Kasaragod: A Brahminy kite, known for its striking white head and chest and reddish-brown body, made off with the hall ticket of a female candidate minutes before a government departmental exam in Kasaragod, giving everyone a scare.

The exam — on the Kerala Financial Code — was scheduled to begin at 7.30 am on Thursday. By 7 am, government staffers, mostly lower division clerks aiming for a promotion, had started trickling into the Government Upper Primary School in Kasaragod. Around 7.05 am, the classrooms were opened for the candidates.

While some candidates were doing a quick revision, a Brahminy kite swooped down and snatched the hall ticket of a woman sitting on the verandah. "It was 7.20. There were about 20 of us downstairs. I took out my phone and started shooting," said Varun Raj P, a PWD clerk posted at the West Eleri section in Bheemanady. "Others began shouting, hoping to distract the bird so it would drop the hall ticket."

The Brahminy kite — often seen along coasts and wetlands — settled on an open window frame, ticket still clutched in its claws. "We were all on edge — without the hall ticket, she wouldn't be allowed to write the exam," he said.

Three long minutes later, just before the final bell, the bird let go of the ticket and soared away. "I missed the shot," Varun said. "But she got to write the exam. That's what mattered."