Vanity

It was exam time- second year, fourth semester of my Engineering. There were five days between the previous exam and the next one. Now, Metallurgy was a subject I was supremely confident I could score well so I basically loafed off the five days instead of studying. When I looked at the question paper, it dawned on me that the answers were vaguely familiar but not familiar enough. That was the first and last time I ever flunked in a paper- the lesson was learnt. I wrote this as soon as I came home from the exam hall.

Vanity (30-8-94)

Five days at stretch were spent in vain,
In sport and flights to fairy lands,
In indolence and indifference,
And marches with satanic bands.
Did slumber on the dusting books
Bring from untouched pages wrath?
God knows. But, I could plainly see
Each passing moment point at me
And cry- “For shame O boy,
Thou lets me pass and do not care
What my coming brethren bear!”
And surely its successors brought
Ugly gifts and said to me:
“The fault, the fruit are both with thee”.
“The fault, the fruit are both with thee”.