Sunday, August 06, 2006

Over the cuckoos nest

Many years ago, a young mallu Dad toiling away in the gelf was shopping for his return home. He came across a toyshop selling wooden blocks with the numbers 1-10 painted on them.

“And ideal toy to teach your youngster numbers”, the shopkeeper assured him.

The young mallu Dad’s eyes took on a far away look as he visualized his little daughter playing and learning Math and rapidly growing up to be a brilliant Accountant and helping him evade huge amounts in income tax. With such pleasant thoughts in his head and a spring in his step the young mallu Dad bought the wooden learning blocks and took a cab to the airport.

He had a pleasant flight home, except for a strange incessant urge to make a hole under his seat to retrieve the wooden number blocks from the cargo bay and teach a lesson or two to the cabin crew in in-flight hospitality.

After landing home safely (which was a miracle of sorts since he flew Air India), he opened the gift and showed it to his one-year-old daughter. She developed an instant dislike to number five and threw it out of the window. Soon she developed a dislike for number seven and it too met with a similar fate. Then she developed an instant dislike for numbers one, two, three, four, six, eight, nine and ten and they too followed suit…out of the window. The parents of the little gal looked ominously at each other. Two of their worst fears had come true.

1. They would have to pay their Income Tax like other law-abiding citizens.
2. Their daughter didn’t like wooden blocks with numbers painted on them.

That was my rather unfortunate introduction to Mathematics. Since that fateful day, I have had a love hate relationship with this subject…more of hate than love really, like 99% hate and 1% love. The one percent love that I felt towards the subject was when the Math teacher was absent and we could go out and play.

My Math teachers on the other hand, made sure that my foundation of hatred for Math would be strong and deep rooted and that I would never add, subtract, multiply or divide, even to save my own life.

Man with gun: Tell me what is 2 x 2 or I will shoot you dead.
Me: I don’t know.
Man with gun: O.k. I will give you another chance!
Me: 6?
Man with gun: *bang*

It all started with the teacher teaching me Addition. The first sum was quite easy, even though it looked complicated.

1+1=2

Very simple no? The teacher beamed at us and we all beamed back. It looked so easy. And then teacher gave us homework, so that we could practice this ‘easy subject’ at home. When I took the homework home, my Dad’s developed an instant dislike towards my math’s teacher. My homework was:

Add 56455675478 and 12907563

Next day, the teacher taught us multiplication. And my very first sum was:

1x1=1

Very simple no? The teacher beamed at us and we all beamed back, the suckers that we were. It looked so easy!! The homework this time was:

5347585 x 3366

My Dad cursed fluently and my mom had to physically restrain him from calling a “bhai’ in Mumbai and putting a ‘supari’on the teacher.

Next I learnt Division. The first sum went thus:

1/1 = 1Quotient Remainder 0

Very simple no? The teacher beamed at us and we didn’t beam back… we looked uneasily at each other, we had learnt our lessons by now and it definitely wasn’t 'Division'. That day I took my homework to my neighbor’s house and left it there for safekeeping. As a precocious child I knew that having a jailbird for a father would damage me for life. Besides a little girl needs her Dad...to pay her bills when she will not be a little girl anymore. Even at that age I was so mature and farsighted.

After my first Math teacher, many other Math teachers came into my life and left, wringing their hands and gnashing their teeth in despair ( because corporal punishment was banned in school). Math remained an enigma to me and I was the only problem no Math teacher could ever solve. And it is because of the combined effort of these never-say-die Math teachers that I am, where I am today...an English graduate and proud of it too.

Thank you all ye Math teachers.

91 comments:

Asterix said...

Nice post infact I suffer from a similar syndrome when it comes to English you see my teachers could never teach me the art of punctuation like where to put commas and where to put fullstops to break a sentence that has become as long as The Bold and the Beautiful however I am sometimes able to end a sentence when a gun is pointed to my head. Hence Proved.

Oh and did I mention it was a funny post :)

Anonymous said...

Well, we are two of a kind. I am a chartered accountant's son and I hate both maths and accounts. Infact, I love the personal computer only because I hate accounts and with that a person not so numerically disposed can easily cope.

