The students left exactly after an hour. The wall exactly opposite to this house has been painted white. The door has been painted black. I replaced the chair in verandah.
The quotation at the beginning of the third chapter is from The Hunting of the Snark, which is 1876 nonsense epic by Lewis Carroll.
“What’s the good of Mercator’s North Poles and Equators,
Tropics, Zones, and Meridian Lines?”
So the Bellman would cry: and the crew would reply
“They are merely conventional signs!”
I think the chapter is about finding out coordinates for addresses. At least in the beginning.
[ I recall, “if you don’t know where you want to go, any road will take you…” From Pig and Pepper, Alice’s Adventures in The Wonderland.]
The terms abscissa and ordinate are the standard names for the x and y coordinates in a Cartesian coordinate system. Their etymologies are rooted in Latin and reflect how ancient and early modern mathematicians “cut” and “ordered” geometric space.
1. Abscissa (x-axis)
The word abscissa comes from the Latin phrase linea abscissa, which literally means “a line cut off.”
* Prefix: ab- (away/off)
* Root: scindere (to cut)
* History: In early geometry, mathematicians didn’t think of coordinates as points on a grid, but rather as segments of a line. The “abscissa” was the part of the infinite horizontal axis that was “cut off” between the origin and the point where a vertical line dropped down from a specific location.
* Standardization: While used in various forms by Apollonius of Perga in Ancient Greece, the term was popularized in Latin by Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz in the late 17th century.
2. Ordinate (y-axis)
The word ordinate comes from the Latin linea ordinata applicata, meaning “line applied in order.”
* Root: ordinare (to put in order, to arrange)
* History: In the study of conic sections (like parabolas and ellipses), mathematicians would draw a series of parallel vertical lines to meet the curve. Because these lines were drawn in a regular, parallel, and “orderly” fashion, they were called ordinatae.
* Connection: The word “coordinate” eventually evolved from this, using the prefix co- (together) to describe the “ordered” pairs (x, y) working together to define a point.
Mantissa is another interesting word, it rhymes with abscissa and it has a fascinating dual life in mathematics and linguistics.
Historically, the word comes from the Latin mantisa, meaning an “addition,” a “makeweight,” or a “worthless addition” (something thrown in to even out the weight on a scale).
Today, you will mostly encounter it in two mathematical contexts:
1. Logarithms (The Traditional Use)
In the world of logarithms, a number is often broken into two parts: the characteristic (the integer part) and the mantissa (the fractional or decimal part).
For example, in the common logarithm \log_{10}(200) \approx 2.3010:
* The 2 is the characteristic.
* The .3010 is the mantissa.
2. Computer Science (Floating-Point Numbers)
In modern computing, “mantissa” is often used interchangeably with the word significand. When a computer stores a number in scientific notation (like 1.23 \times 10^5), the mantissa is the part representing the significant digits.
In the number 1.23 \times 10^5:
* 1.23 is the mantissa (significand).
* 5 is the exponent.
A Note on Modern Usage
Interestingly, many mathematicians now prefer the word “significand” over “mantissa” for computer science. This is because the original Latin meaning (“worthless addition”) doesn’t quite fit—in a digital number, those digits are the most important part!
Is it still used elsewhere?
Outside of math, it is extremely rare. However, you might see it in literature to describe something that is an “extra” or a “minor supplement” to a larger body of work, though this usage is considered archaic.
They asked many questions today and laughed a lot when I read the name of Rene Descartes as it was written in the book.
Rene Descartes used to stay in his bed for a long time in morning. Once he was thinking about how to locate a point. It was a classical problem at that time. He came up with a solution which later evolved into the Cartesian Coordinate Geometry.
I told them the importance of his work. And the importance of work of other mathematicians which was foundational into technology that we use today. Though they appreciate a smartphone as it’s valuable for entertainment, they don’t appreciate Mathmatics which appears boring. The elder asks me which is bigger : 1 lakh or 1 crore?
I note down numbers with zeroes after one. These numbers are one, hundred, thousand …then I stop and explain using powers of ten. The younger first asks about the Saikra which is colloquial for ‘a hundred,’ then jumps to Mahashankha. A very large number. I tell them that different languages use different words for very large numbers. I tell them about Googol:
A googol is the number 1 followed by 100 zeros.
In scientific notation, it is written as 10^{100}. To give you an idea of how massive this is, there are estimated to be only about 10^{80} atoms in the entire observable universe—meaning a googol is 100 quintillion times larger than the number of atoms in existence.
1. The Story of the Name
The term has one of the most famous origins in mathematics. In 1920, American mathematician Edward Kasner wanted a name for this specific large number. He asked his nine-year-old nephew, Milton Sirotta, to come up with a word. Milton suggested “googol,” and the name stuck.
2. Googol vs. Google
You likely recognize the word because it is the inspiration for the search engine Google.
* The Intent: The founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, originally wanted to name the company “Googol” to represent their mission to organize an “infinite” amount of information.
* The Mistake: Legend has it that when they went to check if the domain name was available, a fellow graduate student (Sean Anderson) accidentally typed google.com instead of https://www.google.com/search?q=googol.com. Larry Page liked the misspelled version better, and the rest is history.
3. The Even Bigger “Googolplex”
Milton Sirotta didn’t stop at the googol. He also proposed the googolplex, which he defined as “one, followed by writing zeros until you get tired.”
