Tricky art of juggling studies and cricket

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With only a week left for the cricket World Cup, the frenzy is building up among city youngsters. However, final exams of the academic year falling during the same time (most of which are beginning either in the last week of February or first week of March) has proved to be a dampener as study hours need to be longer and TV viewing hours much shorter during this period. But cricket crazy youngsters plan to juggle studies and cricket. And they have some clever tricks up their sleeve to pull this off.
Those who aren’t allowed much TV viewing time have come up with interesting ideas to bluff parents and catch up on the matches. Rhythm Sidana, who will be appearing for Class 10 Board exam this year, says he has already started going for group studies. “I’m building up the situation from now itself, so during World Cup if I seek my parents’ permission to go out and study with my friends, they won’t refuse,” laughs Rhythm.
However, he sadly adds that after seeing his poor performance in the school exams, his parents have become stricter and have even taken away his cellphone. “But they allow me to go and study with friends who have scored well, so I’m not worried. Another advantage of going to these friends’ places is that their parents trust them in studies and even if they watch matches, they won’t really mind,” he adds.
Class 8 student Prateek Kumar, who doesn’t have a TV in his room, has reasons to be upset. But not for long as his mischievous mind has started working. “I’ve convinced one of my friends to lend me his TV Tuner so that I can have it installed on my computer. He has a personal TV, so I can borrow the tuner from him for a while. I have seen the connections and know how to fix it, so setting it shouldn’t be a problem,” he says, and adds that his parents would not come to know about his plan as they hardly ever enter his room.
However, not everyone has been able to think of a good idea to convince their parents. Shefali Saxena, a Class 9 student, whose exams begin on February 20, is disappointed that her parents have taken the TV away from her room till her exams are on. “But I don’t think they’ll stop me from watching matches on days India plays. And I’m happy with that,” she says. And even if they stop her, she’s sure she’ll manage to slip into her elder sister’s room and catch the match there.