You have again expressed in your unique style. There is unfortunately a graver side to it. On December 10, 2001 a guy by the name of Amit Punya commited suicide because of his fear of maths. There have been some others I have read over the years but this one I remember clearly. The govt has tried to make "monster maths" easy.
The real problem lies elsewhere. As HRD consultants Morgan and Banks point out" Are you good at numbers, data, things, words or people". Though it seems very basic, it had deeper and graver implications.
When no mathematician is forced to write poetry, why the hell should a writer and a poet be forced to do maths? Random and sequential thinking are two totally different things and only a genuinely versatile person can be ambidextrous.
I have added you to my blogroll. In case you have any objection, do let me know. Happy blogging.

Praveen said...

hmmmm.. maths and me are kinda poles apart too :), but i didnt do too badly in math when it mattered.

I simply loved your post, especially the build up :)

dazedandconfused said...

oh! math is easy! :)

Unknown said...

Nice!
My love hate would be 70-30...
Didn't hate till I was in High School...Then I had a teacher who clutched an AK 47 while teaching...that was the beginning and the end! :P

Fleiger said...

Thogh I expected this post about someone (or some) cuckoo...

Anyways, since I carry my math's graduate mother's and engineer father's genes, I am one of those few individuals I have come across who can merrily calculate their days into sunset (and sometimes hard sums need that time to be solved).

Wooden blocks? Nice... Hope nobody who got hit by those developed Arithmophobia (that's a real phobia)

meenakshi said...

well my encounter with numbers had not been bad till i reached my graduation.

btw a funny post.

Anonymous said...

LOL really funny :))

Sindhu

b v n said...

LOL...another good one silverine !
but you havent forgotten the basics ...i mean the ones you showed in the examples,they were pretty near to the correct answer:)

Sarah said...

Ah.. Maths.. My 6th standard teacher told me, the best job for me is to become prime minister of India.. Apparently tht is the only job where education( especially maths!) doesn't hold any values..

Currently I am teaching my daughter grade 3 maths( between you and me, my daughter is teaching me).. Any way.. she has some point value blah blah questions and I had no idea what it is or how to do it. i told her like any smart intelligent mother would do, "We didn't( have to) learn any high funda maths in india when we were young..!

silverine said...

Asterix: lol I get the point :)) Checked your posts am glad to find another humor blogger!

hiren: That is very interesting indeed! I managed to pass but didn't go on to shake the mathematic world :)

Praveen: Thank you dear :)

dazedandconfised: I hate people who say that!!! grrrr :)

rockus: AK 47? hmmm now I see where my teachers went wrong

fleiger: I have a Math gradute mom and Engineer Dad too besides two brothers who were Maths toppers, but I guess the Maths genes got over by the time I was born :p
The wooden blocks didnt hit anyone but were bought back and I develeoped biceps very early with all that throwing.

fundoome: My encounter with Maths was always disastrous :(

Sindhu; Thank you :)

b v n: *whew* I was actually worried that I may have got that wrong too :p

Sarah: I think generations of teachers have said that to students who were no good in Maths :))

Maverick said...

:)) as usual..

when i started learning maths our teachers used to give away chocolates to those who gave the correct answer first.this was the main reason for me to learn maths then and for me being a little "well built" now.

when u are in the company of ur father whos a maths teacher u have no option but to be good in maths:)

but the subject that i was pathetic all thru was hindi.:(( those hanging letters never showed any mercy on me and i was put to sword many a times.i still dont have a clue what is masculine,feminine when to use ha ,he ,hi,ho.......but maths helped a lot whenever i got my hindi answer papers (the vital calculation of how much more marks to plead from the teacher to pass:))

anup.777 said...

"Even at that age I was so mature and farsighted ..."
lolz ... am sure u were ... :)

Okay ... now i'll try out an acronym here ... just for the heck of it ... "ROFLMAOWTIME" :)

Anonymous said...

Sil, however funny be the way u have said it, it has the seeds to a serious subject. the subject in itself is not boring, but the way it is tought could be. I had my so called 'love' for geography, and GOK how I got thru.. looking back at the subject now, I no longer feels the same.. where are our teachers who were passionate to the subjct? Well said, Sil..
- Dreamer

shruti said...