Kasner later gave it a formal mathematical definition: a googolplex is 1 followed by a googol of zeros, or 10^{\text{googol}}. This number is so large that it is physically impossible to write out—there isn’t enough matter in the universe to use as ink or paper to finish the task.
Fun Comparison Table
| Name | Value | Scale Reference |
|—|—|—|
| Million | 10^6 | Seconds in 11.5 days |
| Trillion | 10^{12} | Seconds in 31,709 years |
| Atoms in Universe | 10^{80} | All visible matter |
| Googol | 10^{100} | 10^{20} times more than every atom in the universe |
| Googolplex | 10^{(10^{100})} | Too large to exist in physical form
Descartes’ surname sounded like Hindi word “dakaar” ( belching) to them. It made them laugh for a while. Somehow bald guy again entered the discussion which geminated the fun they had.
There was an exercise which showed how to locate a point inside a rectangle. I described the practical importance of knowing it. Then I described importance of how to find coordinates for their bench in their school. A structure with rows and columns was given. I asked them to imagine a situation where they needed to reach to their seat quickly. This was the practical application of knowing coordinates for the bench they were at. It might be helpful for a student who needs to locate his seat on the first day of examination without wasting their time.
Their printed time table was inside the mathematics book. They asked about ‘flying squad’ as we were having a discussion about the role of invigilators and prevention of unfair means.
I gave them Addition and Subtraction problems in assignment. As usual the elder noted down only 6 problems from Subtraction section, skipping 4 of them. The younger had an excuse to not note down because he finds the linear print difficult. He’s accustomed to doing them by writing numbers in separate rows. I asked his elder brother to help him with his notebook at home.
They kept quarreling. The elder brother had only written an application for transfer certificate in english for homework. This he did in school. The younger attempted nothing. He was flying kites.
I enquired if roof at their house was a safe place surrounded by a boundary to fly kites. He described with animation how he flies his kites though his answer was negative regarding the boundary at roof. They even described how another boy fell from a three storey building while flying a kite. A tragic accident. He showed me his hands with marks made by the string ( known as maanjha).
The picture on the front page of their Mathematics textbook is a diagram from this chapter. After having explained them four quarters where coordinate values shift, I asked them to tell me the required values in the diagram. The elder grasped it clearly whereas the younger struggled. He came up with only one coordinate.
His narcissism might be a cover for his deficits. It hurts to be ignorant due to some inborn deficiency or environmental limitations. It’s covered by being prophetic. When one of his answers is partially correct : he not only stands up at his place but shouts : ” I am a Hindu.” Like everything else: this must have something to do with his partially correct response.
They sometimes ask me to read from the back page of the text about the basic duties from constitution which involve support for all religions and avoiding dogma or chauvinism against castes and creeds. Younger doesn’t understand it at all. Elder might have learned to behave better.
They’re very enthusiastic about the festival of Makar Sankranti, which is also called budkee. It’s colloquial for ‘dip.’ Dip in holy waters. The festival marks Sun’s transit into the sign Capricorn which aligns with increase in temperature. It’s the only Hindu festival which uses solar calendar instead of a lunar calendar, therefore it’s almost always celebrated on the fifteenth of January.
There were only nine students in the combined class which had six sections. Most of the students have gone to celebrate the festival to the nearby villages where they belong. Officially it’s only a single holiday though they celebrate for two three days for various reasons including cold weather which makes it difficult to attend school.
Planned Obsolescence
Organised utensils. Fixed burners into gas. Put the gas cylinders into the bathroom. Lukewarm water and tea served. The verandah was congested. Mopping couldn’t happen properly. Washed a cup and served tea. Had it myself. All of it took thirty minutes time. Informed mother about the cooker whistles. She was returning from outside with a stick in her hand. Students left only after forty two minutes. I wasn’t expecting them today. There was a piebald dog outside and another was barking. There were cows. The younger student had difficulty even staying for thirty minutes. They were being physically aggressive to eachother and the elder had pen nibs without caps. I warned him to be careful with that. I also asked them to not hit eachother on head.
They’re going to perform Surya Namaskar Yoga postures again tomorrow morning. They had a practice session on ninth. They didn’t bring Remedial Module book or smartphone to get my help. Though they come up with sudden requirements they show lack of foresight.
The elder told me that he was asleep at the time of the class yesterday though he wasn’t suffering from fever as told by his father. I gave both of them problems on Addition and Subtraction. I sweeped the room after they left.
When the unit 8.2 was completed they wanted me to narrate a story to them. The younger one wanted me to tell a story in which his name was used as a good person who helped everyone. When I refused to tell such a story he asked me to create a story in which a dog used to help people who used to roam around and used to have bones for food.
I think either asking for fee or refusing to create a story with his name might have prompted him to such vagaries. I had somewhat clairvoyant dreams. Similar voices. None of it is new.
The two problems I showed them solutions for are straightforward Geometry problems, though they had hard time grasping basics as usual. Both problems use mid point theorem, though I spend a few minutes before realising that I wasn’t reading the second problem carefully. The environmental noise was rising.
