Date: 14/03/2022 Shift: 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM Q. No: 45

Mani was beginning to look worried by the thought of the examinations and dogged the steps of the school clerk. There was a general belief in the school that the clerk knew all the question papers of all the classes. One day Mani went to the clerk’s house and laid a neat bundle containing fresh brinjals at his feet. The clerk was pleased and took Mani in and seated him on a stool.
The clerk looked extremely amiable and Mani felt that he could ask anything at that moment and get it. The clerk was murmuring something about his cat, a lank ill fed thing, that was nestling close to him.
Most of what he was saying did not enter Mani’s head. He was waiting to open the topic of question papers. The clerk had meanwhile passed from cats to eye-flies; but it made little difference to Mani, who was waiting for the other to pause for breath to launch his attack. ‘You must never let these eye-flies buzz near your eyes. All cases of eyesore can be traced to it. When you get eyesore, the only thing you can do is to take a slice of raw onion…’ continued the clerk.
Mani realised that the other would not stop and butted in, ‘There is only a week more for the examinations sir……’
The clerk was slightly puzzled : ‘Yes. Indeed, a week more …… Mani tried to look pathetic. ‘You see, sir, I am so worried, I don’t sleep at nights, thinking of the examination …… ’ If you could possibly tell me something important….. I have such a lot to study. I don’t want to study unnecessary things that may not be necessary for the examination. The clerk understood what he was driving at, but advised, ‘Just read all your portions and you will pass.’ Mani asked bluntly, ‘Please tell me, sir, what questions are we getting for our examination?’
The clerk denied having any knowledge of the question papers. Mani flattered him by asking, if he did not know the questions, who else would. By just a little more flattery the clerk was moved to give what Mani believed to be valuable hints. In spite of the fact that he did not know what the first form texts were, the clerk ventured to advise ‘you must pay particular attention to Geography. May be you will have to practice map-drawing a lot. And in Arithmetic make it a point to solve at least five problems every day and you will be able to tackle Arithmetic easily.’
‘And what about English?’ asked Mani. ‘Oh, don’t worry about that. You must read all the important lessons again and if you have time, yet again and that will be ample.’ These answers satisfied Mani greatly. On his way home, he smiled to himself and said that the four annas he had invested on brinjals was not after all a waste.