#and then i had to check with the invigilators where my seat was because i couldn’t on my phone

[jasonsmirrorball]

you guys. you will not believe the day i’ve had and it isn’t even mid afternoon

[heeheesang]

𝔂𝓪𝓷𝓰 𝓳𝓾𝓷𝓰𝔀𝓸𝓷—𝓻𝓾𝓶𝓸𝓾𝓻𝓼 𝓪𝓷𝓭 𝓻𝓸𝓪𝓼𝓽𝓼

𝔂𝓪𝓷𝓰 𝓳𝓾𝓷𝓰𝔀𝓸𝓷—𝓸𝓭𝓭 𝓸𝓷𝓮 𝓸𝓾𝓽

sypnosis : girl named kim yn, debuts under hybe with a ton of attention, making her stand out from the rest. she thought it was fine at first, until she was caught off guard and caught in a scandal with one of the groups in hybe labels.

warnings! cursing & innapropriate jokes (at certain chapters)

"yn! please come out! we're gonna help you, please!" i heard ni-ki screaming along with heavy footsteps running back and forth.

i let out silent sobs, too wrecked to even come out of where i had been hiding. i heard them yelling my name, heck i even heard the manager yelling for me. i took in a deep breath only to let out a loud sob, catching myself off guard and the people around me.

"yn unnie.." minju said as she hugged me tightly and rubbed my back as i cried on her shoulder.

"you found her, yn..." the girls soon gathered around and hugged me as they called out the rest who were also finding for me.

they led me to the dance studio before we all hugged and they comforted me, telling me that this was a phase that i should just ignore. but how could i ignore it when there were literally fans who were making fun of me, using my old pictures and drawing pictures on them.

"ynnie, look at me." haerin said as she cupped my face and let out a big smile, "yn, this is going to go away very soon. they're just jealous of all your achievements and what they could not do, you did. they don't see what we see in you, you have a ton of potential yn."

"i agree, you're all perfect one by one. yn, they're just attacking you even more because of your leadership. just like i had it, they hated me and kept saying mean things to me until they were tired because i didn't even pay attention to them." jungwon agreed to haerin's sentence and opened his arms.

i hugged him abd we wobbled from side to side as he calms me down, i was for sure going to get made fun of my ni-ki and eunchae later on for having this moment. jungwon gave really warm hugs, he really did.

after a while, i moved on from the situation, or i forced myself to, so we could have our party started before everyone left. there were tons of people, ni-ki, jungwon and sunoo from enhypen, eunchae and kazhua from le sserafim, haerin and hanni from newjeans and my own group.

we ordered food delivery that came in ten minutes and we ate it all up while getting to know one another. we played mafia in a circle and the circle went like this, me, jungwon, haerin, minju, ni-ki, haruka, isabella, eunchae, hanni, kazuha, sunoo, hanni, doyeon and back to me. doyeon was the invigilator of the game.

the mafias were unknown, i was the doctor, and the two policemen were unknown. we started off the game well until one by one, everyone around me started dieing.

"yn's mafia! i'm telling you!" ni-ki yelled out loud dramatically and i threw my plushie at him, "it's not me!"

"then what are you, ynnie?!" eunchae asked as they all laughed at how i was super defensive.

"i have a role but i'm not the mafia!"

"so what's your role then?!"

"if i say it i'm going to die..!"

"she's definitely the mafia!"

"no no, she's a civilian! i can vouch for her!" jungwon yelled amongst the crowd and they all 'oo'-ed.

"backing up for you girlfriend huh?" haerin teased as i got up my seat just to hit her shoulder.

"no no seriously! i checked her role!"

"what if they're both mafias?"

"we're not oh my god?!?!?"

"it's—"

"NISHIMURA RIKI SAY ONE WORD AND I'M UNFRIENDING YOU EVERYWHERE." i protected my role as well as jungwon's and ni-ki cried out laughing with the others.

but in the end, jungwon and i were voted out together. jungwon and i gasped at who the mafias were, unsurprisingly, it's ni-ki of course, with eunchae. wow.

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yjw masterlist

taglist : open!

@clairecottenheart

[journeyanddream]

The Finale

The anticipated feeling of liberation did not come after the cessation of section one. I sat motionlessly staring into blank complexion, trying to make sense of the havoc that was section one. I slowly melted into the seat and the table, deprived of energy and soul while waiting for the next section to begin. It was difficult to shift my mind, the lingering thought of failure and incompetence was heavy; I didn’t do bad but nor did I do well. 

