In the last hour....

This is my contribution to Sunday Scribblings #36 - "In the last hour..."

It was a typical summer. The scorching heat and the frequent power cuts were the norm. The sun was shining bright and the rays had already entered Ravi's room. Ravi was in deep slumber after a night of continuous studies. This had been the case ever since the study holidays began. Today was the first exam and the one he dreaded the most - System modeling and simulation. Though he had prepared well, he always had the feeling that he was going to forget everything in the examination hall. The prickly rays woke him up. He stretched himself and looked at the clock. "Oh my God! It's 9 AM. I have to reach my college by 10 AM. What am I gonna do? Why the hell did my alarm clock didn't ring?". He tapped his clock wildly as though he was going to travel back in time. But nothing of that sort could happen. Slowly the reality dawned on him. He has just an hour to reach the exam hall and his mansion is 45 minutes away from his college.

Ravi quickly got dressed in 5 minutes and grabbed his bag. He rushed out to take a bus. Adding to his misery, he couldn't get any buses to his college for the next 15 minutes. "Sir, what is the time?", he asked the person standing next to him in the bus stop. "You have asked this 10 times in the past 15 minutes. Are you rushing to see your girl friend?", yelled the irritated fellow.

Time was flying and he just had 40 minutes in hand. There were no signs of the incoming bus. He couldn't hire an auto as he didn't carry enough cash in his wallet. He tried to get a lift in the cars zooming past him. But no one even gave a glare towards him. Getting frustrated, he kicked the stone post only to get his leg hurt.

It was 9.30 and he decided to start walking towards N.G. circle, hoping to get a bus coming from other directions. He tried to get a lift while walking swiftly towards the circle. A kind old man stopped his car and offered him a lift. To his agony, there was a huge traffic jam near the N.G. circle. There had been a protest and a group of people shouting some slogans were walking slowly across the road. "Why can't they walk fast? When will this jam clear up?", Ravi was shouting from the top of his voice. The old man stared at him but didn't dare to talk to him.

He was just a few kilometres away from his college when he realized it was 9.50. "Can you please drive faster? I'm getting late for my exam", Ravi asked the old man. "I'm not supposed to drive at a speed more than 50 km/hr on this road, son", the old man replied in a calm manner. "Who the hell sets all these stupid rules and why would anyone want to follow it so strictly?", Ravi cribbed to himself. It was 9.58 while he reached his college gate. He thanked the old man and ran towards the fourth floor of the building. There were four rooms allocated for third year students. He wasn't aware of which room he need to go to. He opened his bag to take the hall ticket where his registration number was printed.

Only then he realized, he forgot to bring his hall ticket which was lying on top of his study desk.