Darkness

Sahithi recovered quickly; after all she was resourceful. She couldn’t afford to fail, so she glanced at what she had written so far – she had attempted the maximum number of questions. It was not difficult to pass; in fact it might be difficult to fail her. But she hid her true feelings and stopped writing. It was just the beginning of a long session of exams that left her emotionally drained. For the next fortnight she was fighting hard to juggle several devastating emotions at once: focus on preparing for the next exam while being made fun of, focusing on finishing the exam while she was groped by the invigilator, enduring the ignominy of having to walk to the exam department completely naked and fetch her dress – it was not something she had bargained for, yet, it was not possible for her to avoid it.

“What good is a good future, if your present is being destroyed systematically?” she asked herself one day as she handed over her answer booklet to the invigilator. “Why can’t I simp