One fine, cool, breezy morning I just hopelessly got trapped into it. I did not have classes until the new trimester so I did not have too much of work on my desk. That morning in one unique motivated moment, a teacher within me turned ambitious and decided to walk into the Dean’s chamber. The back ground story is like this – We had a student, let’s call him Shubhendu. Shubhendu had managed to fail in four out of six subjects in the first trimester. Consequently, he had held a lot of meetings with the Dean. His problem was diagnosed as follows :
Shubhendu had been suffering from
something called as ‘Mathsophobi’ ever
since he passed his third grade in school. He had been trying to win the battle
with this disease during all his school and college years and had come out to
be a gallant warrior, as he could successfully pass all his classes in school
and college, inspite of his chronic illness. The problem had aggravated ever
since he left familial comforts and familiar surroundings of Kolkata, when he
decided to do his MBA. Apart from all the other pressures, that a MBA student
has to face in the first trimester, like, adjusting to new surroundings, making
new friends, hectic routine etc., there
were two monsters who had posed a serious threat to Shubhendu’s flailing health
– these two monsters were Quantitative Techniques and Economics. Shubhendu’s
older ailment got aggravated in such circumstances and created so much of
stress for him that he managed to fail in two other subjects (Organisation
Behavior and Basics of Computing) as well.
With a grave look on his face and
some lines of strain on his forehead, my Dean had declared that this was a
serious problem. I do not know whether it was because of the fact that I really
did not have much to do during those two-three days or because of the fact that
I was a self pronounced young, motivated dynamic academician, (also clichéd as
- always willing to take up new challenges) that I found myself saying, “Sir, I
will help Shubhendu with Maths. I will give special tutorials to him on the
difficult topics. Let him come to my chamber when he is not having classes”.
And thus a boy, all of six feet,
who possessed an unkempt look and who spoke in a sweet voice ( like the way
most Bengali boys do) came to my chamber one afternoon and introduced himself
as Shubhendu. I must say that there was something likeable about the guy and I
was really impressed with his honesty when he related a complete story of his
failures at a subject called Maths during all his academic years. Bringing a
warmest smile on my face, I had told him, “ Believe me, Shubhendu, Maths is a
very interesting subject and I promise that all your sessions with me are going
to be great fun. Mathematics is not supposed to make things complex for us, in
fact it makes life easier”. Shubhendu seemed to be so pleased and unburdened
with all his worries, after our initial discussion that it was not difficult to
chart out a timetable for the topics to be dealt with in the next fifteen
minutes. When he left my chamber we had both seemed to develop a liking for
each other. To my satisfaction the first step had been taken for a difficult
yet exciting journey of learning mathematics. I had a wonderfully peaceful
sleep that night.
It was decided that I would teach
him ‘Calculus’, ‘Theory of Probability’, ‘Linear Programming’ and ‘Permutation
and Combination’ to begin with. I gave him some simple problems on differential
calculus, the first day. He could solve them but I could also discover that after
every third question he committed a calculation mistake. First derivative of 2x2
would invariably become 8x, addition of 4 and 17 would be 20. When I pointed
out the mistake he gave a sheepish grin, shook his head, making a movement with
his hand with the same time, as if he was taking some sort of a pledge to
himself about not repeating the same mistake again and said, “Sorry Ma’am,
Calculation mistake”. In the same session I tried to give him a understanding
of calculus. Change in Y due to some change in X, where Y is a dependent
variable and X is an independent variable…… He listened to me with rapt
attention and gave nods at all the right places. Finally he said, “ Yes Ma’am I
understood, “eet ees basically
changing”. I was satisfied with the first class. Shubhendu had solved some
problems and had figured out ‘changing’ in Calculus.
