Shooting Straight: The art of copying

As a student, I was always into watching movies, reading novels and comic books. So I never had the inclination to study. But being under tremendous pressure from my parents to secure good marks, I had no choice but to cheat in my exams.

I went through hours of planning and found out some impressive tricks to help me cheat. Every bad student has gone through a situation where there’s just too much syllabus to cope up with and too little time to take out from other interesting pursuits such as films and girls. In such a scenario, the only thing one is left with is to just forget morals and “cheat” my way to the so-called good marks.

I was aware of the chances of getting caught. But to fulfil my malicious intentions, I learnt a few things from a few masters of the game and I even invented a few tricks myself.

I used to note important points on one side of a medium or small eraser. The writing would be tiny but legible. I used to keep the eraser on the table in full view with the written side face down. I would turn it when the invigilator was not looking. In another trick, I would note the main points on my nails in code and I would fold my fingers in with my fist face down. Every once in a while I would study my nails as if I am deep in thought.

Also, in those days the desks in schools and colleges used to be all scribbled up. I would take advantage of this to write up my coded notes days in advance. I would also make small chits with all the required content and place them inside my shoes, under my socks. Then I would pretend to scratch my foot, while taking them out.

These methods worked very effectively at least for me because I was never caught. But there were others in my class who were not as lucky as me.

Having made my criminal confessions about cheating, I want to address one complaint against all parents and teachers for their obsession with students securing good marks. “Teachers and parents, it’s your emphasis on us securing good marks that makes us cheaters. Instead, if you concentrated on making us understand that the point of education is to get educated and good marks is just a proof and not the main point, things could have been different.”

I don’t remember my parents or my teachers educating me even once about the purpose of education. That’s because they were too busy looking at grades and marks of course.