Avneet Kaur
Jalandhar, May 24
The son of a vegetable vendor, Saurabh Behal, who passed his Class XI exams in the commerce stream with 92 per cent marks, said he was excited to attend his school, meet teachers and friends after the declaration of his results. But Covid-19 played a spoilsport as he received his results through WhatsApp.
“I had always heard this from my elders that things never go in a way we plan. For the first time, I believed that it is true,” he said, adding that getting promoted to Class X and XII is always special and a bit stressful. This time, the feeling is hard to explain.
A student of Government Model Senior Secondary School, Ladowali Road, Saurabh said though this pandemic has been helpful in healing nature and teaching lessons for life to many people, losses to many in their businesses and the plight of migrants have disappointed him.
“For the first time, I have been attending online classes. I haven’t spent so much time using the mobile phone and exploring e-content in my life. This is all like a new learning experience for me,” he added.
On being asked how he has been utilising the lockdown period, Saurabh said he has devoted fixed hours to his studies. Besides, he has been discovering new websites and YouTube channels that provide knowledge about entrepreneurship.
He said he wishes to become an entrepreneur to give his family a good life and help his father manage the family expenses.
Divulging details about his routine, he said, “I wake up early in the morning to help my father Rajesh Behal arrange his vegetable rehri (cart). Thereafter, I get ready and have my breakfast. Later, I attend online classes. In the day, I give some time to self-study and play online games. In the evening, I complete my assignments given by teachers and Google about multinational companies, their set up and stories of their CEOs.”
“These are testing times. Many students, including me, are worried as the academic calendar has gone for a toss. We have no idea when things will normalise. We don’t get anything by taking stress,” he added.
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