I went to Conduct an Exam — Dharamshala Felt Like a Different Country Entirely

Of all the places I visited to conduct exams, Dharamshala is the one I still think about the most. With mountains on every side, the air was noticeably cleaner, carrying a fresh fragrance that hits you the second you arrive from Delhi. It is the kind of place that forces you to pause, take a deep breath, and just look around in awe before you remember why you are even there. This was the fourth stop in my five part series traveling across India to personally test students I had previously only taught through a screen. Out of everywhere I went, Dharamshala was the place where a simple exam turned into a profoundly moving experience.

I traveled up the winding roads by bus, arriving on the 22nd, just a day before the exam. It was my very first time setting foot in Himachal Pradesh. I had been dreaming of visiting since my college days, but life always seemed to get in the way. Stepping off that bus and seeing the majestic landscape unfold in real time felt like stepping into another world entirely. Later on the day of the exam, when Jyoti ma’am, the founder of Global Sai Education, asked me how I was settling in, I could only tell her the truth. I told her it felt like I had landed in a completely different country.

The exam was scheduled for the 23rd. I set out early, fully intending to reach the institute by 9 AM. Google Maps, however, had other plans. It kept looping me around the same unfamiliar mountain roads instead of taking me to the actual destination. I eventually found my way, thankfully with the teacher’s guidance.

But the moment I finally walked through the doors, any frustration from getting lost vanished. The students were already waiting. Seeing them sitting there in three dimensions, people I had mentored and guided week after week online, was incredibly grounding. We experienced a brief delay before we could officially begin due to a few operational hiccups. Honestly, that unexpected gap turned into one of the most beautiful parts of the morning. We spent it just sitting together, talking openly. Before the formal pressure of the exam set in, we were just a teacher and his students, finally connecting face to face.

Like all the other stops on this tour, the exam was split into two sections. Once everything was officially in place, the room settled into that heavy, focused quiet that only an exam room can produce. All you could hear was the scratch of pens moving, the occasional turn of a page, and the soft sighs of students rereading questions before committing to an answer. Watching them pour their effort onto the paper made the months of virtual classes feel incredibly real. By the time the second section wrapped up, the collective sigh of relief in the room was palpable.

Once the exam was over, we all sat down to grade the answer sheets together. The results were ready about an hour later, which was a monumental effort considering we had 70 papers to get through. Out of those 70 registered students, 54 had passed. Saying that number out loud brought a massive wave of pride. These were 54 individuals taking a tangible step forward in their lives.

We moved straight into the certificate ceremony. Jyoti ma’am and I stood at the front, calling out names one at a time and handing over the certificates personally. The room was buzzing with joy, laughter, and a chaotic energy that was a stark contrast to the absolute silence just a couple of hours earlier. It felt like the perfect celebration of their hard work.

After the ceremony wrapped up, the teachers were kind enough to arrange a short tour of the city. We visited the War Memorial and the HPCA Stadium, making for a beautifully unplanned way to decompress.

The War Memorial sits close to the institute. It stands as a solemn, powerful tribute to the martyred soldiers from Himachal Pradesh who sacrificed their lives in the wars since independence, spanning from the 1947 and 1948 Kashmir operations through to 1971. Walking through it was a deeply humbling experience.

The HPCA Stadium brought a complete change of emotional scenery. It is a breathtaking cricket ground totally ringed by the snow capped Dhauladhar range. People often compare it to the Adelaide Oval because of how dramatically the mountains loom right behind the boundary. There was no match going on, leaving just a handful of visitors and the quiet, overwhelming beauty of the view.

I returned to the institute the following morning to discuss the upcoming batch before finally leaving Dharamshala. That is when I received an incredible surprise. I found out that a local news outlet, Rozana Himachal published an article on our program. Seeing our collective effort recognized in the local news felt like a validation of everything we were trying to achieve.

Before beginning the long journey back to Delhi, I carved out time to simply be a traveler. I visited the Bhagsu Nag Temple, hiked up to the Bhagsu Waterfall, found peace at the Dalai Lama Temple and the Tibet Museum, and wandered through the streets of McLeod Ganj. Those final hours easily turned into one of the most spiritually fulfilling stretches of my entire trip.

I vividly remember pausing somewhere in the middle of all that sightseeing, struck by a profound thought. It is so strange that people spend their lives dreaming of traveling to places like Switzerland when a sheer paradise like Dharamshala exists right here in our own country.

There is just one more stop left on this journey. More on that soon.