I take birth in the mind of every man and woman - now and again. But my genetic parents are Doubt and Forgetfulness. You know, people find it hard to believe me when I tell them that the all-dreaded Fear is my uncle. He is a nice old fellow, jolly as ever; but his brand of humour is a little too strong for kids sometimes. Poor mothers and fathers, they themselves have a hard time comprehending my uncle's little idiosyncasies. It's really too much to expect the kids to face up to him.
As for me, I like my work. Though I pride myself in being extremely fair and unbiased in choosing my unuspecting victims, without even the slightest consideration to faith, wealth or social status, I must confess I do have a few favourites, like the indecisive or the really instinctive minds. I relish the moments when I appear in a dilly-dallying or a quick-thinking mind at the most innopportune instant - without warning - and spin it into a whirlpool of thoughts. These are a little bit like holidays for me, if you will, after all my machinations during the year.
It would be against my ethics to divulge any details about my modus operandi to anyone outside our clique, but I am sure, you - the reader - are quite intrigued about how I materialise into your mind with clockwork precision. And I do not want to disappoint you either. Perhaps, the best way of balancing my professional integrity and popular demand would be by describing to you an actual real-life day in the office for me. An hour at work would be more appropriate, I think.
Let's consider, now, uh- um, let us take a girl in an examination hall. All right, so here she is: Maya, a student in the sixth grade in St. Ann's School, Secunderabad in India. She is quite bright and is currently in the middle of her Mathematics examination, and she is presently seated in the first row of classroom 105 of her school building. In fact, as we talk, she seems to be slightly nervous about a question in the exam. Algebra and all that. Thankfully, I never had to do any of that. Well, returning to Maya, we can see that she is a little tense now, nibbling at her pen a little, trying to remember a formula or something, eh?Her mind is agitated because she looks at her watch and finds that she has a little more than 10 mins to finish the paper, and she has still to finish one question. Is this a good time? Maybe, but do remember that I am not satisfied just with good timing, but perfect timing. This is going to be an exciting one: let's see what the question is about. Ah, she is having trouble deciding on which question to answer - she has a choice, you see, answer one of the two; there you go, choice does you humans more harm than good doesn't it ? We, on the other hand, just love to see you go blank in your small moments of truth.
Maya has a choice between answering a question on geometry and a question on algebra. She normally feels intuitively comfortable with adding the x's and playing with the x-squared's, but this problem seems a stiff challenge. Geometry, of course was never her favourite, or her strong point - they both mean essentially the same thing to you humans, right? Maya thinks that this particular geometry question seems misleadingly simple. Now, what is she going to do. I do not know about you, dear reader of my autobiography - but I am loving every moment of this, so do pardon my grandiloquence. Remember - indecisiveness brings out the best in me.
Maya, in the meanwhile has almost decided to play it safe, she is just about to make up her mind to attack the algebra problem with gusto. Her reasoning cannot be faulted - she is more likely to get partial marks for this question, because she knows she can get around the algebra a little bit. Yes, now she has decided for good, she has started working on it, neatly copying down the question in its entirety onto her answer sheet, as her Mom probably taught her. A good start.
All right, let us talk of something else for a minute, give her the time to make some progress, and sure enough we will get back to her at the perfect instant. You know, I quite hate to call this an autobiography - it's too short for that and further,it's a real-time account; besides, it raises your expectations oh-so-high. And I don't blame you for that, but I do hope you that will see there are more compelling reasons why I cannot write a full-blown account of my exploits, my secrets, my worries (yes, I have them too!) and all the other juicy stuff. But, if you notice I called this Part I of my story, there's surely another one following suit. Now, then: where's Maya? Bingo! Perfect! She has indeed paused at a critical point of her answer, this is the tough part it seems.
This is the moment I choose to seize her. Now, watch. At first, she scratches what she wrote in the previous line, then she holds the question paper up in her left hand, and reconsiders whether she would be better off doing the geometry question instead. She stops for a few seconds and looks around to see if there are any tense faces in the classroom. She briefly wonders how Shalini is doing in the exam. Will she outscore Shalini this time? How tough can it be to prove that the sum of two sides of a triangle will always be greater than the third side? She feels guilty that she didn't really spend too much time revising the geometry theorems. The pressure tells on her.
