What is an exam result, really?

May is here and the Board exam results are out. Your phone is buzzing with calls from relatives, and your parents are fielding calls from people you barely remember. Everyone wants to know how you did. Before you answer that, can we pause for a moment? Not to avoid the question, but to ask a better one: what is a result, really?

Think of it like a milestone on a highway. It tells you where you are right now, not where you are going; definitely not who you are. When you see a board that says 500 km to Chennai, it is just a marker. It does not tell you if Chennai is even where you want to go. What matters is what you do when you reach it.