I remember I was stuffed with the urge to empty my bladder and after signalling the invigilator, I was kindly declined twice. ‘When the announcement finishes, you can go’...it wasn’t true. After the announcement, there was no time to go and section had already started. Despite having emptied my bladder only two hours prior, it was now filled again...perhaps due to a combination of stress and caffeine. What could have lasted me six to seven hours usually only lasted two hours at that moment. There was no time to think. I pressed on and let my biological functions take a backseat. 

As I flipped open the booklet and examined the quotes, I brainstormed like I always did: with purpose and with passion. Until that point, I’ve written roughly sixty essays across roughly 3 months, not impressive but not an easy task to take on. Borrowing from past experiences, I engineered the paragraphs and ideas within the ten minutes: change and ambition. Ideas poured out my heads and gave life to my hands, jotting down phrases furiously, without a pause. Twenty minutes into the task, I was already finishing up conclusion; a task that I would look back with satisfaction. Task B was less well developed compared to its counter part, but nonetheless a good piece; although better ideas and sentence structures could be incorporated to make it more authentic, interesting and stand out more. One hour lapsed so quickly, it resembled more like 20 minutes. With the end of section two, marked half point of Gamsat. I knew I could have done alot better, but given what I had I was happy with the outcome: both section one and two. 

‘Section three is where we shine’. I said to my teammates during lunch, this is by far the most extensively prepared section by me, I’ve reached out to the best mentor and had the most well developed resources at my command - all summed up in four months of work. I was read, I felt good. If anything one of these sections would get me in, it would be this. ‘Even if we don’t believe in ourselves, we gotta trust David; for his effort had made profound changes in each one of us.’ I added. The anxiety that surrounded me in previous sections flew away and was no where to be found; the power of confidence; the power of belief. Always trust the process and believe the progress; we’ve done the miles and gave our all, it is time to deliver. Much like Connor Mcgregor has said ‘I am confident in my preparation, and cocky in prediction..but I will be humble in victory or defeat.’ I guess MMA and Medicine are not that different after all. 

I sat myself comfortably in that familiar table and chair, waiting for the finale of Gamsat to unfold. After a round of routine procedures, the reading time was going to begin: we had started 2:00pm sharp (a rare scene) and was projected to finish 5:00pm on the dot. We were instructed to open the booklet and begin reading time. I flipped through the pages as usual, cherry picking the ‘easy marks’ and establishing a mental map of the where about of question. However, I knew something was different, something was wrong within the first ten pages I had viewed. The questions were out of style, different and unfamiliar to those I had practiced. There were few physical chemistry questions if at all and I could count all the organic chemistry questions with one hand - this is bad. The questions deviated from scientific knowledge dramatically, all the information was contained in the passage, the questions bordered on scientific concepts and in reality they asked you other things. I was uneasy about this change, what I thought would be an easy section soon turned to something really ugly. I wasn’t struggling. But I was doing it with 100% confidence. None of the questions required the use of ‘double swap rule’, ‘numbering arbitrarily’ or ‘tricks of acid and bases’. In fact, they were mostly reading comprehension encased in the context of science, but the question itself it hardly science. Knowing more science might have proven to be a disadvantage for that particular test. I pushed through and tried to do everything I could without jeopardizing other questions. 

The three pass technique was key to my preparation: doing all chemistry questions first, then biology and at last physics. I was able to finish get through all the chemistry and 85% of biology intermingled with some physics. When it was ‘times up’, I had attempted 90~95 questions, and guessed the remaining 10~15. The fastest I have attempted to date. When I was up to the 70/110 questions mark, my forehead was studded with sweat, my vision begun to deteriorate and a tension in the brow-line is slowly intensifying over the past 2 hours. My head begun to spin, plus the background dizziness and headache, I felt exhausted (The usual feeling of wanting to throw up，as if in the middle of motion sickness). I felt drained and my concentration begun to wane as well. I shook my head and told myself to  move on: so close to the finish line, If i give up right now It would be deleterious for all I had done prior. We have to move on, we must keep going.  As I lifted my head to check the time towards the end, there was 10~15 minutes remaining; the ‘suit guy’ sitting next to me leaned back with his arms folded and test paper closed - resting. I channeled my energy into the paper once again, planning to spend 10 minutes to do a few more questions before calling it a day and guess the remaining questions with all Cs (I do not want to make the mistake of finishing the exam and not leaving enough time to guess the left overs). 