Girl that rocked..and I guess thts the syndrome with many people ..I have seen this maths phobia ard.. here we are very different its been my fav sub ..I sued to live , dream , eat ,sleep maths ..its kept me alive ,,made me pass my days in school ..God I teach it too with equal passion ..neways keep rocking us like this with ur posts ,.,, btw do u orkut and are u on orkut ?

jhantu said...

ah now i know the secret behind that cutie english grad's chosen profession.. a truamatic childhood scarred by the dreaded maths teacher

Asterix said...

@silverine: Thanks. I replied to your comments on my blog. Well partially to increase my own comment count, but what the heck! Kidding... :) I hope my angrezi is correct this time. I have a mortal fear of being assassinated by an Literature graduate over a spelling mistake or bad grammar.

Fleiger said...

That's called gene shortage (or short genes)...

And maths would have helped you to calculate how long should you throw the blocks so that they won't be retrieved, shortput champ. thrCatch-22 kind of situation, huh?

silverine said...

maverick: I picked up Hindi very fast, but if someone were to tell me it is our national language then I will forget it equally fast :)

Alexis: Thank you :)
"BTW is your dad paying the income tax" er.. I have heard that the IT guys are watching my blog so I can't reveal somethings here :))

dreamer: Thanks buddy! You are very right, it is the foundation and a teachers passion to teach that matters. But in my case it was sheer disinterest :)

Jhantu: Maths teachers definitely didn't help :)

Asterix: Love your sarcastic style. That "Prince' post was absolute ROFL stuff :) I can imagine irate lit grads stalking you like Maths grads putting a fatwa on my head :))

fleiger: You mean I got short changed on genes ? ;)

nish said...

oh boy!! the post brought back a lot of bad memories for me!! :-D my mom had to actually lock me up in the room before my board exam.. so that i would sit and practice math. little did she know that i had distractions aplenty to keep me occupied and away from trying to "memorise" my math whatnots.. can u believe it... i actually tried to memorise the process for each sum... so that i wouldnt flunk big time!! must say it worked!! :-D

Kurur said...

I believe that being mathematically challenged is more psychological than anything else. And maths teachers at school kind of aggravate it and rub it in. Down with maths teachers! Maths as a subject of study is still innocent.

pophabhi said...

That gunshot did ring some bells for me. Dishooom.
Great post! LOL

mathew said...

Reminds me of a famous mal movie.."Spadhikam"..
"Ee lokathinte spandanam kanaakkil aaanu"

The world is not all about maths!!
Happy to find another lameduck in math..hehehe!!..Neways u are more than compensated with your wonderful writing skills!!

cheeiro buddy!!

Rushes' Anomaly said...

Reminded me of dad and his great dreams. Well, he was smart enough to soon realize that his genes are perfectly functioning as expected.

Mathan kuzhichittal kumbalam mulakkumooo :-))

Maybe you should start a daily digest for your fans!!

shruti said...

???? U left me out !!

Nikhil Narayanan said...

C'mon u just need to know basic Arithmetic to survive in this world...rest commonsense(as fat as maths is concerned)...alley??.
ente Hindi innum chalamaa...inspite of
1)12 years in a KV
2)Having learnt Social Studies in Hindi till 8(thats 8 years from first standard!!!!)
even now, gender based issues pop up with my Hindi!!(and reminds me of lalettan in Gandhi Nagar II street)....
and ya, am never gonna master Hindi..let it be like that [:)]

Neihal said...

hahaha..have you defined your blog as unsuitable for minors....coz I think lot of kids will take a print out of this post to school.
specially "And it is because of the combined effort of these never-say-die Math teachers that I am, where I am today...an English graduate and proud of it too.

Thank you all ye Math teachers."

Suji said...

Great post! I loved maths in school and I did my masters in maths but still have a problem calculating the change when i shop. :))

Inder said...

calculator is god :P hahaha...

Sreejith Panickar said...

Kill me Silv, kill me..... That was all-fired funny. Having read other stories from you, I was damn sure, that little terror was gonna be you! ;-) This was one fine post. Witty, but somewhat realistic in the case of most people. The freely flying cubes and the 'another chance and *bang*' were really funny. The income tax remark was an added detonation.

But, lemme tell you, I am 95-5 for Maths.

