Back to Math!

“Ankita… help!” I cried on the phone.

“I wish I could. But Math..? Sorry. You know I have had enough of it. You promised her, so it is you who should teach her.”

I scowled and put the phone down. This problem was much bigger than sympathizing with and advising my namesake, my childhood somehow-always-with-me friend. I could not back down now. And it involved… *gulp*… Mathematics.

I met Nishtha Batra on the first day of my preparatory school, when we were just 3 years old. On my birthday, I discovered that we share not only my name, but our birth dates as well! Since then, we have been good friends, with our differences and similarities, studying in the same class of the same school. And coincidentally, we share the same best friend too - Ankita!

Now, when I opted for English (hons) course, it wasn’t only my love for literature that drove me, but also my extreme hatred for Mathematics. The day I stepped into the lecture room for English, I had gone home to shut up the compartment of my brain that had always been forced to solve complex differential and polynomial equations. I had officially broken all ties with the esteemed subject gleefully. If only I could have anticipated this day!

Nishtha (Batra, which is) took up BBA after school. Somehow, she must have missed her lectures due to health problems. Now, after a seemingly huge misunderstanding with Ankita, she got in contact with me yesterday, and one thing leading to another, I decided to clear the air between her and Ankita, and help her out with Math too. So she came to my place, and took the mammoth book, opening to me again the whole unending expanse of Math. And I surprised myself by solving hideous questions of dreaded Integration. How on earth could I have remembered all the steps? Why did I fear it? But realization dawned on me after an hour of torture. I wasn't bad at it - i would not have scored a 95% otherwise. But I loved the free flow of literature, the magic of the words, thus the hatred towards figures.

After my mind had lost all stability, I took her to the Math tutor who had helped me out during by Board exams. He accepted her as a student, thus relieving me of any future implications. Not to forget the brownie point that he was extremely happy to see me again! Next destination was Ankita’s home. And making Batra the reluctant to drive their. After Anki agreed to talk, we had a 'filmy' moment when they were acting like tweens with their issues of communication gap, while roaming the streets in vicinity. And finally, after we had almost died from laughing so hard, Ankita apologized for all the pain I had to go through while pouring over Integration. She completely shares with me the repulsion towards Math.

I am glad we were all happy with our day. The fights between friends can turn very ugly if not solved with a cool mind. We, thank goodness, just let the unpleasantness pass! And it reminds me, we might get together again – our birthday is round the corner!