“Times up, hold up your answer sheet!’ The announcer’s loud voice shattered the three hour silence, while marking the END of Gamsat 2018. After the announcement, myriad of sounds were heard: some exhaled deeply, others collapsed onto their table, and the rest did a combination of both. The unanimous sigh or exhale was extremely memorable. End of Gamsat also meant the end of our journey; I could finally let go of the boulder that crushed me for months. Regardless of the outcome, all the pain made that momentary liberation that much sweeter. “This is the end, I’m done’ I thought to myself. Once again I melted into the seats, mind blank and unable to think or process information - my brain had taken the beating and endured the suffering, alongside me, this is the rest it long deserved. Even as I am writing this, the end of a Gamsat journey still felt surreal. It was 5:30 pm when we were let go, candidates stormed out the hall that had housed thousands of us since 7 am this morning. Many people remained in clusters and chatted to their friends, the usual ‘post-exam talk’. I was no different. As I walked with fellow candidates, I couldn’t help but to complain about how DIFFERENT this exam was and how the entire four months of preparation did not help at all (other than fatigue training). “We could honestly spend two weeks studying and this pull off similar results”, a friend remarked. “I could have had a life, xx wasn’t in it, yy wasn’t in it..”, another mate added. At that moment, I wasn’t sure if i was satisfied, content because it is over or if I was angry about how it had turned out, faced with the prospect of yet another Gamsat - another failure. 

I am usually correct about the outcome of an exam, based purely on how I ‘felt’. Like the anatomy spot test that I walked out knowing I had absolutely aced everything - which turned out to be 96%. Or the final exam of 2406, where I walked out with confidence and happiness - a unit where I would go on to achieve 93 average mark. But this...was different. It wasn’t the ‘I know i failed’ from previous Gamsat nor the ‘I know I aced it’ confidence; It was neither, It was something in between - a mediocre score. I felt cheated - four months of preparation put in vain. I felt unsatisfied and guilty - not been able to give my A-game, and the possibility of another year of preparation. Gamsat has left a void in my life, feeling lost and unmotivated to get back to normal life; what should I do?. I spent the entire week after Gamsat in a semi-depressed, unmotivated state; wrote a rant email to David and even spoke to him on the phone while I received an emotional support therapy.

I guess no one will know for sure until the weighted (scaled) mark is released. I do not have to be the best, I have to be better than the average to beat the bell curve and come out victorious. No one will ever know for sure. But regardless of the outcome, like Jack has said “We will be better versions of ourselves”, and that is most important. The truth is, I’ve learned alot, I’ve gained tremendous insight compared to last time and I’ve indeed become better versions of myself - we have to convince ourselves, it is the learning process that is most valuable, the outcome is only a secondary reflection of the work we’ve put in. If we can’t get where we want to be, it only means we’ve not done enough, failure is not a reflection of character but effort. I will NOT give up, I will NOT be defeated, I WILL stand up and fight once again, and I WILL DO IT, surely and eventually. 

Until next time - Keep calm and GAMSAT on 

[swanirbhar]

After Weeks Of Online Classes At IIT, Here's The Truth

It is very likely that the next full semester (likely to start around mid-August for IIT-Bombay) will be "virtual" as campuses will continue to be locked down, and we will have to resort to online teaching. Due to this sudden fallback on the online mode, e-learning evangelists have found a new lease of life - they seek to build the credibility of the all-digital classroom by suggesting that it will quickly bring us "back to normal". In this article, I focus only on online remote teaching to students at home, not on the broader canvas of online education covering MOOCS, blended learning etc which may be effective and beneficial in their own context. 

Doing some form of academic activity online has been a learning experience for many of us on the IIT-Bombay faculty. We have familiarized ourselves with, and used, various video conferencing tools to conduct live (synchronous) lectures. We have also thought of new ways of collating course material, preparing digital-friendly notes and presentations, and experimenting with video recordings. But after the initial excitement wears off, it becomes monotonous and exhausting to talk to a computer screen with occasional interruptions by disembodied voices.

Most IITs are blessed with high-quality internet connectivity and uninterrupted power supply. But this is not true for students at home. Many students cannot afford high-speed internet access, a very significant section have homes in cities and towns that have electricity outages for many hours and where only mediocre-quality internet connectivity is available. Those from rural hinterlands are constrained by facilities worse than this. Further, while some students own laptops or even expensive tablets, there are many who do not. They depend upon desktop computers available on campus; at home, they have only only smartphones to connect to the internet.

