India, March 16 -- Rachel felt irritable on denouement day. She felt nauseous, her palms were sweaty, her facial muscles twitching and she was on tenterhooks on her way to appear for the 12th standard math examination. A student's anxiety gets compounded by gargantuan expectations of apprehensive parents and those of an extended family consisting of grandparents, siblings and peers.

The power and focus of the mind shift from solving complex quadratic equations appearing in the question paper to handling unnecessary pressure generated. Kid Stuf, was a musical produced by St Xavier's School Delhi, in which I was a participant too. The storyline championed the cause of children against the overbearing attitude of parents and an oppressive e...