All the best !!!

My little one ( he doesn’t like being referred that though and he is taller than me now, 2 inches taller than me) went for his board exams today. And very strangely I felt so tensed. And today was Language Paper I. The Language he has chosen is French and it is not too tough to learn it nevertheless, my sunno, who is called Denno, Dennu, Denny by family and formally as George, finds French a little difficult. His complete nomenclature ( ooops the effect of his subjects is rubbing on me) is George Dennis Joseph.

I clearly remember Joe, my wonderful husband, walking into the room where I was at home, in my parents place and asking me as lightly as “ do you have change for Rs.100?” “ What shall we name our baby?” and I don’t remember who among us suggested it, I think it is him,  the name Dennis. The George and the Joseph part were permanent fixations to his name, for which as parents we didnt have much choice, as the former belongs to Joe’s father and Joseph was the sunno’s fathers’ name. So we wanted to break this vicious cycle of George and Joseph doing rounds in the coming generation and we thought we will make a suitable addition in the form of a middle name to ensure that our baby has a complete name (ie.,) First Name, Middle Name and Last Name. In the confusion we missed the house name which happens to be Mundakkattu, fortunately for the child. And Joe’s people were the non-fussy type who didn’t question us on why the family name was not added to Dennu’s name. That reminds me when our marriage bands were read out, the grooms name was read out as Joseph Mundakkattu, different people in the church heard it as different names – one hilarious one was Mundakannan Joseph, which roughly and quite decently translated as big-eyed Joseph.

Ha! There I go.. Yet another digression from the main topic of Dennu taking his board exams !

Coming back to our topic,

Dennu was quite cool even this morning, always a smug look on his face, which said what’s all this hungama you guys are creating around me? Good in one way. I went as usual for the Mass. Today’s mass was offered for all the children who are taking up boards from today and specially George Dennis Joseph, Rachel, Akansha, Tejus, Kevin, Nivetha, Frank, Richard, Ricky and Abdul. I don’t know why I was moved to tears when I was praying for him and the other kids today. ( I am making this an habit at church, need to cut this down!).

And Dennu was being smothered by calls from his grandparents, grandaunts, uncles, aunts, cousins and honestly he was getting tired of it. Last Saturday my parents were home and they prayed for him and “ Kurisu varachu “ ( making the sign of the cross on his forehead) and he gave them sthuthi, ( saying praise to the Lord) The ritual was done by Kuru Uncle and Mary Aunty on Sunday after mass. My Mom-in-law called and wished Dennu followed by shaju and Jincy. Viju, Supriya, jerry, Jeffrey, Vitty and Navneeth, Jancy Chechi, Anita and Anwin called and wished him on Sunday itself. There were also calls from my cousins and Aunts ( Dennu’s grand aunts)

Yesterday Petula called and reminded me to read Psalm 91 before going for the exams. Some repeat calls were also there. Jane, Pauline, Khan and Jigie had called – some wished me and others Dennu. This morning again, Mary Aunty, anita’s mom, Rachel and Leena had called. All of them wished Dennu and I was wondering if Dennu would have received so many calls even for his wedding :-)

The best was yet to come. When Leena called, BTW, Leena is my cousin and has three daughters Reshma, Sushma and Swetha, the kids could not wish him and they had booked their time with Dennu in the morning itself. Sushma gave a warning to Dennu – you better don’t score anything more than 80% - I got only 83% and I heard Dennu say Sorry to disappoint you. And that was the final wishing call. For Today.

I was jokingly telling Joe this morning, for the kind of wishes and prayers that are pouring in, Dennu should be getting 110 out of 100 in every subject. Ah, my parents will be in church until Dennu finishes his exams everyday. :-)

And hence, we left home after praying and Dennu reading the Psalm 91.

Dennu seemed to have done French Paper I well. After all these years, it’s a little difficult to assess what that “ Done Well” means. Shame on me. Anyway, Rachel and Frank told me that the kids in their school ( SBOA and DonBosco) found French a little difficult but Ms.Monica, Dennu’s French Teacher confirmed that the paper was pretty easy.
After the exams, much to the discomfort of Dennu, Joe and I were waiting for him outside the school, it was nice to meet his classmates and most children identified me as George's mom. Felt nice - a change is always good. Vincy Joseph transitioned into George's mom. Am I revelling at all the domesticity / domestication a couple of weeks of leave has brought in?

Its one down today and 10 more to go. My frayed nerves ( in the morning) seem to cool down a little and I hope each of these papers are easily tackled by these children.

Infact, I was wondering at the end of the day today, I have taken so many examinations in my life and never was I this tensed.

Is this called Trying Times? And I thought I will just add a picture that I clicked on Monday 21st March when Dennu decided to study outdoors, perched on a compund wall behind the house. He hates to pose for pictures, especially clicked by me, so I had to take this snap without his knowledge from the first floor balcony. Cute.