Therefore, some students cannot attend live classes because their internet connection is poor or their devices do not have enough charge. For some, it is feasible only to download low-resolution video recordings or even just text notes. This is a big issue - of unequal access - and there is little that the institute can do to rectify it. Apparently, surveys are being conducted to find out what is the exact nature and extent of this problem for IIT students but the fact remains that there will be a significant difference in the quality of access - and, therefore, learning - that different groups of students will experience. A somewhat representative estimate of this digital divide can be obtained from this recent survey conducted by the University of Hyderabad. Of the 2,500 respondents, only 37% students said they could attend online classes; 18% said they could not. Over 90% said they would prefer to watch lecture recordings rather than attend live classes. The digital classroom is indeed far more unequal than the physical classroom.

The "classroom", in an online class, is far more impersonal than the physical one. It is not possible to "scan" all the students, peering out of their boxed windows on the screen, in one sweep; the larger the class size, the bigger this problem. Mostly, I could not see anyone's face in the windows because the video had been switched off. This "facelessness" accentuates the already impersonal ethos. In a physical classroom, there is eye contact with students. I see their facial expressions and body language, and use these visual cues to emphasize, repeat, reorient material in the middle of the lecture. In the online class, I could not figure out when to ask a question, and to whom, to check or provoke. I missed cues like the collective buzz of the students on some topic, the curious murmurs in one corner or too many students suddenly looking at each other with puzzlement! Discussions were much harder to sustain despite all sorts of provocations and multi-people interactions barely nucleated. At the end, one does not even know whether the lecture "went well" or it "was a disaster"!

One of the biggest advantages of the evergreen chalk-and-talk lectures is that usually the students are in sync with the instructor. The teacher writes and explains while the students make notes. The use of slides and presentations, or even graphics and videos, tends to be much more in online classes simply because sharing these audio-visual items is easier than having a proper "whiteboard" (needs a computer with a writing stylus, unless the teacher is in an e-classroom equipped with cameras and a real black/white board). Often, sharing material (screen-sharing) will "disembody" the teacher so that students are just staring at the presentation accompanied by a voiceover. The pace of teaching speeds up quite a bit "naturally" because of the already-written material on the presentations, the students "unsync" and are "lost". Perhaps a saving grace is that students can revisit recorded lectures again and again, whereas chalk-and-talk sessions are usually just a one-time presentation.

Of course, some of these defects can be controlled if the teacher consciously avoids these pitfalls but that is an extra burden on the teacher to be aware of with content delivery. Tips like breaking the lecture into chunks separated by some interactive activity are easier said than done. Imagine asking random students in (often faceless) boxes to answer a question or comment on something, and then asking some other random student to continue the discussion. In the physical classroom, I do this easily by looking at students to decide who should speak. Another suggestion often made in the context of online teaching is that teachers should curate existing "suitable" material rather than prepare their own. I think this is an inappropriate suggestion in that it ignores that teaching is an intensely personal "art", and preparing original content (other than the flair for delivery) is at the heart of the experience.

It is an irony worthy of rumination that even within the IITs, many times we have to "force" students to "participate" in a course. This is done either by making attendance compulsory or by scheduling regular tests, in a bid to ensure that students keep in touch with the course material. Some students say that these measures are to coerce them to participate in "boring" courses, and while this may be partially true, the deeper reasons for student disinterest has more to do with other factors. As I have argued in these columns, the effects of JEE coaching pedagogy - an obsession with "cracking" exams - and the disjunction between engineering domain knowledge and the kind of non-engineering jobs that students end up opting for, are the primary culprits. In the context of online teaching, student disinterest is exacerbated. Many of my colleagues and I have found that the attendance was lower, often much lower, than in a physical class. Of course, behind the student window on the computer screen, with video and audio switched off, one does not know what the students are actually doing. Are they even in their seats, listening? We often have a hard time getting students to stay away from their laptops and mobiles while in a regular lecture, and now in this scenario, it is impossible.

The problems in holding remote problem-solving sessions and group discussions are equally amplified because there is, in essence, a very poor learning environment. Chat boards and discussion fora simply cannot replace physical tutorials, recitations and even banter.

