‘Come back, my son’: Indian exam leak leaves trail of death, despair, anger

Jhunjhunu, India – Rajesh Kumar sat staring at a chemistry book in his tin-roofed shed in Jhunjhunu district of India’s western Rajasthan state. Kumar never went to school and cannot read a word, but the book carried the last traces of his son. His trembling fingers moved over formulae, diagrams and handwritten notes once mastered by the boy who had dreamed of becoming a doctor. Then Rajesh pressed the book to his chest, kissed it, and broke down. “O mharo beta… O mharo doctor beta… wapas aa ja. Thari kitaaban thane bula ri hain. Ab main inka kya karun?” he cried, in the Rajasthani dialect, his words translating to: “My son… my doctor son… come back. Your books are calling you. What will I do with them now?” Rajesh’s cousin rushed to hand him water in a plastic glass. Around him stood 10 to 12 men, some squeezed near the doorway because the shed, with a single room and cramped kitchen, was too small to hold everyone. No one spoke. The room had fallen into a crushing silence. The book belonged to Pradeep, Rajesh’s only son and brother to three sisters. Pradeep, 21, had spent years solving difficult physics, chemistry and biology problems in the hope of cracking the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET), the examination that determines one of the world’s largest medical entrance examinations. NEET scores determine whether aspirants are eligible to join undergraduate medical colleges and, if so, which schools they qualify for. …