Anonymous said...

Great post... had a nice laugh... But I love mathematics, partially because of a good (and beautifuulll) math teacher... Her way of teaching was to combine people in a group and give them a problem and find who comes first... At the end of every term the best performing group was awarded with a packet of cofee bite chocalates... That ensured that we all did well in Maths.. And just to show off I have got centum in mathematics in both board exams (10th and +2 as well)!!! ;-)

Unnikrishnan G Nair.

silverine said...

Shruthi: Sorry dear, missed you out. Thank you for the kind words. We need more Math teachers like you :) No I dont do orkut, no time :(

Nish: That was smart of your mom :)

Kurur:True, teachers can make all the difference !

Pophabhi: LOL so you have been down that alley too or were you with rockus in the same school?

Mathew: Thanks buddy :) Great qoute!

rushes anomaly: Join the club gal :))

Nikhil: But you need to know Math at school. My Hindi was good.


Neihal: I think I must put up an 'A' sign on this post :p

Iyer education: Thanks buddy for that compliment :)

Suji: Masters in Maths? Wow!!!

Inder: AMEN!! :p

sreejith: Thank you :) 5% is very decent believe me compared to my 1% :))

UGN: Thank you :) Another Math lover I see *sigh* My teacher never gave chocolate like yours and Mavericks teacher :(

Johnny said...

Hmm,
You guessed right. I hate maths, thats why I joined medical school. My dad used to wake me up at 5am to teach me algebra and trignometics. It was like an overhead projection, everything went above my head.

Lalit Singh said...

missed not being able to read ur blog regularly

hilarious as ever

lekin i love mathematics...simply love it

PS: Is there ANY family in malluland that doesnt have someone in 'Gelf'

Arti Honrao said...

Interesting post!
Esp. coz we share same interests ~
Dislike for Math :)
Reason y I took medicine is to runaway frm Math!
ssshhhhh don't tell yanyone!!




GBU
Arti

Fleiger said...

That generally happens for third kid, especially if she is a girl. After all, hand-me-down genes can only be handed down so many times ;)

The elderly camel said...

son to mom - "Look Ma, uncle taught me how to count over the weekend. One, two, three..., Jack, Queen , King."

Sreejith Panickar said...

Re: Silverine

But my 5% is against Maths and not for Maths. I love Maths! ;-)

Lost in trance... said...

maths is my fav subject to hate too...n im an engineer! n its the biggest mental block against my starting CAT preparations! sigh!

is there an 'i hate maths' club?

Rose said...

~laughs~

Me on the other hand cant get enuf of maths.. I luv numbers and luv to dwell in the games it plays with my mind..

:)))

..Me

"the girl who ate everything and didnt even burp" said...

hi silverine! i came here from kkkkkusum's blog :)
and my! am i glad that i came here post-lunch! cudnt stop giggling/laughing at ur posts! (read some, not all)

and maths! i LOVE maths! :D

manuscrypts said...

yup, it all adds up...

Ajith Prasad Balakrishnan said...

Only one question : How much did u score in your std 10th Maths paper :) ?

silverine said...

Johnny: "It was like an overhead projection, everything went above my head" lol :))

Lalit: Welcome back buddy, nice to see you :) And no, there is no one in mallu land without a connection in the gelf and if you find one do let me know, I shall have him/her bronzed :))

Arti: Another one coming out of the closet I see, welcome to the club doc :)

fleiger: hand me downs? er... I don't think it was in our case ;)

the elderly camel: LOL that was so clever :))

sreejith: That's nice, it means you must have been a natural with the subject.

lost in trance: Welcome to the 'i hate maths' club :)

rose: Wow, lucky you, actually I can understand that cos I liked my subject a lot too :)

sugar n spice: What a cute pen name :) Welcome to my blog. I have seen you at kkkkusums blog :)

manuscrypts:That was some speedy computing ;)

Ajith: er...I passed ;)

Unknown said...

nice one...
I call my dear mom.. as 2-square...
as in 2 to the power 2...
coz tahts the only thing she get right... rest of the answers, will certainly make the souls of all the gr8 mathematicians commit sucide in hell or heaven or where-ever.