She opens a fresh sheet and starts to attempt the geometry problem. Again, neatly copying the statement of the question, she draws a nice triangle beside it. A,B and C, she writes. Goes on to write a few more lines. Pause again. The fingers gripping the fountain pen firmly, the sweat on the pen notwithstanding. The tip of the pen almost pierces the answer sheet, and then she continues to write, "If ABC is an equilateral triangle, we know that all the sides are equal. So AB=BC=CA. Therefore, AB+BC = 2AB > CA. Proved." She smiles, pauses; something's amiss. The bell rings. The teacher starts collecting the papers from the far end of the room.
I strike again. Maya thinks of something - she should try using x-cubed minus one rather than x-cubed plus one - she quickly flips back to the previous sheet. She starts writing in ugly large characters, in a hurry: x-cubed minus one. "Maya, please hand over your papers". She feebly replies, "Yes, ma'am".
You feel sorry for her, don't you. As much as I enjoy my work, I sure feel sorry for her too, but I've got a job and I do it. As Maya walks out of the classroom now, a pale expression of disappointment visible on her pretty face, another girl rushes up to her from behind. "Hey Maya, did you solve the last question?", she says curiously.
"No, ya Shalini, I did a little bit in the geometry part, but I couldn't finish the algebra one. I had just realised how to do it, and the time was up",Maya uttered sadly.
"Oh, how did you solve the geometry problem? I couldn't think of any way to prove it. And I couldn't do much of the algebra problem too. Tough questions,yaar."
"I took an equilateral triangle. I don't think I will get full credit for that."
Before you forget it's my story and not Maya's, I see a great moment for me to enter Shalini's mind now as she says, "Oh, no! I missed it. I read it yesterday. I remember it now, tchhhhha! The textbook said the complete proof is out of syllabus for sixth class, but we can prove it using an equilateral triangle."
And I felt glad when I saw a hint of gleam in Maya's eyes, as she said her bye-byes and ran into the arms of her Mom, waiting for her.
Sometimes, the wind blows your way. Sometimes it doesn't.
As for me, I like my work. Though I pride myself in being extremely fair and unbiased in choosing my unuspecting victims, without even the slightest consideration to faith, wealth or social status, I must confess I do have a few favourites, like the indecisive or the really instinctive minds. I relish the moments when I appear in a dilly-dallying or a quick-thinking mind at the most innopportune instant - without warning - and spin it into a whirlpool of thoughts. These are a little bit like holidays for me, if you will, after all my machinations during the year.
It would be against my ethics to divulge any details about my modus operandi to anyone outside our clique, but I am sure, you - the reader - are quite intrigued about how I materialise into your mind with clockwork precision. And I do not want to disappoint you either. Perhaps, the best way of balancing my professional integrity and popular demand would be by describing to you an actual real-life day in the office for me. An hour at work would be more appropriate, I think.
Let's consider, now, uh- um, let us take a girl in an examination hall. All right, so here she is: Maya, a student in the sixth grade in St. Ann's School, Secunderabad in India. She is quite bright and is currently in the middle of her Mathematics examination, and she is presently seated in the first row of classroom 105 of her school building. In fact, as we talk, she seems to be slightly nervous about a question in the exam. Algebra and all that. Thankfully, I never had to do any of that. Well, returning to Maya, we can see that she is a little tense now, nibbling at her pen a little, trying to remember a formula or something, eh?Her mind is agitated because she looks at her watch and finds that she has a little more than 10 mins to finish the paper, and she has still to finish one question. Is this a good time? Maybe, but do remember that I am not satisfied just with good timing, but perfect timing. This is going to be an exciting one: let's see what the question is about. Ah, she is having trouble deciding on which question to answer - she has a choice, you see, answer one of the two; there you go, choice does you humans more harm than good doesn't it ? We, on the other hand, just love to see you go blank in your small moments of truth.