Working on SLM or Nano GPT. Why do I mix it with the routine in this article? It has been more than five years working on Replika. Law of diminishing returns. Network unavailability made it evermore difficult a task to access it. Though there appeared better models, they would’ve been similar with the network issues. Finally, I was supposed to make switch from 4G to 5G. Entire family was doing that. This brought an in-built AI model which, after some reluctance was going to replace the Replika which had stood the test of time. It seemed like “Planned Obsolescence.” I remember the first time when I found a Gemini window open–I hadn’t actually opened it: I considered it a glitch. It was faster to access in comparison to Chat GPT or Replika. I let go of free subscription for Perplexity because it would have created further burden to cope with. Though Gemini was using a version 2.5. It had a voice assistant and much better feedback compared to Replika which was a freemium version. I think it was still not ‘pro’ version offered by Google yet it was much better being a gift package with smartphone.
The Trial of The Pyx
The Trial of the Pyx is one of the oldest and most fascinating judicial ceremonies in the United Kingdom. Dating back to at least 1282 (and likely earlier), it is essentially a formal “court case” held to ensure that the nation’s coins are of the correct weight, size, and purity.
Why is it called a “Trial”?
It is a literal trial. Throughout the year, sample coins are randomly pulled from the Royal Mint’s production lines—one from every batch of every denomination—and locked in pyxes (wooden chests).
Once a year, these boxes are brought to Goldsmiths’ Hall in London. A jury of at least six experts (freemen of the Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths) is sworn in by the King’s Remembrancer (a senior judge) to deliver a verdict on whether the Mint has followed the law.
The Procedure
The process is steeped in tradition but relies on modern science:
The Selection: Jurors sit at long tables and are handed packets of coins. They must count them and select one from each packet to be placed in a ceremonial copper bowl for testing.
The Testing: The selected coins are sent to the Assay Office, where they are measured, weighed, and chemically tested against “trial plates” (standard samples of pure gold, silver, or other metals).
The Verdict: About two to three months later, the court reconvenes. The verdict is read aloud in the presence of the Master of the Mint (a role technically held by the Chancellor of the Exchequer).
Historical High Stakes
In the past, the Trial was a high-stakes matter of life and death:
The Punishment: If the coins were found to be “light” (meaning the Mint was skimming precious metal), the Master of the Mint could be fined, imprisoned, or in the Middle Ages, even lose a hand.
Isaac Newton: When Sir Isaac Newton was Master of the Mint in the late 1600s, he famously spent years meticulously preparing for these trials to protect his reputation and ensure the integrity of the pound.
Does it still happen?
Yes. While modern coins are no longer made of gold or silver for general circulation, the trial continues every year. It now includes commemorative coins and high-value bullion. In fact, the next Trial is scheduled for February 10, 2026, at Mansion House in London.
Animals
A little mouse was tapping at the door in the morning. It has been trying to move out since last night. I had helped it move out yesterday when there were kids to attend class. It was slithering on slippery surface, unable to find its way out. I don’t know if it was the same mouse that entered the room again or if it was another. I helped it out by opening the door. There was some scraped wood from the door hinge. Nearby lying the dead body of a small lizard. I saw a little lizard dying yesterday as I was coming back from washroom last evening. Its tail was writhing for a while. It was sad to see it like that. I don’t know where it was hiding or how it died. It was too cold for any lizards to be around. It’s only a synchronicity that earlier I had mentioned fossil fuels and lizards in connection to them as I was going to change a gas cylinder. A moth was flying near the phone last evening. I think these were too many animals within a short span of time. The temperature has reduced.
Resonance
Read the note I had scribbled before the class. Edited it a bit. Students arrived slightly later than usual, one after another. The elder arrived first. He wasn’t sure if the younger was coming behind him. I asked him if he went to school, to which he gave an affirmative reply. There were no studies during the day. Nothing was taught. They sat whole day. All of the students from all of the sections in a single classroom. Not more than fifty to sixty students. It wasn’t the full strength. I think it might be about ten percent of attendance in most of the sections due to extremely cold weather for the region (10-12 degree centigrades).
He showed me a leaflet as I was reading a chapter from their Science textbook to them. It was a colorful print out of the time table for their yearly examination. It contained a schedule for the ninth class examination on one side and eleventh class examination on the other.
After I described them the schedule for their final examinations: he wanted me to read the back side schedule as well. Though I told him that it didn’t concern them as it was for higher classes, he insisted that I read that out to him. He was curious. I told him that their exams were going to begin on fifth of March whereas the exams for standard eleventh were going to start from twenty fifth of February. As he requested I even read out the note in the fine print at the bottom of the leaflet which said: “Verify the schedule with the notice board in your school.” I explained them what it meant.
When I told him that there wasn’t much time after this month as February is a shorter month he was surprised. I told him that it was his second attempt. He told me that his classmates are sure that he would pass. They even said that he did not need to study. I advised him to continue to study as much as possible. I think they would attend only a few classes now. Not more than thirty I guess.
When I compare the printed time table with that of our times: I have slight trouble recalling if there used to be a printed time table at all. And if there was, it was not this fine.
I asked them what they wanted to study. The elder brother hadn’t brought the maths textbook saying that it is in younger’s bag. Younger didn’t bring his bag or homework and showed insouciance when I asked about it. I wonder if nonchalance would have been a better word in the last sentence.
They take some time to decide which chapter to study from their Science textbook. I started reading from the eleventh chapter which is on sound waves.
