Saturday, the 6th of December 2014 was considerably an important date of the year for me. Given the fact that I had to take my first SAT attempt was just one of the reasons. The pretty blue admission ticket shouted at me the reporting time in prettier blue bold-"Report to your test center no later than 7:45 a.m. unless otherwise noted on this ticket." However, a little help from the Delhi Traffic led me to accomplish just the opposite.

The night before the morning of my SAT, I slept exceptionally early at ten, packed my bag ten times and re-packed it twenty times further, making sure that my admission ticket and passport didn't just disappear. My 2B pencils were sharpened meticulously and two calculators, four sandwiches and a banana found their way into my bag. Alarms had been set for the big day and considering the morning rush, my father and I planned to leave an hour earlier.

Overlooking the pit forming in my stomach, I quickly showered and dressed after ensuring the presence of my admit card and passport for the umpteenth time. The previous week had been a mad rush of yellow flash cards, practice tests and learning math formulas. To think that all of it was finally coming to an end was quite unnerving. However, I still assumed a lackadaisical expression and passively entered the car with my father at sharp 6:40 a.m., a time which had been debated upon and thoroughly discussed the previous night along with my mother. The ride was smooth until we reached this particular place at 7:00 a.m. where the traffic became bumper-to-bumper. I wasn't surprised in the least owing to Delhi's fame for hour long gridlocks and jams; however, what did surprise me was soon to follow. We expected the traffic to clear out within twenty minutes, however a revelation from a fellow car driver told us that there had been a road mishap somewhere which was the root cause for the busy traffic. After half an hour of anticipation and helplessness, my father and I concluded that I might not be able to make it to the test center in time. Unable to process that, I simply continued changing radio stations, carefully avoiding the idea of missing my test.

After some futile calls to the traffic police and even contemplating hitchhiking, frustration gave way to disbelief and finally to resign. I just sat in the car seat with my admit card, almost burning holes into it with my eyes; willing the reporting time to somehow change. At around 8:00 a.m. we had reached the end of the traffic, expecting a huge mishap as we were told. I was trying to look for a broken something- a truck, a car or anything that could have caused the traffic, but to my uncanny surprise there was nothing-simply the absence of a traffic police inspector and hence, no one was paying heed to the traffic lights. I sat through the whole episode of honking vehicles and screaming people in utter disbelief. There was no order of any sort, but soon some solicitous people assumed roles of traffic police inspectors and directed vehicles around. After we had made through the traffic, there were no sighs of relief as the center was yet half an hour away and the clock showed 8:30 a.m. We decided that gate crashing the test was not that great an idea as everyone would be on it already.

Resignedly, I leaned back in my seat and tried to process the fact that I had just missed my SAT. Failing to do so, I composedly folded my admit card as a souvenir and unpacked my neat bag. After some hours of missing-your-SAT blues, I went out with my parents, attended a birthday lunch, treated myself with a shopping spree, watched a movie, and ate out. The day was a momentary reposition from my grief, but nevertheless did wonders. Considering the fact that my second attempt (now first) is due on January 24, I am determined to work harder as a by-product of my bizarre experience as well as camp a night before in my test center!