Mind Curry said...

awesome! or should i say awe-sum? after all math is the language you best fathom :)

ahhh..how i missed blogosphere.. been under cover :)

Fleiger said...

Genes are hand-me-downs in everybody's case. Ask any friendly neighbourhood doctor...

Anyways, you didn't answer who/when/what over cuckoo's nest? Does that refer to the blocks thrown? (Why am I still on those blocks?)

Jeseem said...

math is so simple. straight written rules. apply logic
its the english grammer that is terrifying. adjective/adverb, passive/active, so many combinations so many varieties, bah...
but only advantage to it , is u get exercising it everyday.
for some people, it comes too easy cause of the heavy exercise everyday :-p

just thinking, would be funny if people had to talk everything in terms of maths and not english. talk only logic.

silverine said...

kautilya: Poor mom :))

mind curry: Ah the travails of the single doc who has to stay underground to escape from the hordes of female admirers and stalkers :P

fleiger: Now where do I get a friendly neighbourhood doctor? :)) Maths went over my head like those blocks flying out of the window, that's what I meant by 'over the
cuckoos nest' :)

jeseem: Talking in terms of Maths? hmm I know a lot of people who will be struck dumb :))

perplexed kid: Thank you :)

Kusum Rohra said...

Oh My God ( Said in the irritatingly cute way they say in friends) Our alter ego strikes back, my relation with math has been just as good :)

That is precisely the reason why I wanted the hired husband to be a math genius :) so that he can teach my kids beyond the simple stuff like 1+1=5 oh sorry 1+1=7, phew i never get even simple additiong right the first time, but I am getting there.

Hey silver any idea whats up with mind curry, his blog is not updated?

naveen said...

Hmmm...maths never affected me!! It was chemistry,and then Biology,not 2 mention history,geography,hindi and a hell lot of other things tht bothered me!!! good work!!

രാജ് said...

കണക്കെളുപ്പത്തില്‍ പഠിക്കുവാനായി, ഒരു മലയാളം ബ്ലോഗില്‍ കണ്ട സഹായം, ഈ ലിങ്ക് നോക്കൂ.

ബിഹൈന്‍ഡ് ദി സീന്‍സ്: ആ ലിങ്ക് അബദ്ധത്തില്‍ ക്ലിക്ക് ചെയ്തു വായിച്ച സില്‍‌വി, ‘പെരിങ്ങോടന്‍’ എന്നയാളെ എവിടെക്കണ്ടാലും തല്ലിക്കൊല്ലാന്‍ ഏര്‍പ്പാടാക്കുന്നു.

Dhanush | ധനുഷ് said...

Reminded me off my Math Sir Madhavan Sir at school. One of my fav teachers and fav subjects.

Pinne onnum onnum randalla.. Immini Vakiya Onnannu ;)

silverine said...

kusum: Looks like you are more busy than me these days:) The Alter Ego strikes again!!! You can see MC's comment above, and my reply to his comment may be a possible explanation for his disappearance :))

naveen: lol it's a wonder you finshed schooling :))

peringodan: lol I did click the link and got a near fatal shock :)) Didnt expect such cruelty from you!!! grrr
:))

dhanush: Another Math fan!!! When I wrote this post I thought most Engineers would be Math lovers or would have had no problem with Math. But it doesn't look like that :)

Anonymous said...

1st timer here, hilarious(for want of a better word) stuff.

I cant believe you can grunt and groan your way through the nitty-gritties of Gerald Durrell's books :)

Suman Pant said...

Dropped in from no where... so i am planning to go back to "no where" so that i can "drop in" every now and then!! Perfect writing....
Loved it!!!

Fleiger said...

So, your head is cuckoo's nest. does that mean you are...? Or maths made you...? Got it ;) [I am currently in one of unchivalrous moods. Wait till tomorrow for a saner and proper comment :D]

Anand K said...

Ahhhhh..... the trouble I once had with math! Used to barely avoid flunking in Math all through junior school and beyond.... somehow I didn't get it! This was till a quite Twilight Zone moment in Class VIII after which Math became my absolute strong point. In fact my PG major was dynamics, nonlinear and chaos theory i.e math and analysis heavy as against you untermenschen MBA/IT-Vity types/Desi Oracle Operators/electronics greasemonkeys.

