Matta, this one I see every year. Keep the summary within one-third of the original, use your own words, and content marks are in the logical flow, not fancy vocabulary. I say this because I correct hundreds where students lose marks by hunting for 'difficult' synonyms instead of just showing they understood the passage. The simple, clear answer from the boy who works after school always scores higher than the one trying to sound like a dictionary.

Matta, equality of opportunity is a fair start line for the race, while outcome is making everyone finish together. Reservation gave me that start when I got my job years back, and for that I am thankful. But now I see boys from my free football training, bright but from general category, lose heart before the race even begins. My own benefit makes me question if the ladder is now kept too short for others.

Matta, they say plankton give half the world's air? From my boat, I see it’s the mangroves along our creek that truly breathe for us—their roots thick with life, the air tastes different near them. A bloom starts when the sea is too warm and still, and it ends with the fish gasping dead on the shore the next morning. I know because my nets come up empty for weeks after that green water comes.

Matta, in my view feminism here often means city women forgetting our Khasi ways, where lineage flows through the mother. My own sister runs our family land while I mind this gym, yet these activists shout as if we are oppressed. They push against our faith and traditions, and I see it confusing the young girls I train—they start questioning their own strong mothers.