Promptly, he came the next day,
just at the right time. I also felt that his appearance was smarter than the
previous day, or so I imagined. He had smile on his face, when he told me that
the previous night he received a call from his grandmother. He was successful
in gathering all my sympathies, when he related complete information about his
family, to me and the fact that he had lost his mother when he was very young. The
first fifteen minutes of the session were over by the time he finished his
story. I quickly opened the book to begin the Day’s lesson. By the time the
second day was over I had figured out that Shubhendu tried to strike a
conversation with me wherever he got a chance and I had learnt to respond to it
with an impish smile on my face and an eagerness to get his attention back to
the lesson. Bengali loquacity I thought, at the end of the session, where we
had made some progress on differentiation.
First few days passed and we had
merely done some basics of differentiation and integration. By this time I had gathered
complete information about Shubhendu’s family, neighbourhood, cousins, football
and durgapuja in Kolkata, and why Shubhendu had developed a deep dislike for a classmate
of his in the institute. Shubhendu looked
very confident after having learnt differentiation, a topic of what he called
as ‘Advanced Maths’. He had made a call back home, to his father and shared the
news of his newly acquired skill-set at ‘Advanced Maths’. I should have let him
enjoy his moment of glory but I don’t know why I was getting nervous. We
decided to take up Probability as the next topic. Both I and Shubhendu were put
to test. The question to be solved was – What was the probability of learning
Probability by Shubhendu? I tried to motivate him by telling him that
Probability was perhaps one of the easiest topics in Maths if one tried to
understand the concepts. Thus began an adventure of a self-motivated, young and
dynamic academician, the one of teaching ‘Probability’ to Shubhendu. Our
classes began something like this -
Me – “See Shubhendu, Probability
is a term we are familiar with. Probability refers to the likelihood of
something to happen…………..”
Shubhendu – nod with a deep
breath, attentive eyes looking keenly at the book….
Me – “For example, When you toss
a coin in a cricket match what is the probability that you will get Head?”
Shubhendu – another nod…
Me – What is the chance Shubhendu,
that you will get Head?
Shubhendu – “Ma’am there is a
chance”.
Me – “Give me a number in
percentage terms”.
Shubhendu – “Hmmm……”
Me – “Is there a hundred percent
chance that you will get a Head?”
Shubhendu – “No Ma’am, Ma’am do you think there could be some fixing
done with the toss also, like it is decided by the umpire which captain will
win?”
Me – “Do you think this can be
done in a toss?”
Shubhendu – “Ma’am like it’s only
the Captains and Umpire there. Whatever you get Head or Tail, you can declare
its Head.”
Me – “Shubhendu, Don’t you think
fixing would rather be done on who should bat first, than a toss.”
Shubhendu – “ (with a wide grin
on his face) Yes Ma’am you are right.”
Me – “Yeah so tell me, what is
the chance that your Captain will win the toss?”
Shubhendu – “Ma’am, hmmm… the
chance is between 40% and 60%.”
Me – “Goood! (Smile on my face
and definitely encouraged by his response) Yeah so can you give me an exact number
between 40% and 60%?”
Shubhendu – “ Maa’am, err… its
45% to 55%.”
Me – Shubhendu Don’t you think
your captain has a 50% chance always to win the toss?
Shubhendu – “(with a wider grin
on his face) Yes Ma’am you are right.”
Me –“ Yeah, so that’s how you
calculate probability………”
Shubhendu – (playing with his
ear) “only if there was no fixing done…….”
Me – “See there is a 50% chance
of getting a tail and 50% chance of getting a head, so how many possible
outcomes do we have here?”
Shubhendu – nod sideways and
backward, grave look on the face…
Me – “Shubhendu, how many
possible outcomes do we have here?”
Shubhendu – “Possible Outcomes
Ma’am?”
Me – “When you toss a coin you
can either get a head or a tail, so how many possible outcomes you can have?”
Shubhendu – “Ma’am don’t know
Ma’am, Ma’am ...mmm... One.”
Me – “ One? Youuu either get a
Heaad or a Taaiil.”
Shubhendu – “that’s what I said Ma’am,
one ….”