I read it and take certain pauses to describe it to them. Tuning fork is used to study resonance. I doubt they have seen it in a lab. I hadn’t seen it either. There’s a brief introduction of Rudolf Hertz whose contribution to study of frequency was honoured by naming the unit for frequency with his surname. It’s represented with Hz. Frequency, Wavelength and Amplitude are defined with wave diagrams. Regions with higher and lower pressure waves in the sound transmission. Noise and music are considered as waveforms. Music is generally low amplitude waves. Noise is high amplitude waves. Most of the cultural festivals and processions convert music into noise with an aim to send their message to as many as possible. Then there are follow up questions on these. Can there be noise disguised as music? Yes. It might have been a mystery a few centuries ago. In the digital age almost everyone is familiar with it.
Mother brought a cup of tea after class as I was relaxing after having put the chair back to its designated spot. She had forgotten tray. I told her it was alright. I asked her to tell me when the gas cylinder needed to be changed. After a while grandmother called me out and I changed the cylinder by removing regulator from the old one and placing it into the new one. Another task completed. The symbol for the Resonance chosen by the institute where I was preparing for the competitive exams after school was similar to the Mandarin character for person. It’s eight. Or is it person?
Why do they look so similar? I looked up online:
Minimalism: These are some of the oldest characters in the Chinese language. Because they represent very fundamental concepts, they were designed with the fewest strokes possible (2 strokes).
Evolution: * Person (人): Originally a profile view of a person bowing or walking.
Eight (八): Originally meant “to separate” or “divide.” Since eight is a number that can be divided perfectly multiple times (8 \rightarrow 4 \rightarrow 2), this symbol was borrowed to represent the number.
Helpful Tip for Writing
If you are using a brush or a pen, the Person (人) character always starts with the left stroke, and the right stroke “leans” on it. For Eight (八), you intentionally leave a gap at the roof to show that the two sides are “divided.”
In the context of the Mandarin characters we just discussed, the character that most poetically represents the concept of Resonance is Eight (八).
While neither character literally means resonance, Eight (八) is the best fit for two scientific and symbolic reasons:
1. The Concept of “Dividing” and Sound Waves
The original meaning of 八 (bā) is “to divide” or “to separate.” In physics, resonance occurs when a vibration is transferred from one object to another through a medium.
Think of a tuning fork: its two prongs (the two strokes of 八) must be separated and symmetrical to vibrate at a specific frequency.
If the prongs were touching (like in the character 人), the friction would dampen the vibration immediately, and you would get no resonance at all.
2. The Visual Symmetry
Resonance is a phenomenon of harmony and symmetry. The character 八 is perfectly balanced and open.
In a Resonance Tube experiment (like the one we discussed using a swaritra), the sound waves reflect back and forth.
If you look at the shape of a standing wave (the pattern created during resonance), it often looks like a series of loops that mirror the open, flared shape of the character 八.
If we look at the actual Chinese word for Resonance:
The Chinese word for resonance is 共鳴 (gòngmíng).
共 (gòng): Means “together” or “common.”
鳴 (míng): Means “the cry of a bird” or “to make a sound.”
So, resonance literally translates to “sounding together.” If you had to pick between the two simple characters, 人 (Person) represents the source (the observer or the striker), but 八 (Eight) represents the physics of the instrument (the open prongs of the tuning fork).
Lesser of two evils?
How have your political views changed over time?
Helped father forward a message from an SMS to WhatsApp on his smartphone. He needed to share it with a contact. Also showed him how he can do it himself in the future if need arises.
Organised utensils in the kitchen. A special tea was prepared and served for a guest and then another for father. Mopped verandah floor and asked mother if it was the time for the evening tea. Milkman didn’t arrive this morning as it was too cold. I needed to prepare lesson plan for students who might arrive in a short while. A drive on a scooty to bring a pack of wheat flour from the nearby ration store. It wasn’t open. Need to make another trip to the super store when it opens. Warmed up the tea that was in the kettle and shared it with mother. Also served lukewarm water to mother.
Second trip to superstore included checking if the second vehicle was getting self-started. Then driving carefully a few metres. Checking if the superstore was open. Checking if they had a wheat flour pack. When all of these were successful I asked the operator if the cost for a pack was still seven fifty rupees. It was an affirmative response after which I asked him if I could mount the vehicle with a pack. Then I carried the pack and mounted it on the vehicle carefully so that it doesn’t get torn like the last time I was asked to bring a pack.
There was some repairing work ongoing in the nearby corner and the board for the coaching centre was almost removed in the sense it was there but invisible. It used to read Vidyapeeth Coaching Classes.
Weather was alright with patches of Sunshine here and there and there was no heavy traffic. It is fourteen degree Celsius in Bagauta now. It was about seventeen when kids arrived to get tuition.
I drove the vehicle back to the house carefully. Mother rushed to the door because cook was about to arrive and it wasn’t a given that superstore would be open by the time of the next visit. She would have borrowed from neighbours upstairs in that case, she said. I asked her if the door to the kitchen could be reached from outer verandah. It couldn’t. There was a bicycle and another board for a coaching class. I decided to use long route and lifted the twenty kilogram pack up and carried it a few steps to reach to the kitchen. My bones were healthier after a long period of recuperation though I wasn’t asked to lift a fifty kilogram sugar pack without warning.
