The Weight of Numbers

We don’t realize how early we learn to live with numbers. From the first “out of ten” test in school, the idea sneaks in — that marks aren’t just about what you know, but who you are.

By the time boards roll around, it’s no longer just about doing well. It’s about parents, relatives, teachers, society. It’s about whispers in WhatsApp groups, about the uncle who’ll compare you to his son, about the label you’ll carry until the next result comes.

And the funny thing? The pressure isn’t always external. Sometimes, the harshest voice is the one in your head. The one that says, you should have studied more, you should have known this, you should have done better.

It’s exhausting. Because marks measure how well you sat in a hall for three hours, not your kindness, not your creativity, not your ability to survive life outside a textbook. But we still let them shrink us.

Maybe the real rebellion is to remind ourselves: marks are feedback, not identity. They tell us how we performed, not who we are. And if we can remember that, maybe the weight gets a little lighter.