The mighty clouds (Part I ..)

It was one of those murky mornings which must have indubitably crossed paths with most of the eggheads reading this post. Sleep had eluded me like an estranged lover the entire night. I haplessly marveled at the prerogative of examinations that can turn even a narcoleptic like me into such an insomniac.

Yes, all you rocket scientist have hit it on the nail. It was nothing less than horror when I found myself vis a vis the day, I was supposed to give my "graphics" paper tomorrow. I didn't have an innate talent for calculating angles, manipulating 'potentials of energy' or determining  'kinetics of work'. At that very moment, I had detested Mr Einstein, whose permed hairs and comical stories were the the sole reason that I had chosen to be a mechanical engineer.

I went out in the garden to perk up my dejected soul. Birds were whining the lugubrious songs of lost love. Finding it difficult to chew over the greek sculptures in the sheet, I looked up at the clouds in oblivion. In the limbo of lost dreams, I managed to conceive an elephant like figure in the clouds. Sometimes I wonder if the mystery behind people always conjuring an elephant out of clouds, or juvenile kids always beginning their venture in the painting world with a neat picture of setting sun, will ever be unraveled.

Allow me to skip the chronological turn of events and jump directly to late evening when it all actually started. My momma was yelling at me for supper and I shot back with " you guys have it and sleep. Don't bother asking me". This act of rebellion, at any other time, would have been considered nothing short of blasphemy. But even my mother pitied me for my condition.

Against the run of play, came the word about the papers being leaked. The news was like a new lifeline to my dying spirit. I have a strong network of friends who never fail me in such scheme of things. I confirmed the news, found out a trustworthy source from whom I could grab a copy and proceeded to execute my master-plan.

Let me tell you that it takes nothing less than a lot of courage and death of self conscience to break into your parent's room and to plunder cash from your mother's purse. But I could envision my doom and after having suffered the repeated ignominy of kicking in the dirt, this seemed the only resort. It was difficult to come to terms with my course of actions and I had sworn to tell my parents everything once I get my results. In next hour or so, I had that magic paper in my hand....