Maya has a choice between answering a question on geometry and a question on algebra. She normally feels intuitively comfortable with adding the x's and playing with the x-squared's, but this problem seems a stiff challenge. Geometry, of course was never her favourite, or her strong point - they both mean essentially the same thing to you humans, right? Maya thinks that this particular geometry question seems misleadingly simple. Now, what is she going to do. I do not know about you, dear reader of my autobiography - but I am loving every moment of this, so do pardon my grandiloquence. Remember - indecisiveness brings out the best in me.
Maya, in the meanwhile has almost decided to play it safe, she is just about to make up her mind to attack the algebra problem with gusto. Her reasoning cannot be faulted - she is more likely to get partial marks for this question, because she knows she can get around the algebra a little bit. Yes, now she has decided for good, she has started working on it, neatly copying down the question in its entirety onto her answer sheet, as her Mom probably taught her. A good start.
All right, let us talk of something else for a minute, give her the time to make some progress, and sure enough we will get back to her at the perfect instant. You know, I quite hate to call this an autobiography - it's too short for that and further,it's a real-time account; besides, it raises your expectations oh-so-high. And I don't blame you for that, but I do hope you that will see there are more compelling reasons why I cannot write a full-blown account of my exploits, my secrets, my worries (yes, I have them too!) and all the other juicy stuff. But, if you notice I called this Part I of my story, there's surely another one following suit. Now, then: where's Maya? Bingo! Perfect! She has indeed paused at a critical point of her answer, this is the tough part it seems.
This is the moment I choose to seize her. Now, watch. At first, she scratches what she wrote in the previous line, then she holds the question paper up in her left hand, and reconsiders whether she would be better off doing the geometry question instead. She stops for a few seconds and looks around to see if there are any tense faces in the classroom. She briefly wonders how Shalini is doing in the exam. Will she outscore Shalini this time? How tough can it be to prove that the sum of two sides of a triangle will always be greater than the third side? She feels guilty that she didn't really spend too much time revising the geometry theorems. The pressure tells on her.
She opens a fresh sheet and starts to attempt the geometry problem. Again, neatly copying the statement of the question, she draws a nice triangle beside it. A,B and C, she writes. Goes on to write a few more lines. Pause again. The fingers gripping the fountain pen firmly, the sweat on the pen notwithstanding. The tip of the pen almost pierces the answer sheet, and then she continues to write, "If ABC is an equilateral triangle, we know that all the sides are equal. So AB=BC=CA. Therefore, AB+BC = 2AB > CA. Proved." She smiles, pauses; something's amiss. The bell rings. The teacher starts collecting the papers from the far end of the room.
I strike again. Maya thinks of something - she should try using x-cubed minus one rather than x-cubed plus one - she quickly flips back to the previous sheet. She starts writing in ugly large characters, in a hurry: x-cubed minus one. "Maya, please hand over your papers". She feebly replies, "Yes, ma'am".
You feel sorry for her, don't you. As much as I enjoy my work, I sure feel sorry for her too, but I've got a job and I do it. As Maya walks out of the classroom now, a pale expression of disappointment visible on her pretty face, another girl rushes up to her from behind. "Hey Maya, did you solve the last question?", she says curiously.
"No, ya Shalini, I did a little bit in the geometry part, but I couldn't finish the algebra one. I had just realised how to do it, and the time was up",Maya uttered sadly.
"Oh, how did you solve the geometry problem? I couldn't think of any way to prove it. And I couldn't do much of the algebra problem too. Tough questions,yaar."
"I took an equilateral triangle. I don't think I will get full credit for that."
Before you forget it's my story and not Maya's, I see a great moment for me to enter Shalini's mind now as she says, "Oh, no! I missed it. I read it yesterday. I remember it now, tchhhhha! The textbook said the complete proof is out of syllabus for sixth class, but we can prove it using an equilateral triangle."
And I felt glad when I saw a hint of gleam in Maya's eyes, as she said her bye-byes and ran into the arms of her Mom, waiting for her.
Sometimes, the wind blows your way. Sometimes it doesn't.