Me – “Yeah….”
Shubhendu – “Two” , (by this time
may be he figured out one was the wrong answer)
Me – “Yeah! (wide smile on my
face) that’s it. Don’t you think it was easy?”
Shubhendu – “(smiling) Yeah
Ma’am!”
Me – “So total possible outcomes
are two, and you either get a Head or a Tail, so number of outcomes you get is
one, that makes it one by two, and thus probability of getting a head or a tail
is 50%.”
Shubhendu – “YES Ma’am.”
Me – “Now read the book, the
formula is written there.”
Shubhendu –“ (After having looked
at the book for some minutes) Yee’es Ma’am.”
By this time I felt Shubhendu was
a little bored, there was some sweat on his forehead, which he was trying to
wipe out with his handkerchief, while still looking at the book. For the first
time, I realized may be learning probability was a laborious task for poor
Shubhendu. I heard my self saying -
Me – “So Shubhendu you go home
and read the book and I will pick up tomorrow’s session from here.”
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Next Day I asked Shubhendu to
write the first formula for probability and gave him some problems to solve. He
was quieter than his usual self and looked more attentive. He could not solve most of the problems, and attributed the reason to calculation mistakes.
Me- “Shubhendu, five out of these
six problems are incorrect.”
Shubhendu – “Ma’am, hmm, Oh!
Errr… Ma’am Calculation?”
Me, while looking at his exercise
book - “No, not just calculation mistakes! But why do you commit so many calculation
mistakes?”
Shubhendu – “Ma’am I don’t know
Ma’am, Ma’am I lose marks because of calculation mistakes only.”
Me, looking up from the exercise
book- “Shubhendu, I have realized that your span of attention is very short;
you tend to lose your concentration…..”
Shubhendu – “Ma’am I try, I try
to……….”
Me, with an assertive voice- “No
Shubhendu, I think this is the basic
problem with you, you need to do something to increase you span of attention,
otherwise it would be so difficult for you to study, you get distracted very
quickly.”
Shubhendu, serious and intently
looking at me – “Ma’am isss there a way to increase span of attention?”
Me- “Yes, if you do meditation
you can increase it.”
Shubhendu – “Ma’am but I don’t
know meditation, I will have to do a course… I will have to find …..”
Me – “Meditation should help you,
and it’s not a big deal you can start practicing some meditation from today
itself.”
Shubhendu – “Ma’am when I was a
kid my meditation was good……it was only after my mother passed away that………………”
Me, smiling – “Shubhendu, your
concentration was good perhaps……….”
Shubhendu – (smile) “yes Ma’am, Ma’am
till fourth standard I used to top…………”
Me, earnestly - “See there are
simple techniques of meditation, I can teach you.)
Shubhendu – “Ma’am.. err… ok” (nod)
Me- “You might have seen your
Grandmother chanting some mantra on a mala that is one simple form of meditation
that you can begin with.”
Shubhendu – “(With earnestness)
Yes Ma’am yes, my grandmother chants a
mala twice a day, My Grand Father, in fact my Great Grand Father used to go to
Ramkrishna Mission. Everybody is very religious in my house.”
Me- “She chants mantras! Do you
know anyone of those mantras?”
Shubhendu – “Yes Ma’am a few of
them.”
Me- “Then you can start off today
itself, you can pick up any of those mantras and chant it on a mala. If you do
it twice a day it will help you.”
Shubhendu – “Ma’am, bhen my
mother passed away, I was deesturbed for some days, so I lost my meditation,
before that I was very good, I was…..”
Me- “Shubhendu, Twenty minutes of
this exercise morning and evening will help you gain a better concentration.”
Shubhendu – “Ma’am but I don’t
have a Mala here”.
Me- “Ok. I will get one for you
tomorrow. Now let’s get back to Probability….”
Shubhendu – “Ma’am do I have to
remember some God also…”
Me- “You can remember any God you
have faith on, Now let’s get back……….”