We also anticipate a severe problem with laboratory courses. It looks like we will be reduced to making videos of experiments and perhaps getting students to analyse dummy data. But there will be no hands-on work. For engineering education, where there is great justification for getting "hands dirty", this will be a great loss in learning.

Some instructors seem to think that the flipped classroom technique may be very useful in the current situation because it can avoid most of the lectures. Students can just read assigned material or watch pre-recorded videos and "attend class" only to clear doubts and indulge in "learned" discussion. It sounds cute on paper but works poorly in the ground. Ponder for a moment how many students, more so disinterested ones, will actually read or watch anything? Even at the best of times, getting students to actually learn by self-study (and even home assignments) so that they are in a state to indulge in meaningful discussion is hard. In the current situation, it becomes even more opportune for students to simply skip all study and prepare "at the last moment" for an exam.

The greatest bugbear of online teaching is assessment of students via exams or home assignments. The problem is one of integrity - how does one conduct assessment tests online that are devoid of copying and plagiarism? In the physical classroom, exams are proctored by teaching assistants and teachers; in the online system, this is very difficult to do. The tendency to use unfair means and in general indulge in unethical behavior "when no one is watching" ensures that unmonitored exams are quite useless for any kind of assessment. There are suggestions that students should take the exams in nearby schools or institutions where someone can be deployed to invigilate physically.

For the same reasons, take-home exams or home assignments will also not work as a means for assessment. Even as a regular practice, homework is given out mostly for students to practice; their weight towards the final grade is usually low because it is recognized that many submissions will contain plagiarized "cut and paste" passages or paraphrased material from someone else.

There is currently a lot of hype and hoopla in the market about software-enabled proctored online exams. Companies offer camera-based face and body tracking, device screen monitoring (what other apps are running on your machine), and frequent camera scans of surroundings. Some even tout the use of artificial intelligence to detect if you are doing "anything wrong" (monitoring facial expressions, lip twitches). Much of this is unproven and impractical, good only for sales pitches and science fiction. There are easy and sophisticated ways (remember how good we are at "jugaad"!) to beat all this highly invasive "surveillance".

In any case, the possibility of online exams stands defeated by the vagaries of electricity supply, the quality of the internet connection and the lack of suitable devices. A simple and viable option may be to hold exams only after the students return to campus.

It is good that we have online options but let us not kid ourselves into the illusion of normalcy. It is worrisome that despite ground realities of this sort, a sense of digital triumphalism seems to hang in the air. Tech-obsessed policy-makers, driven by arguments of "efficiency", low costs and scalability, are beginning to fantasize that in the post-Covid world, there may be no urgent need to build new schools and institutions; all that is needed are video recordings, artificially intelligent teaching bots - hosted on the internet - and a device to connect. 

(Anurag Mehra is a Professor of Chemical Engineering and Associate Faculty at the Center for Policy Studies, at IIT Bombay.)

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed within this article are the personal opinions of the author. The facts and opinions appearing in the article do not reflect the views of NDTV and NDTV does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same.

[journeyanddream]

A Day to Be Remembered: Continuing to Fight

25.03.2017 - Hall 5 & 6, Level 3, Sydney International Convention Centre (ICC), Darling Harbour NSW. 7:35am

As I made my way to the top of the stairs, it was a vast roof-top like open space with a few columns of unknown plants growing on the side. To the right of the stairs, there is a section of a building sticking out, with huge glass sliding door and some detector machines in front of it. Behind those glass doors, it was a long hallway with some rooms to the side but no one was inside; the doors also seemed to be locked. “Is this where the exam hall is?” and as i looked around i saw few people also waiting in the open area, all scattered around. It didn’t seem like any of my friends are here...people sat alone or with friends; some sat their quitely with their earbuds in; some gazed down at their phone and some were reading notes or chatting to friends. I took out my phone and checked the time “7:40am”...still early. The guy who led me up the stairs sat alone in a corner with his hoodie on with a “hard face” that says “leave me alone” so i decided to stay back. 

