Hello, Akka (sister)

It has been a long since I wrote you a letter. 2 months to be exact. A lot has happened in this time. The virus, the pandemic has affected a lot of people. And they say it would only increase. Do you remember the guy two houses from ours, the one with the cleft lip? His father was affected. His house was locked. His dad was taken to the hospital. I couldn’t talk to the boy. But I heard that his father was recovering.

How are you Akka? We are fine here. Amma (mother) wants to go out but you know Appa (dad). He becomes so much paranoid with all this news. Appa’s business is dull now because of the situation. Even our schools are closed. First, they tried to postpone the final exams. But then today they took a different stand….

Sorry, Akka too many mistakes, strikethrough, and the ink started bloating.

Yeah, the government took a different stand. They declared that everyone has passed the final exams. And the marks are gonna be averaged off the previous exams. I am sure I will get a pretty decent percentage. After the news was released most of my classmates messaged in our group. (And yeah we have a Whatsapp group.). They all felt happy. No stress of exams, no stress of results, everyone passed. Even I was happy. But I was not completely happy.

Yes, happiness had a flaw. There was another emotion too. I felt this decision was unfair. Yes unfair with respect to the previous batches. The students senior to me were pushed to score well in the final exam, they were taught that this exam defines the whole life. And one mistake everything topples over. But now we could get promoted to high school even without writing the finals.

Akka, this feels so unfair. If they could cancel all the exams now and promote everyone. Why couldn’t they promote the student earlier? They could’ve considered the average marks of previous exams and promoted the students. Because a lot could’ve been changed. A lot of life could’ve been saved. Students need not be stressed, depressed, or suffered due to anxiety. And most of all I would’ve had my Akka with me. Rather than this ragdoll made out of your old clothes. It was just 2 marks. That’s all it had to be.

Akka, this is so unfair. I did prepare for the finals. I studied well. No, no Appa didn’t push me. He never punishes me (at least after you). I studied on my own, for you.

Akka, don’t worry I will do well in my high school. I will take care of our family. I will.

With Love,

Thambi. (younger brother)

P. S: Many more happy returns of the day. I have hidden your gift in our usual place.