Shubhendu –“ Ma’am I am bothering
you so much, Thank you, so much Ma’am for helping me”
Me – “That’s Ok Shubhendu, Now
let’s get back………”
Shubhendu – “Ma’am I get up late
in the morning……….”
Me- “Shubhendu, let’s get back to
Probability…………………”
It was clear that my attention
was shifting from Maths to Meditation and I realized that too. But a young
dynamic, motivated professor had to solve all her student’s problems. Next day
I got a mala of rudraksh beads for Shubhendu. He thanked me many times for that
and really looked obliged when he left my chamber. If I say that a thought of
Shubhendu having fun with a bunch of students, showing them the Mala I gave her,
did not cross my mind, I would be dishonest. Because, it did. But a positively
motivated Prof. drove away all the negative thoughts off her mind. ‘Nishkaam
Karma’…. Do your duty selflessly!!!
Our progress on probability was
much slower than what I had expected. It was clear that Shubhendu was finding
it very difficult to retain concepts with him, what were taught the previous
day. Meditation did not seem to work, although Shubhendu tried to convince me
that he had visualized a lot of change in himself, since he started meditation
(only in the evenings- for mornings, he took an excuse. There was no one in the
hostel who could wake him up. The alarm clock failed to do so because it was
only a clock, Shubhendu could easily shut him off.) I was getting a little
impatient. I expected Shubhendu to get a little frustrated too but surprisingly
he was cool. My knowledge about his likes and dislikes about things in general
– like food, people, music, clothes, girls etc. had increased. I had come to
know about a lot of his family history. Shubhendu managed to maintain his
somber expression when I showed signs of irritation. It was not a good idea
perhaps to take up probability as a second topic to teach, I thought, and this
is how I consoled myself.
When I was contemplating about
changing my teaching style and to be innovative in order to evolve some new
teaching pedagogy for making probability simple and easy to understand for
students, Shubhendu met with an accident. He had an injury in his leg and
because of that he had to return back to Kolkata. This also meant that he would
take his make-up examination for Quantitative Techniques at the Kolkata center.
This is how; some amount of rash motor bike driving by Shubhendu, ended his sessions
with me. The next trimester was about to begin and I got busied in preparations
for the same. Did I miss Shubhendu, and my probability sessions with him? I
think I am not yet clear on that, as in a way a sudden end of afternoon
sessions with Shubhendu had brought a sense of relief to me too. But I was
certainly concerned about him, his exam
and wished that probably if I had more sessions with him, I could save him from
failing in the exam a second time.
In retrospect, I think
Shubhendu’s accident did a great service to the Young Academician’s Self
esteem. She was saved of facing the first failure in her journey as an
academician. Shubhendu’s accident saved her from all the distress and dishonor
that such failures bring.
It was almost ten days that
Shubhendu had gone. Suddenly one afternoon I received a call from him.
Shubhendu – “Good Afternoon
Ma’am! How are you?”
Me-“I am good Shubhendu. How are
you? Have you recovered?”
Shubhendu – “Ma’am not yet. Ma’am
in Nagpur the doctor said, I had no fractures, but then I showed my leg to a
doctor here in Kolkata and he said that I had broken my ligaments. This was a
shock for me as I had not expected it to happen. How could a Nagpur Doctor not diagnose
it properly…………………Ma’am I am still not well………”
Me –“ (After having heard all
about his injury, medication, diagnosis etc. for ten minutes) you will get well
soon Shubhendu, Now tell me why did you call me up?”
Shubhendu – “Ma’am if I got
medical aid in time, I would have been fine by now. Because of my sickness I
was not getting much time to study also but somehow I tried to keep myself busy
in studies as much as I could ………….”
Me – “Shubhendu, you are on a
long distance call. Come to the point.”
Shubhendu – “Ma’am tomorrow I
have my exam.”