Unfortunately, as soon as i took the picture, my stomach started growling and rumbling, i had barely eaten or drank anything for breakfast to prevent something like this from happening and there it is, my best friend diarrhoea. The meme “Where would you be when diarrhoea strikes?” flashed through my mind and without any extrapolation, I bolted downstairs in search of the nearest anti-stomach ache chamber that usually has a bowl in it - the toilet. The place was humongous, with many entries and exits and where the hell is the toilet i thought...yet again i followed a guy who also looked remotely “busted” and without a second thought i succumbed to my instincts and followed him to wherever he was going! and he actually found one, amazing but unfortunately there was only one on the level and there were two other dudes waiting in front me...talk about a bad timing. The guy who i followed had lost patience and went away to find another toilet but I didn’t want to risk my precious position in lane so i stayed. After about 10 minutes of tormenting wait with a butt cramp it was finally my turn ...(graphical details removed). And during that 10 minute wait, I had managed to find a friend from Uni who was also taking the exam, our little conversation had at least made the stomach pain more bearable and to my surprise she had a neat trick up her sleeves - “A colourless glucose tablet dissolved in bottles of water”, because gamsat do not allow any coloured drinks to be brought in, but this is an absolute genius idea! You could replenish your energy during exam if you needed with those glucose water and they are COLOURLESS! so doing that next time. Thanks friend! If you ever read this.

After I finished my business with the chamber it was already “7:55am” and we were ready to make an entourage. Just outside hall 5 and 6 , there were streams of people cramped up into a big hallway but the sheer amount of students made it feel tiny. By my estimate, there were approximately 2000 students in that venue on that day (HOLY SH*T). “Get out your admission ticket and your proof of identify, you will be going in very shortly” the invigilator spoke with loud, clear voice. Immediately after, the hallway broke into a mini frenzy as everyone reached into their bags and four giant lanes were formed simultaneously. I moved swiftly into the line: holding my ID and admission ticket on one hand and writing equipment on the other with a water bottle in between my arms. And at this moment, my heart started racing, my breathing became shallow and hasty...i was nervous and scared...”This is it i guess, months of preparation all boiled down to this moment, i cant believe i am actually here!” i peaked into the exam hall that was guarded by 4 invigilators who were checking IDs and admission tickets. It was a huge grey coloured exhibition hall (somewhere between 200m x 150m dimension), comparable to that of a football/rugby field. 

As i moved closer, the view got clearer. The exhibition hall was a dull grey color overall. The venue was separated into two distinct section by a lane of tables: the exam area and the bag area. The bag area is the first thing we came in contact with upon entry, rows of tables were set up along the bag area that allowed us to put our belongs as the only items allowed in were: ID, water water (with no label), admission ticket, pencils, rubber, pen (with no plastic sleeves), glasses (without case) and watches are extensively check to ensure they are non-digital and non-programmable. The area between exam area and bag area was again guarded by two invigilators who checked your belongings, admission ticket and ID. As i was putting down the bag, i met another uni friend. I told him i was nervous and all of these felt surreal...this had to be the most daunting, serious, large-scaled exam i have taken so far. To be immersed in a such open space with thousands of people, all taking the same test that will determine where and who you will be for the rest of your lives, and it is also the culmination of months, maybe years of hardwork, preparation and torment into one single entity and it would not be far too fetched to say: This is a peak into your future and in fact this is where we are actively creating one. I can not say for sure if i was prepared...i had doubt. Whether it is balancing heavy university workload or GAMSAT stress, it hadn’t been easy this whole time but there was nothing to be done anymore, i was there to take it, regardless of i like it or not. “I am going to get it like tiger, pounding and attacking” i mumured. 

(the above photo was sourced from internet as it was not allowed to take any pictures of the exam venue, but the test was held in the exact same hall as the one above, except the image was taken in a non-exam setting)

After making through to the second gate of invigilators, after putting down our belongings, i was greeted by four large pannels of board that designated where area you will be sitting. Mine was 462. As there were thousands of students, it was necessary to separate all two thousand something seats into sub groups and each subgroup had 15-20 people, governed and looked after by its own examiner. In front of each group, there was a small white board, a drinking fountain, a clock and a desk where your invigilator will sit. After making my way to the designated area, we were instructed to “sign up” with the invigilator at the front with your ID, admission ticket and belonging (that’s the third and last check). The invigilator was a middle-aged indian woman with a friendly smile in a yellow vest. She looked carefully at my ID and then at me...she scratched my ID lightly to ensure there were “glued on photo” and it was not “someone else’s photo”...interesting. I handed her the admission ticket and a blue highlighter mark was made across my ticket as a signal for “attended 1st section” and a seat number was finally given: “20″. So i was group 462, seat 20. She checked everything i had brought into the venue and asking “Any watches? any ruler and highlighter? and can i see what on that hand?” ...”just a jumper” i replied. After rounds of tough interrogation i was finally let go back to my seat. - To be continued.