A writing pad, compass box full of pen, pencil, sharpener and eraser, all tucked away in a plastic bag! Final exam. Easy subjects, difficult subjects, and some real scary subjects. Last minute revision. A game of cricket with the writing pad in and around the assembly hall. Prompting, hinting and reminding questions that were “important” and would “surely come in the question paper. Haw, you didn’t prepare for it?!” A new classroom to write the exam opposite an unknown studen...t from another grade. Butterflies in the stomach while question papers were distributed, and then glancing through the question paper with eagerness to see if the preparations bore fruit. Counting the marks on-the-spot for all answers that were known! And the countdown to the last day of the final exam that appeared to be real far! And when the last day of the final exam happened, the clock appeared to tick very slowly! And then a gush of excitement? And then head straight to the ground for games of cricket, football and freedom! It all happened decades ago. Somewhere in the by-lanes of TPS III, Linking Road, Bandra.