We shall overcome - Part 1
Now let me confess upfront that I sucked really bad at mathematics in high school. I mean I could barely keep up with the school but the extra curricular stuff really got on my nerves. Peer pressure, my brother's academic exploits and my parents made me do things I wouldn’t have done normally tried, and before I could realize I was sitting in a crowed room in a building about 5 minute walk from my home., it was the dreaded “Paranjape teacher’s scholarship class”
I was in seventh grade studying for what is called the scholarship exam. In the same room were kids like Sudeep Achalia, Abhay Paranjape, Subhashree Gaonkar, Priyank Patwa, Sonali Kulkarni, Gayatri Ratnaparkhi. In that little room intelligent kids were as common as hippies and rich people at whole foods. Yet the average IQ level in the room was lower than expected and it was primarily due to me. So I did the best I could, sat way back in the room and tried not get in the way of anybody else. My attempts at understanding didn’t pay any dividends and the result was that I was the quietest guy in class. For some reason Paranjape teacher mistook my dumbness for a certain “class” and I was christened “the gentleman” of the class.
One day we had a test and this one was for multiplication tables , we were asked to learn tables till 20, i.e. from 1*1 to 20*12. Now I really don’t see the reason to learn from 11 to 20 cause you can just calculate it when you need to. Anyways I was pretty confident of my skills with the tables from 1 to 10 and also about addition so I figured I would enjoy the sweet childhood moments and not study for this test, The day of the test arrived, As I ambled to the class I met other students in the corridor ,they were having a mock exam of their own !!!! Abhay asked “18*8 is equal to whatt..”, “144” Sudeep said before Abhay could finish , then Sudeep charged “17 times 11” “187” fired back Abhay. I started to freeze with fear.
The test began, as any sane person would expect from another sane individual I was hoping for a written questionnaire, However as I sat down expecting to get the paper I was told “she will be dictating the questions” , Fair enough but she will give us time to think I thought . She started “one 17*7 “….ok 7*7=49 so carry 4 … “two 19*8”…. Wow hey we need some time here .., ok so carry 4 and...”14*12” … but I ….”13*9”….. I need to breathe…”12*9” … I am dead!...”7*7” .. Wait I know this it’s…”18*3” ……. I don’t really know what happened for the next 5 minutes, the questions kept coming at me like a rain of needles. I tried scribbling something her final statement brought me back , ok “last one ... bonus question: 19*17” and you for this you will get slightly more time ….. ok done , swap your answer sheets. Now with bated breath I waited for the score......
(To be continued )
(Thanks to Sudeep for valuable information. When contacted Abhay Paranjape did not respond to the author’s repeated requests for information. Sources confirmed he was seen partying on the streets of Boise, Idaho with his best buddy Anish)
I was in seventh grade studying for what is called the scholarship exam. In the same room were kids like Sudeep Achalia, Abhay Paranjape, Subhashree Gaonkar, Priyank Patwa, Sonali Kulkarni, Gayatri Ratnaparkhi. In that little room intelligent kids were as common as hippies and rich people at whole foods. Yet the average IQ level in the room was lower than expected and it was primarily due to me. So I did the best I could, sat way back in the room and tried not get in the way of anybody else. My attempts at understanding didn’t pay any dividends and the result was that I was the quietest guy in class. For some reason Paranjape teacher mistook my dumbness for a certain “class” and I was christened “the gentleman” of the class.
One day we had a test and this one was for multiplication tables , we were asked to learn tables till 20, i.e. from 1*1 to 20*12. Now I really don’t see the reason to learn from 11 to 20 cause you can just calculate it when you need to. Anyways I was pretty confident of my skills with the tables from 1 to 10 and also about addition so I figured I would enjoy the sweet childhood moments and not study for this test, The day of the test arrived, As I ambled to the class I met other students in the corridor ,they were having a mock exam of their own !!!! Abhay asked “18*8 is equal to whatt..”, “144” Sudeep said before Abhay could finish , then Sudeep charged “17 times 11” “187” fired back Abhay. I started to freeze with fear.
The test began, as any sane person would expect from another sane individual I was hoping for a written questionnaire, However as I sat down expecting to get the paper I was told “she will be dictating the questions” , Fair enough but she will give us time to think I thought . She started “one 17*7 “….ok 7*7=49 so carry 4 … “two 19*8”…. Wow hey we need some time here .., ok so carry 4 and...”14*12” … but I ….”13*9”….. I need to breathe…”12*9” … I am dead!...”7*7” .. Wait I know this it’s…”18*3” ……. I don’t really know what happened for the next 5 minutes, the questions kept coming at me like a rain of needles. I tried scribbling something her final statement brought me back , ok “last one ... bonus question: 19*17” and you for this you will get slightly more time ….. ok done , swap your answer sheets. Now with bated breath I waited for the score......
(To be continued )
(Thanks to Sudeep for valuable information. When contacted Abhay Paranjape did not respond to the author’s repeated requests for information. Sources confirmed he was seen partying on the streets of Boise, Idaho with his best buddy Anish)
posted by saurabh at
10:29 PM
