Coordinates 28.5517811 N, 77.2073502 E,
277, Hauz Khas, SFS Flats, New Delhi - 110016
Circa 1994 AD (March 31st)
Prologue
The 15 years of my life in Delhi shuttled between 857, Laxmi Bai
Nagar (my grandparents' home for 40 years), and 277 Hauz Khas(my home for 14
years), with a brief stint in South Extension, in between.
'857' featured the halcyon days of my life, with the vast open
play grounds, and story-telling from grandparents about dug up trenches during
war times and Sanjay Gandhi's visits to the area + his misguided zeal to
curtail India's over-bloated population, with 'surgical' strikes .
But it was the years spent in '277' which are punctuated with such
dramatic episodes of my life, that they are enlivened everytime I visit my
Mater's (now in Chennai).
The
Unravelling - solving the Math Magic Squares
Hailing from a traditional Tambrahm family(not to deride any subsect,
or play traitor to my community), the motto n mission is always driven towards
academic excellence - the onus on acing Mathematics.
The cast-ironing of this belief was due to the blueprint factor,
ingrained by both the paternal & maternal grandfather - who happened to be
Math professors 'n' scholars., with a legacy of students(from PUSA polytechnic,
Delhi and Loyala College Chennai)to testify their teachers' prowess. So, the
assumption was always that the grandchildren(me included) must/should/will have
to have inherited the Math gene.
When the time came for the litmus test, to prove my mettle in Math
- in the 9th grade, the results proved it otherwise.
With more than a fortnight passed, since the beginning of the
school's summer vacation post the annual exams, the family was eagerly awaiting the arrival of my
FINAL report card through post-(the Indian Post was the old-reliable bearer of
good, bad n the ugly news, during those days).
When it did arrive(half-way slipped into a wooden post box,
weathered out in the corners), I rushed to pluck it out from the moorings -
gave it to Mater- who kept it in the shrine, with a prayer on her lips
'Bhagwan, let her math come out with flying colours..." . But what ensued
was not the benevolence of her Bhagwan, to bestow upon his Bhakt, the desired grace marks. It was an
emotional melodrama of suppressed emotions, on seeing the number that featured
against 'Mathematics' the meagre 65% as against History(which was outstanding
at 85%).
The Mater invokes the ancestral spirits
With hands trembling beholding the sight of holy sacrilege, Mater
dashed off to the life-size portraits of both my grandfathers and lamented.
"You have left behind the mortal world, and taken away the riches
too" - "Riches" here meant the math quotient. While the lament
manifested into frantic calls to my Pater, the Uncles and well, the drama
lasted for the next 24 hours(I was the dopey teenager, oblivious to the drama,
gloating over the fact that my history teacher would be really impressed). I am
not sure whether either of the grandfatherly souls decided to take pity on
Mater, but what buckled up was the spirit to moot me towards Math Excellence-
to ensure my 10th performance broke the records! A private tutor was settled
for - (with an outstanding record of alleviating the Math-sub-par students),
which meant commuting from Hauz khas to Sanjay Gandhi Park bus stand in पाँच सौ बारह
Red line bus, on a bi-weekly basis.
When the Math Guru took over
The rigour and patience of the tutor finally awakened the
latent Math potential in me + plus the competitive sprit to outwit my peer cum
bestie in the subject. I managed to score a whopping 98% in my boards, went on
to take up Science with Math in higher secondary.
I cracked abstract Math with aplomb – from calculus to
algebra to trigonometry- those were my forte. With firm belief in the “you learn better when you teach” formula,
I shared my new-found Math streak with no restraint – to the extent of coaching
peers in calculus.
...Thus began my Math-honing journey.
I grew up to like Math in later years- to the extent of
acing the subject, taking up coaching and well, passing on the enthusiastic
streak to my children as well. But, at the back of my mind, the unanswered
question, which prods me is : "Was I cut out for it?", "Did
nature actually choose me to be a Math brainiac?". Did the inheritance
from my ancestors actually bear fruit?
Well, there is never a stop to the learning and unlearning, is there?