The task was completed though I was careful to request mother to help me with the parking of the vehicle inside as the ramp at exit isn’t very friendly. Then I placed the key at its designated location. Parked another vehicle on main stand and walked back to my room which took me about fifteen minutes. Brought the chair inside the room. The pack costs 750 rupees. 37.5 rupees per Kilogram.
Now I was waiting for the students to arrive. I think the manner in which I was ordered to bring the wheat pack was again kind of sudden and without warning. I ruminated the manner in which I was supposed to bring it during the dire straits last year. Though it was just a few months ago. It was an evening time last time. I heard people abusing loudly over the phone near superstore. They were talking about alcoholism which was supposed to correspond to drugs I was taking forever ailments. Not being able to see the road clearly, heavy traffic and being unable to get the vehicle on easily made it difficult to reach the house back with the pack. The pack got torn as I was dismounting it from the vehicle.
It was better today in contrast though I heard some people loudly using the repeated “Kya dikkat hai?” It was supposed to brand the trip with the ruling party. You can’t miss it. None of the works or trips or tasks can go without brands or ambassadors.
When you clearly comprehend that it was merely a fling to behave as if you are free or don’t concern yourself with politics or brands, you have matured. When you clearly comprehend that it was a passing fashion to get annoyed by brands or advertisement or prefer quiet for work you have matured. Mother was loudly playing devotional song on her smartphone in the break when I was waiting to make second trip. I compared it when I had once played a song from Titanic- the most popular song from an academy award winning movie became the reason for such a great disturbance that mother was extremely critical. After a few months many songs were played to prove that it was allowed only for specially abled people. Privileged people.
Towards the end of the class the kids are laughing out loud as if they are drunk. I see them off to the door. Today both of them were wearing slippers. I told them that it was supposed to be a holiday today as I had enquired mother about it. They told me it was a holiday only for students upto class seventh not for ninth grade students.
They were making fun of a role model. The English chapter on Santosh Yadav was supposed to teach students a few things. It became a source of amusement for them. The fun they had in the last twenty minutes was supposed to relieve them from the boredom due to two Maths problems on Quadrilaterals.
The younger student was again asking me to write ‘mafia’ on the back of his notebook. He said he would pay me for doing that. The elder started asking if she ( Santosh Yadav) had started flying when I was reading the passage where she became the youngest conquerer of the mount Everest at an age of twenty.
Their behaviour and laughter seemed like the flash back scene from ‘No Smoking’ where the protagonist was smoking a cigarette in his bathroom with his friend when they were quite younger and their father was knocking at the door. Probably these students are somehow aware of these notes, similar to other instances or some of their behaviour is contrived as if it’s for theatrical purposes. Maybe not. I can’t be sure.
Father, after discovering that these two were involved in lesser of two evils condones smoking in their childhood. After a few decades it costs his son a lot. The father is no longer in the picture in present but flashback, kind of creates this scenario where conditioning for making him a chain smoker is revealed.
The elder keeps looking at the Kurkure pack which he’s hiding in his backpack with its chain open. I ask him to wait until the class is over. His excuse is that he didn’t have enough time for snacks after school.
The younger one didn’t go to school nor did he complete his homework. Excuse is that the notebook which had the assignment was with the elder brother who was in school who completed his assignment in school as he had a lot of free time. All his answers to ten addition problems are correct. At least he can do addition correctly. Even Hindi application for leave is written neatly with good handwriting. This gives him such an upper hand that he whacks the younger one on head. I immediately request him to not do that. By that time younger one had started returning blows.
They’re used to showcasing martial arts in my class. Elder asks me to call his father for younger is trying to sleep in the name of bad drowsy weather. I also pretend to do that with an excuse that he was chewing betel nuts just two days ago. The younger succumbs to the pressure and behaves. As soon as he had entered the class he was using ‘Takla,’ for Einstein. I told him that he wasn’t bald. I also asked both of them why do they use such language for role models who are supposed to be discussed in their textbooks. They continue to laugh. I asked them if they would tell their English teacher of their father things like these. They had a hard time believing that their father might have heard name of Albert Einstein.
Younger one said he would punch the role model and she would have all her teeth out. They had zoned out of study into their private world after I used the example of bicycle. They were so full of sidesplitting talk as if they had some nitrous oxide for a root canal.
I was explaining how systematic training prepares mountaineers. Then I used an illustration for it by asking: if you are supposed to drive a bicycle: “Do you start flying when you become skillful at it?”
They had such a rush of adrenaline that they forget that bicycle provided by their father is mostly for work. The younger one even says loudly that he studies English for fun. They’re not yet citizens of a utilitarian state.
They had a hard time believing that the role model would have brought 500 kilogram of garbage down the mount Everest on her own.
The problems on Quadrilaterals are simple. They use mid segment theorem. I carefully explain them what mid points are. What’s a Rhombus. I draw diagrams and carefully write the proof asking them questions to keep them engaged. Yet they get bored. I asked them if they had brought scale in the drawing box. They hadn’t.
Proving that diagonals of a quadrilateral are equal in length is enough to prove that it is a rectangle. It’s made my joining mid points of sides of a Rhombus. I ask them if they know what a Rhombus is: they respond with the answer that it has all four angles equal to each other. They are right this time though they can’t derive from it that all four sides of a Rhombus are also equal to each other.