Eat my dust, mere mortals! NJAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAA...... :P

PS: I would have empathised with you if you had probs in Chemistry... that realm was my Waterloo since highschool! I used to study Chem in a rote manner as against understanding the funda.... and understand Chem, I never did!

Arti Honrao said...

Hey Silvu! Did ya raed Autumn - The last leaf? Coz next week it is going to be a book that has to be paid for :D
So read it quickah ...
I don't mind if u pay 3 dollars to buyah ;)
Or else I may even consider emailin u it for free coz u make me laughah!


GBU
Arti

silverine said...

the talkativeman: Grunt and groan? No way, more like guffaw through his books :)

eclipsed thoughts: Thank you dear :)

Fleiger:Yes, I am cuckoo when it comes to Maths!!! Or should I say it drove me cuckoo? hmmm

anand k: Wow, wish I had the same twilight zone kinda moment too. Maths wizard and Reviewer par excellance, am impressed :) Watch out for the MBA/IT-Vity types/Desi Oracle Operators/electronics greasemonkeys stalking you ;)

Arti: You are really good girl, read the first chapter, had me riveted till the end. The font is kinda hard to read though. Good work!!!!

Arti Honrao said...

"The font is kinda hard to read though"
Kya baat karr rahi hai?!!
Verdana - normal size ... simplest I could use! :)


GBU
Arti

kickassso said...

my dad bought me tons of toy cars....


(present day)
instructor:
"Press the clutch, release the handbrake, turn the key,and start the engine!"
ME:"phew"!
NOW THAT wasnt that hard was it?

now wave your hand vertically and gently release the clutch and depress the accelerator

a blue santro suddenly jumps forward as a KSRTC behemoth appears from nowhere

Me: "EEEEEEEEEEK!"

I think I'll be wearing my brown pants nex time

Anonymous said...

I understand Ur issues... But U know even the Math teachers are not very sure in Maths... In your junior school days, they say that 2 can never be subtracted from 1.. Once U reach ur senior school, the very basics itself gets changed when they say that U get -1 when 2 is subtracted from 1?!?!?!?!?

Similarly, through your school days, they teach 1 + 1 = 2 and when U start ur Computer courses in your senior school, the same people now say 1 + 1 = 10 ?!?!?!?

So, we all math haters, must join hands and ask the great math guys and ladies in the world to first decide amongst them a common Maths and then teach us!!! What say?? ;-)

Nair

Fleiger said...

Hmmm... good question. I asked the cuckoo clock, but it told me to come back in an hour. Anyways, not sure how much it will help, since it is fascinated with numbers. (and apparently very good at maths, because always knows how many times to chime)

Kusum Rohra said...

Ya have been a little more busy than one would want to be, but hopefully just for sometime :)

~*. D E E P A .* ~ said...

my nemisis was the local language .. my teacher in 4th gave me an imposition for not being able to speak the local language .. sonce then , i developed a hatred to learning the subject .. and in 8th , i no longer had to .. but once i got out of school , i realised i would have been better off learning to read & write it properly

hope and love said...

lol..!! me too..!!
:))
i seem to keep saying this to you..!!

silverine said...

Binoy: I went cuckoo learning Math and hence the title.

arti: The background was dark.

kickasso: LOL welcome to the club of EEEEEK, soon you will learn *thud* and *skreek* when the car grazes every available surface :))

UGN: I agree!!!! :)

Fleiger: LOL :))

Kusum: Hope it will pass and we get a post soon :)

deepa: I loved learning Kannada and wish I had pursued it further. Actually I like learning languages :)

HnL: Great minds think and dislike alike :)

Arti Honrao said...

Oh! That means the page did not load properly for ya!
The text part has somewhat similar color as pages has n behind that we hv brown [the dark bkgrnd as u say]

GBU
Arti

Arti Honrao said...

Oh! That means the page did not load properly for ya!
The text part has somewhat similar color as THIS page has n behind that we hv brown [the dark bkgrnd as u say]

GBU
Arti

Fleiger said...

That just proves that I have finally gone-a-cuckoo... The cuckoo in the clock will agree, I guess.
But I am sure maths is not a reason for this...

Gurdeepak said...

