Examination halls

The carpenter comes to class to work on some tables

I remember all the unhinged chairs in the front rows,

pencils and scales in the middle rows,

chits that flew as airplanes in the last rows.

Between these rows, I have managed to complete some years.

The carpenter gets his saw and says that the desk needs to be cut.

Empty it of all things important.

How do I tell him that it is already empty;

it is the desk which is important.

He switches the machine on and I ask him one last question,

something which the world so readily asks me every time I plunge into action

- "are you sure?"

He laughs at this.

His grey eyes laugh a shade brown

and I cannot help but wonder if that is the color of my desk 

or my insecurity.

He says "I have been doing this for 25 years now.

It’s nothing new.

A new batch of desks will be dispatched."

I look at him with all the wood I could muster.

Can you drill it up?

He says “drilling holes is not something I do often; that you learn in classrooms.

I only use my saw to make things right.”

This generation is just scribbling texts on paper

hoping that one day they will become textbooks.

I am Writing long answers

to make sure my future bio does not read failure.

This generation walks in examination halls with pens

made from a company called difference of opinion

yet the marking scheme reads your opinion does not matter

They swagger in the halls well prepared,

but if you see their shaking heads, rebellious specs and nervous hands,

you might be able to catch change.

And change is that kid, that desk, that invigilator, that lost bottle,

who you always forget.

Always. 

I can tell you a lot of differences when I walk in and walk out of halls

and yet I cannot remember any difference.

I think change stays put in examinations halls,

sits there like a quiet child,

bends over the desk

to hear the noise inside the hollow wood.

And then it smiles.

We are all acting as if we all are in examination halls,

and a bell will ring

and someone will come to collect our papers

and we will have our worst fears come true.

That we leave questions unanswered- Or worse- blank papers.