Mathematics ....

In the name of Allah..

Aravind was a below average student and was never a competitor for me during our primary schoolings. Had there been a rolling trophy for achieving ‘Class first’ in Mathematics, I should’ve kept it at my house permanently (ahem ahem..) Given an option of full marks in Maths plus Zero in all other subjects, I should have selected that. Such was my craze towards Math.

During 6^th grade, it was a fine day till I was shocked to see the progress report of Aravind securing 92 marks out of 100. Unfortunately I was pushed to the second rank (Maths) in the class with 82 marks. Needless to say I was very sad about this whole incident. It was during second half of the day that, Aravind came to my desk and did that revelation. His actual mark is 23 out of 50. By mistake the teacher quadrupled his score in lieu of doubling it. He wanted me to keep it as a secret.

I don’t remember whether I agreed to his suggestion or not but after the correction of his report card, I do remember his redden face (Between You and me Shh….). Losing the ‘Class first’ title for Mathematics to anyone was unthinkable for me. Do you think that, 14 years before, I was wrong?