Lovely! can't say any more.

monu said...

Maths.....

the only subject i dont like .....

i still dont know the basic multiplication table :D.... :P

silverine said...

kickasso: Just read your tag and got the Brown Pant joke ewwwwww

arti: Now it is clear :)

fleiger: That was sooo funny lol

gurdeepak: Thanks buddy :)

monu: Welcome to the club, I know my tables till 10 only :)

Jive Talker said...

Bhoologuthinte spandanam Maaaathematics ill aanu

Janus said...

Ouch..my stomach hurts! Too much laughter has been identified as the cause, and all clues point to a major overdose of the Silverine Syndrome - a hitherto unknown condition which causes a B Schooler to leave everything else and read all posts on the blog maintained by the aforementioned Silverine, as the cause behind this symptom.

Fellow bloggers are advised to proceed with extreme caution, and not read more than one hilarious post per day, or you may end up making a fool of yourself as I did in the college library !!

Anonymous said...

Well good writing. Made me nostalgic.
But math became my cup of tea during my 11th. So i still love math.
Everything in life happens for a reason.

Anoop G said...

everything is "mathematics"

ToOothlEss WOndeR! said...

you have the question, the answer you copy from the girl in front, and you fill in the blanks.
i always thought i did it perfect.

but i flunked all the time :(
i think we have enough ppl for a death to math cult in here..
yay! i'm so excited!

silverine said...

Jive Talker: That's makes two people endorsing that opinion :)

Anoop G : There is a "Love Math' and 'Hate Math' club here, take your pick :)

Janus: Thanks a lot buddy *hugs* :)

Alex: Glad this made you nostalgic :) Made me nostalgic too, about how I hated Math :p

toothless wonder: There are enough of us here for the 'death to math' cult, or maybe we should make it 'death to bad math teachers' cult :))

Fleiger said...

Dew drops says that freedom is being able to say 2+2=4. I wonder what would the people who are not that good in maths (I saw a lot of that variety here) say to prove they are free? ;)

[That is hangover from a torture called KANK]

venus said...

very hilarious post :)

poor you.. I always keep wondering, why are all the math teachers born?? probably to remind us of hell on earth!
I and math always have had a love and hate relationship, I never liked Math, but could not survive without learning math! The only teacher I was the most afraud of had been math teacher though I was good at math!

Siddhu said...

I ended up at your blog from Dr. Pissed's rant about Northies. Being avowedly allergic to northies, their fuck-all English accents, their even-more-fuckall English grammar, and their 'Oh you look like a Punjabi' lines, I cannot but sympathize with you.

Honestly, these magnificent creatures are all you see in the UK, and trust me the Pakis are a HUNDRED thousand times nicer. :P

Pssst... http://siddhuw.blogspot.com/2006/06/intolerance.html

Lalit Singh said...

wats with the slumber girl???
wake up!!!!

crumbs said...

ha ha!there's something that i can completely relate to!i wnated to throw a party to all my friends the day i finished my 10th maths paper!!
but unfortunately the thing keeps coming back to bite my ass!:(
is there no way we can send maths to mars or some???

silverine said...

fleiger; Looks like KANK stinks!

Venus ; Thank you :) I think our education system is flawed and that's what makes Maths tough.

Sidhu: Read your take and agree with it, but somethings are hard to change like the mentality that we southies are inferior etc. Here in Blr at least they keep their opinions to themselves :)

Lalit: Busy dear, will post soon!!!

moontalk: he he you actually threw a party when you finished maths? lol :))
No way we can escape though :(

Anonymous said...

I must be honest. The only thing I know about math properly, is the spelling. I also happen to beleive I would have been a coolie had not someone discovered calculators.

silverine said...

G: We would both have been coolies perhaps, having chai together if not for the calculator :p

Anonymous said...

Good read :0

I was gud in Maths :) BTW, can u help me out with the answers for those sums u posted?:)

~Me

Ganja Turtle said...

YES! YES! YES! As someone who once got half out of 25 in Math, I firmly endorse this post...once young Mallu dad must be considering putting suparis on young Bangalore boys by now ;-)

silverine said...

anon: you are god in maths naah, so tell me if the sums are right :P

Ganju: I dont believe you :P