I clearly remember the Sundays in my matchbox hostel room, the smell of slick bhaturas wafting through the corridor, when I would doze off for a power nap that was supposed to last only 15 minutes, as instructed by our in-charge. Those days were filled with fear, frustration, exhaustion, and at times, anger. And yet, beneath all of it, there was also a dream: The thought of the day I would finally walk out of the examination hall after writing NEET and know that it was over, once and for all.

Now, as news of the cancellation of NEET 2026 begins to trickle in, and the possibility of a retest looms on the horizon, my heart goes out to all those young students who believed it was finally over, only to find themselves dragged back into the same cycle of uncertainty and anxiety. What is particularly tragic is that NEET itself was designed to reduce stress on medical aspirants and spare them the burden of multiple entrance examinations. Instead, it seems to have reproduced the very anxieties it was meant to eliminate.

This examination leak is nothing new. The pattern has repeated itself over the years, with the 2024........

© Indian Express