Diary Entry – 54
Every morning I fight a battle which I often tend to lose. Failing
to win this battle will mean a lack of attendance. The victors of this battle however will see
no glory. They will only find themselves slain in class by the boring lecturer.
Coffee doesn’t give you invincibility against these villains. Expecting such
powers will only make you want to file a lawsuit against Nescafe for misleading you.
This battle is impossible to win, when there is a class
at 9 Am. I find myself with the sleeper’s dilemma as I try to decide whether or
not to go to class 10 minutes before the actual class.
“To go, or not to go? That is the question.”
I have tried various alarm tones to wake myself up from my
slumber. I have used everything from barking dogs to Indian mantras. Nothing
worked till one morning afternoon after missing a class, I did a Google
Search, “I Can’t Wake Up.” When you have a problem, you should first tell it to
Google. That is how I found this app for my phone called “I Cant Wake Up!” When
your alarm goes off, the app asks you to perform a math test among other things
before you can switch off your alarm or even press the snooze button. The math
test requires you to multiply two pairs of two digit numbers together and add them
up together. I can now perform speed mental math in my sleep. How I miss
Chennai. The 8 Am power cut along with the scorching heat made sure that nobody over slept in the city. That is why you should vote for Jayalalitha.
Unlike India, you can’t get people to give you a proxy
attendance in the UK. In the University I am in, there is a lady whose sole purpose
in life is to stand in front of the class room, for the first 15 minutes, to
get signatures from students for their attendance. If you miss your attendance,
she just won’t mark you absent but will send you an email saying, “We don’t have
your signature in the attendance sheet. What was the reason?”. Since I don’t like
lying about being in class when I was not, I send her a neutral reply saying, “I
failed to sign in the attendance because I woke up late.” She will reply
saying, “Okay I will mark you as late but present. Please know that punctuality
is as important as attendance.” My mother had it right when she said, I could
never get into trouble if I am honest.