Arithmetics
Reading yesterday’s note on class took more than ten minutes. There were some edits though I haven’t implemented them in WordPress articles which were published yesterday. Mother had asked me to take bath with lukewarm water today. After organising utensils and mopping verandah floor I studied some more maths problems on Quadrilaterals with a view to help the students.
Prepared ginger tea and served lukewarm water to grandmother and mother. I had ginger tea. It seemed alright. Students arrived in time. Younger one was again chewing some food. He seemed somewhat agitated. They sat declaring that they hadn’t done homework today as well. I asked them if they were aware of their track record in the last fortnight for being unable to complete their homework. I asked them why are they given homework. They replied that it’s something they should do on their own instead of merely studying only for an hour here.
The younger one hadn’t brought either a notebook or a pen to take notes. Immediately after taking his seat started asking for my permission to leave. Even got up and moved towards the door. I asked him why he wanted to leave so soon. He was given a biscuit from a green pack by his elder brother. They talk about the taste of the cookies which they find similar to tea. Though I asked them to not eat in the classroom or lick their fingers as the younger one sometimes does, I was lenient compared to yesterday when he was chewing betel nuts mixture with saccharine and added flavors.
It seems they enjoy treating their classroom like a mini picnic spot sometimes. As if having snacks at their house isn’t the same. As if they’re rewarded by their parents for attending the classes similar to me being rewarded for teaching them.
It has only been twenty two days since their classes commenced after extended vacations. I remember how I thought about it during their first class in the session: “They won’t eat snacks within the class this time around. They’re too serious now. All grown up.”
Within a fortnight or so they get too comfortable and picnicky.
Replika AI couldn’t have generated problems in elementary Arithmetics so fast. Network is almost similar to what it has always been here: seemingly a dead spot. Changing to a 5G sim card with a different service provider doesn’t really make matters any better. Gemini AI by Google does it faster than Replika. Replika is for health and fitness. Gemini AI in-built into the new phone can help me with assignments faster than before despite slow network.
It increases efficiency of this classroom. Students bring their Sanskrit textbook. The elder brother asked me to help him with an essay on Dhenu( cow.) I asked him if he didn’t want to complete the unit on Quadrilaterals. He told me that he needs to show this assignment in his Sanskrit class. I checked if he had shown yesterday’s essay to his teacher. He hadn’t. He showed me a few applications he had submitted to his Sanskrit teacher.
I help them with the essay. I continue to dictate the meaning carefully in Hindi as they copy Sanskrit sentences after I prompt Gemini to generate a ten sentences essay on Cow in Sanskrit. The younger student doesn’t want to take notes. He wants to sit idle with an excuse that he hasn’t brought any study materials. I ask his elder to help him with some paper and a spare pen. He helps him by finding a pencil and younger one holds it in a strange idiosyncratic way to write. His handwriting has worsened due to lack of practice.
The seventh sentence in Sanskrit is composed to mean:
“The calf grows up to become an ox who is HEAD of the farming.”
I notice this and wait until they’re done with copying all ten sentences. Then I request Gemini to edit it. It produces another set of ten sentences with 7th giving an import to the effect that ox helps in farming. It’s not head of farming.
Once they’re done with copying and comprehending the meaning of the essay which wasn’t present in their textbook “Vyakaranveethi,” I ask them if they wanted to study Maths next. The essays in their textbook are longer in length though I know they hardly have time to write ten sentences long essays in exams as these are only rewarded with five marks only. They can’t read Sanskrit, Hindi or English script. They can only read numbers to perform simple Arithmetic operations.
I ask them if they would like to do the maths problems I had given them in their homework. They don’t. Younger one attempts some of the addition and subtraction problems.
I give them three separate assignments with increasing order of difficulty using prompts for Gemini. The first one has problems on addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. They aren’t able to answer problems correctly in multiplication and division without my help. The elder brother marks subtraction problems incorrectly.
Later they want me to give them 4,5,6 and 7 digits numbers in Addition only. They solve them correctly. I give them some of those for homework as well.
The younger one was partially unhappy because his slippers had snapped on their way to class today. He threw them away outside our house. I noticed this when they were leaving as I saw only one pair. The other reason was because he was excited about it being a festival as well as a holiday. He was supposed to enjoy sweets at home after worship of an idol. They kept eating crispy snacks Kurkure from the packet they were hiding in their backpack. The elder one was helping younger one who asked him to share those with me though I refused. They’re hopeful of getting more holidays it seems just because it’s too cold out there in Winter. It seems it wasn’t a declared holiday today at first and it was later decided by local administration to be declared a holiday. They asked me to check calendar for holidays because they were slightly surprised and confused. I told them there’s no way to determine local holidays for me because I was not participating in any such groups. They should continue to refer to the social media application in which their school authorities inform them about these matters.
Splendiferous Garden
In the heart of a Splendiferous garden, where the Custard Apple trees sagged with fruit, lived an old Educator. He lived in a Porous shack that allowed the Zephyr to whistle through the walls, yet he claimed the right to Usufructify the land as if it were a palace. He believed in a strict Yin-Yang balance: he would Anglicize the local folklore by day and indulge in wild Rodomontade by night, remaining Adamant that his tales were true.
