole life has been a white lie. At every juncture, you’ve told that inevitably, you should work hard till twelfth grade and then, you’ll have a golden life ahead. Golden life, eh? The only golden moment is perhaps, with your scores, you can tape nagging relatives’ wily mouths. Else, you realize that your destiny is papered down with stressful events and a pressurized life.

The open days perhaps serve as the best booster to your confidence.  You assure yourselves with the fact that perhaps, the competition isn’t so high and you might bag a seat. Tense moments return with some friends asking you to lend an ear to their voracious complaints. Usually, it is a well-prepared rant against their parent, the CBSE, the teachers, the examiners, the school watchman and in fact, anyone. For, they had scored a low score just because of these anti-student forces, but not because they hadn’t even cared to study.

However, as the days pass quickly, you find yourself forgetting about the cut-offs. You adopt a carefree attitude and shrug your shoulders every time someone mentions impending doom. After all, is it worth worrying so much about the future? All the same, as the first cut-offs are released, you sit back and wonder whether it was worth waiting for this disastrous surprise. Perhaps, inwardly, you had expected it – every college posted 98s’ & 97s’. Why, some had 100 as the required percentile!

You just let yourself be swathed away in waves of ultimate misery and desolation. Ah! But, it is hard to be born and succeed in India, eh? Stripped of every comfortable feeling, you devoutly hope the colleges will be compassionate enough in the next cut-off. Hopefully, you will pass through this agony unscathed and in late-August, be seated in a college and course of your choice!

Good Luck, newbies! This is an agonizing experience, but a memorable one too! Keep your eyes peeled for the cut-offs and hope for the best!