This is the story of Aditya, a student who embarked on the journey to earn an M.A. in English, but most of the time, his boat sailed on the waves of Wi-Fi rather than the depths of literature. The scent of old books, the silence of libraries, and professors’ lectures were as foreign to him as Shakespearean English is to a freshly graduated B.A. student(There’s no need to be offended — I’m talking about most English B.A. graduates from Tier 3 towns of Rajasthan, because I myself come from a small town in Rajasthan and I’ve simply described what I’ve personally observed).
Aditya’s true connection wasn’t with dusty tomes, but with PDFs. His laptop was a moving literature museum—the only difference being that The Waste Land's first page had never been opened, yet seven different critical essays on it lay saved in a folder, visible only as thumbnails. He could recognize every summary, every poem’s analysis, and every author’s biography just by glancing at the file names, believing this to be the pinnacle of knowledge.
Among his friends, he was famously known as the "Jugaadu Scholar" (the shortcut master).
Someone would ask, “Where did you read Eliot from, bro?”
He’d reply without blinking, “From the Google Drive folder—the third line, with the yellow highlight!”
One Week Before Exams
Aditya’s face was a strange mix of stress and confidence. Stress—because 80% of the syllabus was still 'uncharted territory'. Confidence—because he had found the ultimate savior: the One Week Series. It wasn’t just a book; it was a miracle cure. Eliot, Hardy, Woolf, and Shakespeare—all packed tightly in short summaries, like every spice stuffed into a Maggi masala sachet.
His room looked like a warzone. Quotations were plastered on the walls—
“April is the cruellest month…” (and for him, that was painfully literal)
“Life is very long” (he only remembered this one while revising)
On every wall, Eliot and Wordsworth stared at each other, while Aditya sat in between, trying to convince himself he was Stephen Dedalus.
Aditya’s Bond with T.S. Eliot
At first, he thought Eliot was merely the "poet of depression." But as the exam drew closer, he tried to understand Eliot—or at least pretended to.
He'd call his friend and declare, “Eliot’s fragmentation is the soul of modernism, bro!”
Friend: “Are you actually reading Eliot or just scrolling through Wikipedia headings?”
Aditya: “Not just headings, bro… footnotes too. But only in the PDF.”
The Day of the Exam
On exam day, Aditya didn’t just wear new clothes; he wore a new kind of confidence. Standing at the college gate, he took a deep breath and declared:
“Even Hamlet didn’t suffer as much as I did with this syllabus.”
His friend laughed – “Ready?”
Aditya smiled – “Just remember the plot twist from the One Week Series. The rest is up to divine examiner mercy.”
Inside the Exam Hall
As soon as Aditya wrote his roll number, he felt like he’d signed the first page of his literary career. He opened the paper. The first question:
“Discuss the themes of spiritual desolation and cultural decay in The Waste Land.”
A smile spread across his face. That was precisely what he had crammed from the One Week Series last night.
He began writing:
“The Waste Land is not just a poem; it is a cultural obituary wrapped in modernist despair…”
Every line was stitched together from YouTube lectures, Quora threads, and PDF screenshots—like a chef concocting a dish with whatever spices were lying around.
After the Paper
Outside the hall, friends gathered around—
“What came in the paper?”
Aditya: “Eliot came. And I wrote him with all my soul.”
Another friend: “Literary theory too?”
Aditya: “Yeah, bro, I decoded Derrida(To understand the reference better, you can Google Jacques Derrida). After all, in deconstruction, there’s no fixed meaning—whatever the examiner interprets is fine by me.”
The Evening After the Last Paper
Aditya sat by his window, sipping tea, peace in his heart. The setting sun seemed to congratulate him on his impending graduation. He pulled down Eliot’s quote from the wall and replaced it with a new poster:
“I have measured out my life with coffee spoons… but finally, I passed.”
Eliot wasn’t just part of his syllabus anymore. He had become a friend, a fellow struggler, and a witness to Aditya’s victory in the exam hall.
A Few Months Later – Result Day
Result day. Everyone’s hearts were pounding. So was Aditya’s. But he stayed calm the only way he knew how—by making memes, posting Eliot quotes, and updating his status:
“This is the way the degree ends – Not with a bang but with a pass.”
The result came. He passed—with good marks.
There was celebration at home, congratulations from friends, and Aditya’s final status update:
“From PDF thumbnails to Postgraduate Degree – The journey was surreal, modernist, and a little absurd. Just like literature.”
And that’s how Aditya passed his M.A. in English.
Not through books—but through book thumbnails.
Not through notes—but through the YouTube channels of people who made notes.
He didn’t truly know Eliot, but he felt him.
And perhaps that’s what literature truly is—finding meaning where nothing’s clearly written.
If Eliot were alive today, he might just say:
“You are the hyacinth student. Strange and intellectual. But you tried.”
Though this piece is meant to be humorous, it reflects a serious issue among today’s youth. When one can pass just by reading a 'One Week Series,' education becomes more about getting a degree than gaining knowledge. And that, truly, is a matter of concern.
Note – Here, I would also like to mention that I am not a student of English literature. During my coaching class, I saw one of my classmates memorizing a “One Week Series” (a 40–50 page book that contains all the important questions from the entire textbook), and that’s where I got the inspiration to write this story. I am grateful to one of my friends who helped me with the references related to English literature. However, if I have made any incorrect references or written anything wrong while writing this, I sincerely apologize for that.
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