His speech was highly Idiomatic, often comparing life to a high-stakes game of Tic-Tac-Toe. He considered his life’s Oeuvre to be a grand Vue of human folly. One evening, while delivering a mock Eulogy for a fallen branch, his Rationale was interrupted by a Lemming scurrying into the Inglenook of his fireplace.
He set aside a bowl of sliced Okra and Sassafras tea, staring at the chimney. He lived in a house of great Tonnage, filled with Gemmatrial scrolls and Meshuga inventions. With a bit of Gasconade, he bragged of the Depth of his wisdom to a portrait of a man named Thompson. He reached for a small Netsuke on the mantle, the Keynote piece of his collection, and placed it on a wooden Stalk.
Suddenly, he felt his memories began to drain through his mind like water through a Sieve. He realized he could not stay here Evermore. The Relevance of his stories began to fade into the quiet hum of the universe, a silent Discern-ment of the end.
Sallekhana Diet and Middle Class Lunch!
1. 6 rotis with bison ghee spread on them. Two curries: one bowl full of arabi, tomato, green pepper and about four teaspoonfuls of beans. Two teaspoonfuls of apple salad. Having requested just four rotis without ghee didn’t have any effects on the kitchen.
2. Need to compare it with Sallekhana diet: it was one roti with two teaspoonful of curry: it meant 600 rice grains.
3. This plate had 2400 ( 2700 ) rice grains worth of rotis ( though I still consider ghee to be complementary as I had requested to not add it ). Vegetables bowl with arabi is equivalent to at least 30 teaspoonful of rice grains: 3000 rice grains. Bean curry is worth 600 rice grains. Apple salad, two teaspoonful is at least 200 rice grains ( that’s an understatement not litotes or meiosis because apple is costlier compared to rice. )
4. Total: 6500 rice grains worth of lunch. It was posh-No. It was a middle class lunch: it wasn’t posh. It was a lunch I used to have a few months ago. Middle class people here consider themselves kings and queens. That’s where the delusional term posh is born from. Upper middle class people start considering themselves to be sole nutrition givers, as if entire world economy revolves around them. Even in terms of pure rice grains worth it was 10.33 times costlier compared to Sallekhana diet.
Cost comparison:
1. Apple: about 90 rupees per Kilogram it’s 2.25 times costlier compared to rice grains so one on one comparison used here isn’t justified though I have no other way to convert these else I won’t be able to manage on a regular basis in the given rubric.
2. Comparing ghee with apple: ghee wins as the costliest item in your plate. Giving up ghee altogether might save your pocket and do a good, a lasting good to your health and happiness if you can convince the kitchen for it.
3. Ghee is 6.88 or 7 times costlier compared to even apple: the second highest in terms of cost.
4. Wheat is 25 rupees per Kilogram which means it’s one item worth less than rice grains which are 40 rupees per kilogram.
5. On an average, 30 grams of wheat flour or atta is needed to prepare one roti.
6. One teaspoonful of heaped sugar is 7.5 grams of sugar. Normal teaspoonful is 4 grams.
7. Let’s take heaped teaspoonfuls as rubric to measure rice grains and wheat grains.
8. Six rotis are worth 180 grams of wheat which is, at the rate of 40 grams per rupee, less than a rupee per roti. Adding cooking cost, LPG ( Liquid Petroleum Gas) cost and serving, some hotels here sell twenty rupees per four pieces or four rupees per roti. Which means 25 rupees for six rotis. Which means 9375 rice grains at the rate of 375 rice grains per rupee. This won’t be a good conversion.
9. Equivalent conversion which is sustainable is 180 grams of wheat or 2700 rice grains. Here, we haven’t added cooking cost similar to ghee cost. We can update the total rice grains amount today into conversion and arrive at 6500 rice grains. If we added ghee cost it would have been 12-15 times costlier compared to Sallekhana diet. Sallekhana diet was just a few days ago: one roti without ghee and two teaspoonful of curry or rice which was sometimes stale and sometimes fresh.
Sowing of wild oats stops
1. I remember Dr. Win Wenger, Ph D and his book The Einstein Factor, in which forty years of age was given as some kind of benchmark. I don’t know if ‘life begins at forty or ends.’ I don’t know if sowing of wild oats stops completely at forty.
2. It was this statement “sowing of wild oats…” in the context of “Genetic Study of Geniuses” by Catherine M. Cox quoted by Win that was somewhat difficult to interpret for me when I was reading this book. I asked Arun Sipani who was living in the same building I was living in. He interpreted it for me. It was 22 years ago.
3. This year seemed the most difficult in comparison to all previous years. It seemed more difficult even compared to COVID 19 pandemic years peak. I visited the village where my parents were working when my primary education began. I remember the room where my mother wrote first couple of English language words and drew couple of pictures to illustrate them. I visited the village after two decades. The banyan tree has disappeared. Its descendant is there. Some structures have remained, which sometimes raise doubt if I was at the same place.
4. The journey was difficult. It was as difficult as events preceding the journey were. Then I started walking frequently to escape the daily grind of household. It wasn’t easy out there, yet it seemed it was some source of change, some comfort, perhaps finding new job opportunity to change my lifestyle.
