The Hall Ticket miracle - A true story from my college days

This is a true story that happened in my life.

Chennai, India – Year 2005

The hot dry air blew on my face as I hurried towards the Director’s office. I needed to get an important piece of paper before I could enter the exam hall. It was called the “Hall Ticket”. Under normal circumstances, I would have got my hall ticket well in advance of the exam day, but this time I did not have it for reasons you will soon know. As I approached the building, I could see a large group of students gathered in the corridor, some sitting, some standing, all of them eagerly waiting outside the Director’s office.

Sathyabama University, Chennai

We all had one thing in common: we did not have our hall tickets. Interestingly but unsurprisingly some of them were happy about it. No hall ticket meant no exam!! Well to be honest, if this was a mid-term exam, I wouldn’t have been worried either. But this was the final round of exams of my final year in university. This was “The Mother” of all exams and then it would be all over. Four years of studies were coming to an end. And it was now time for the grand finale.

I had managed to pass all of my exams till then and even had a decent aggregate score. I really couldn’t afford a final semester arrear. An arrear was when we either failed in an exam or missed to write the exam. If that happened, we had to wait till the end of the following semester to write that exam. Arrears were also recorded in the academic report and gave a bad impression to recruitment companies. Plus, getting an arrear in the final year of university meant a risk of not graduating on time. So, I really really did not want to be in that situation.

Earlier in the semester, it was a different scene. I was thoroughly enjoying university for the wrong reasons. Being in the final year, there were days when we (my roomies and I) did not feel like going to class and would just stay at home and relax. On some occasions, we used to bunk classes because the food menu was not appealing. Our university was known for its food (lunch was provided for all students) and it was fine for most of the days. But there was one day in the week when they had vegetarian only and that day became a popular day for missing classes. Little did I realise the trouble that would cause me later. There existed an unknown rule in the university that we had to have a certain minimum attendance in the year. If we were absent for more than 12 days in the year, we wouldn’t be allowed to write our semester exams without the special permission of the Director. I had been absent for 14 days that year, so I fell short of the minimum required attendance. The usual thing that happened to someone in this situation is they would be denied the permission to write the entire semester which is called a “semester drop”, and then wait till the following semester to catch up. It was quite a “normal” thing that happened in my university and many students had semester drops with the number of extra exams mounting up every year. And now, it was my turn. Semester drop was knocking at my door.

My mother was aware of this situation. I had let her know that I hadn’t received my hall ticket. Just a few weeks before the final semester exams, after my class for the day was over, I would go and wait at the university basketball court along with a dozen of my batch mates. The Director would come to play basketball and we were hoping that we could somehow plead with him to get his pardon and get our hall tickets. But that never happened and finally the day had come and I still did not have my hall ticket.

It was around 8 pm the night before the exam day when I called my mother to let her know that the situation hadn’t changed. My mother told me that she would ask our Pastor to pray for me. A little later she called me back and I quote her words “the pastor told not to worry and that they will come to you and give you the hall ticket”. I couldn’t believe my ears. I knew the Pastor wouldn’t just say something to make me happy and that he would have prayed to God and heard from Him before saying something like this. My mother didn’t have much else to add to that. And I had no clue what to respond too. I hung up the phone and closed my eyes and remember a peace entering my heart. I had to believe those words and do my last minute revision. I did not sleep that night but spent the whole night preparing for my next day’s exam. The words of the pastor kept ringing in my head “they will come to you…”

As I stood outside the Director’s office the following morning, I did something which made my friends think I was out of my mind. I was still revising for the exam! There were about 40 of us standing out there that day, and none of us had our hall tickets. But I did not care what others thought. I knew something would happen. But then the bell rang at 8 am for the exams to start. And that’s when I lost all hope. I thought “this is it, the exams have started and I have missed my first exam”. I slowly closed my book and sat there with a heavy heart. The time was 8:15 am. And then something happened. I heard someone calling out my name “who is Jobin? who is Jobin?”. I turned around and identified myself to him. He said “you are being called to go into the Director’s office”. Without thinking twice, I ran into the office and saw the Director’s attendant sitting there. He asked me “Are you Jobin?” I said “yes!”. He said “the Director just called to tell me to give you the hall ticket” and he handed over that precious piece of paper to me immediately. I could not believe what was happening. It was too good to be true, but it was. I remember running as fast as I could to the classroom and almost tripped and fell on the way, but finally got there. I showed my hall ticket to the person in charge and received my exam questionnaire. Without missing another second, I began writing my exam and went on to finish it on time. I believe I was the only one to get the hall ticket that day. A couple of them received theirs the following day and some a few exams later. But for me, it was a 11th hour miracle. A miracle that happened right at the end, when my time was almost up.

I still do not know what made the Director make that phone call to his attendant. But it didn’t matter for me. It was a miracle from Heaven. The reason it was an absolute miracle without a speck of doubt is because of three things in this event

1. The pastor had already prophesied the previous night “they will come and give me the hall ticket”.

2. Of the 40 students, I was the only one (as far as I can remember) getting the hall ticket on day 1 of the exam.

3. There were other students who had 13 days off (I was 14) and they were more influential in that they had tried various other methods to obtain the hall ticket, but none of them received the hall ticket when I got it.

It was a supernatural intervention from God. I did not deserve it, but He did it anyways because He loved me and cared for me. I also want to point two things that I had to do from my side for this miracle to happen:

1. I had to believe the words of the pastor

2. I had to act on his word and revise for the exam as if I already had my hall ticket

This is called “faith”. Complete and blind trust in God’s words whether it makes sense or not. God does impossible things, which man cannot (Read Matthew 19:26 in the Bible). Ever since, I have learnt to trust in God at all times. His words and unchanging and His promises never fail. Its my story and it can be yours too.

Oh by the way, for the glory of God, I got the highest marks for that 1st day’s exam that I was 15 minutes late. Everything that I had revised for had come, and I had no trouble writing the exam. Its been more than 10 years since this miracle, but even now when I think about, I cant stop but thanking my Lord Jesus. And I had had to pen it down here. Jesus Christ is truly King over every situation. God bless you and share this story with someone who needs it.