(While the year has been a difficult one for the world, there has been occasional happiness and moments of peace that made 2020 worthwhile. Through 'Good News 2020', we want to focus on the positives that helped us overcome. Simranjeet Kaur shares what made her year worthwhile.)
The year began with a fear shared by every teenager – Board Exams. With this scare already brewing, there was another universal enemy approaching, too new to hear about i.e., coronavirus.
There was a sort of universality in the things we experienced, be it the deadly virus or the uncertainty regarding annual results. I could sense the tense environment at home all day long. Gradually, my family members started to relax, but only when it came to the ongoing COVID crisis.
Regardless, there was an ominous silence around the house, because in their hearts, they knew that this year was not special; in fact, it could get more disastrous. But nobody knew that the month that tested us with scorching heat and sweat was going to be actually delightful.
It was 13 July and everyone was busy doing their chores, like washing and cleaning the vegetables bought from the street vendor (the fear of the ugly virus was real) to online classes and Netflix shows.
It was already 1 pm by the time I got news of our results being declared. I frantically searched with my roll number and birth date but found nothing. Yes, the CBSE website, where the result had to be declared, had crashed. I had to wait till 5 pm, when someone from my school circulated a list released by the CBSE.
I wept as I saw my score on the list. I was a fool, I read it wrong! It was only when a friend called and congratulated me that I realised I had scored a 98.2 percentile!
I was more than just happy. It was all aligned in a way so fictional, as if it were a series playing out in reality. I could not believe myself. My life was filled with treatment so special, that I was on cloud nine!
Thanks to the almighty, at least there was something good!
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