Arjun’s brain felt like a dry sponge. He knew the formula (Unitary Method), but the numbers twisted in his head. 391 divided by 17? He tried: 17 x 20 = 340. Remainder 51. 17 x 3 = 51. So, 23 rupees per notebook. He cheered silently. The rest of the problem fell into place.
At midnight, Arjun closed the last paper – He hadn't solved all of it. Some questions about "odd one out" and "pattern completion" still looked like alien code. But he wasn't scared anymore.
Arjun looked at his mom’s tulsi plant outside the window. He sketched a rough circle, drew little sticks for stamens, and wrote "Pistil" with an arrow that accidentally pointed to the stem. He sighed. He’d lose a mark for that.
And for the first time that night, he smiled.
By 11:00 PM, he was on the paper. A map question: "Mark the Deccan Plateau, the Ganga River, and the Thar Desert."
"I know, Papa," Arjun mumbled. "I’m stuck on a grammar question."