Me – “Yeah…….so are you prepared?”
Shubhendu – “Ma’am I will write the
exam at Kolkata center. Here I met a lot of students who have a back in QT and
Economics………..”
Me – “Shubhendu, tell me why did
you call me up?”
Shubhendu – “Ma’am I called you up
so that you can tell me some important questions, if you can Ma’am.”
Me – “ Important Question??? In
QT ???”
Shubhendu – “Yes Ma’am and in
Economics. Although I plan to do the entire course but still I will focus more
on these important questions.”
Me – “But Shubhendu I am not in a
position to tell you the important questions……”
Shubhendu – “Ma’am my Grandmother
was also not keeping well since I came here………”
Me – “With a subject like QT, it
does not help when you ask for Important topics…….”
Shubhendu – “I had to take care
of my Grandmother also Ma’am. I will prepare some questions…..”
Me – “Look Shubhendu you cannot
do a selective study, it can be fatal…….”
Shubhendu – “Ma’am I will study
all, but some parts I will do well…”
Me – “You should practice all the
problems…………”
Shubhendu – “Ma’am if you have
any idea what would be asked in the paper……..”
Me – “How would I have any idea?
I think you should ……..”
Shubhendu, interrupting me - “Ma’am faculties have an idea about question
papers, Ma’am Please help me………”
Me – “Shubhendu, I wish to help
you and that is the reason I am telling you………”
Shubhendu, interrupting me again– “Ma’am please tell me some
questions………. I will pass……..”
Me, firmly – “I think I cannot
help you regarding that…………..”
Shubhendu – “Ma’am you helped me
so much, please help me one last time……….I am trying for a center transfer to
Kolkata, May be I will get it because my Grandmother is also not keeping well.”
Me – “Shubhendu, instead of
wasting time on phone I think you should sit and study. I Wish…”
Shubhendu – “Ok Ma’am, I will do
the complete course……….. Ma’am I heard that faculties can have an access to
question papers…..”
Me – “Shubhendu, Is this all that
you called me for?”
Shubhendu –“ Ma’am ok Please tell
me which topics should I study…….”
Me – “You have to study all the
topics……..
Shubhendu - Ma’am how much of
theory are we going to get?”
Me – “Shubhendu, Is this all that
you called me for?”
Shubhendu – “Yess …..Ma’am……mmmm……
Ok Ma’am….. Thank you so much Ma’am. “
Me – “All the best! Shubhendu, for you exam. Bye.”
Shubhendu – “Thank you so much
Ma’am. Bye”
Shubhendu got a center transfer
to Kolkata center. I could never know whether he passed his QT and Economics
papers or not. I was not very hopeful though. I do not know whether he could ever
complete his MBA. But I guess if Shubhendu managed to complete his MBA, he must
have got some marketing or PR job in a FMCG, IT or Insurance company in a booming economy. He must be good at selling
insurance or savings Bank Account, hopefully. He talked well and could easily
divert the conversation to a topic he wanted to discuss. He would perhaps do
well in life. I do hope that Shubhendu did learn something about ‘Advanced
Maths’ from my sessions with him.
However, there were some
important lessons that had been left for me to learn -
- Not everyone is meant to learn Probability in life. There are some who are not. Still they do well in life, perhaps.
- My time is a resource and I should consider it as a resource.
- There is an opportunity cost attached to everything in life, and that includes time and energy too.
- Academicians can also be hopeless romantics.
The young, dynamic, motivated
academician promised shubhendu that she would make learning Mathematics fun for
him. An old Sanskrit saying says, knowledge should be given to the person who
is worthy of it. In Shubhendu’s case his worthiness was adjudged by a management
entrance examination, which works on a cutoff system. Shubhendu and many others
like him managed to be above the cutoff and thus qualified as someone worthy of
knowledge. In retrospect, I am bound to
think, Shubhendu did have fun during those sessions. Only, at the dynamic, young
academician’s cost.