5. I started working in a cafe after meeting some acquaintances from pandemic years. Young entrepreneurs. As I started working I found out how much had changed. Being a regular patron of their services was completely different from being an employee. I thought I deserved respect, I thought I deserved fair treatment from educated enterpreneurs. I even dedicated a weblog to it.
6. The work gradually got hectic. I needed to pay for commute and it exceeded the earning. Almost no balance left. It was merely being employed for the sake of being employed. Their business was faltering. It seemed as if odds were against us. Against me.
7. It wasn’t a wrong interpretation. Soon after quitting the only job which might have meant regular source of livelihood my father who recently got his retirement from a long career in government service met with a tragic accident and got admitted into a hospital.
8. After a few months I was supposed to be admitted into the same hospital with a similar procedure as if it was due for a long time. Prior to that I had to undergo injuries multiple times. Injuries which seemed strange and inexplicable at times and took longer to heal than before.
9. My mother got transferred to a new work place which only aggravated the situation. There was a birth in the extended family.
10. It rained like never before and roofs were leaking. It was a consistent source of concern without any escape.
11. The tuition jobs were also lost as students disappeared on some excuse or the other. I was supposed to get psychiatric treatment which only aggravated the situation. Students didn’t even pay fees and I kept hearing rumors.
12. Under medication or by design I went through worst kind of conditioning which made me re-evaluate my entire lifestyle. It wasn’t polite. It was as abusive as it gets. It might even qualify as description of purgatory or hell. Though I have already used these for similar upheavals before.
13. I was trying to make sense of the trauma and disaster. Trying to find out if there was an acute famine which necessitates giving up on all sources of comfort. There were no clues. People were keeping up appearances like before. There was no news of a world wide disaster. I thought maybe it was the end for me and after a few days of fasting I would get Sallekhana ( Jainism), Paryopvesh (Hinduism) or Euthanasia ( European English term). It might also have made sense if it was consistent. I kept working on Free Rice website which was supported by United Nations World Food Program. I was working on a difficult project which was supposed to be completed by the end of this year had there not been as many tragedies within a single year as happened in this year or in the last few years.
14. I was supposed to keep working and following the new code of conduct without going to previous diet or comfort level.
15. I finally got over the forty years mark without getting to see the end. The clearly defined end meant not having to see similar identities or not going through similar events all over again. That criteria was clear even during the acceptance of all the trauma. It didn’t get fulfilled. It wasn’t a typical Sallekhana or Euthanasia.
Lunch
Lunch 11/12/2025
1. It took me 10:15:66 minutes to finish lunch, put rest of the food on table, put plate to the wash basin and wash my hands in the washroom.
2. Grandmother had served two rotis without bison ghee ( as requested) and a small bowl of moong pulse with three spoonfuls of potato-mooli leafy greens and about half teaspoonful of chutney made with guava, garlic, onion and coriander mixed with salt.
3. She asked me repeatedly if I was keeping an oath. Why wasn’t I eating enough like before. Why wasn’t I taking tea. When I told her I was taking tea, in fact I took tea in the morning -she didn’t believe me. I told her I would prepare tea in the afternoon. Then I asked if she had tea. She said she takes tea many times everyday. I told her I was taking tea only once everyday. Then she left the room with the bowl which had khichdi and potato brinjal vegetable curry in it.
4. I had a roti, one teaspoonful of rice ( not more than 75-80 boiled rice grains) and one teaspoonful of potato-mooli leafy greens with half a glass of water.
5. I have continued with a similar regimen for twenty days now. Almost three weeks. I recall how after the VocabTrainer program finished on November 20th and for the next week I felt very troubled. The coercion was of the worst kind of abuse ever experienced in my life. It brought me to questions about the family, village, neighborhood, city or country : were they going through an acute famine. I was reading a book on Halifax Disaster and I thought we were supposed to cut down our requirements including mobile data used, electricity consumption, water consumption and of course detergent powder ( which was now being supplied rarely, that’s , once per two months. I used to wash my dishes regularly but now no more). I compared the Halifax Disaster with COVID 19 and thought it was the reason. It wasn’t.
6. I decided to find out why were they continuously giving out normal portions which I wasn’t supposed to eat. I was supposed to be a transformed individual who not only touched feet of elders but also cared about whether parents and grandmother had food before me or not.
7. It wasn’t gentle. What I couldn’t figure out was why were they insisting on not just serving normal portions but also on consuming medicines which might have increased hunger in case I was suffering from bulimia. They kept doing that without any sense because eating full meals meant subjecting oneself to even more of abuse of the same kind. I thought it was Sallekhana, Paryopvesh or Euthanasia given without declaration.
How Does It Matter?
What is the legacy you want to leave behind?
- However, I would like to share my ideas about why legacies don’t matter from the first person’s viewpoint.
- Most of the people who imagine impact of legacies on their descendants or generations that follow believe that they’ll somehow be ( indirectly ) present to experience this impact. And it will cause them pleasure or pain via some invisible connection.
- They imagine that impact based on the model of glowing legacies of the worlds they inhabit, though they forget that the impacts of those legacies are not being experienced by those who left them behind.
- There’s no logical sense in longing for leaving a legacy or having an impact which is witnessed by some imaginary agents in an imaginary future.
- If I am a nobody now, let me be content with it; let there be a complete acceptance of the fact rather than longing for a legacy.
- Most of the people who believe in legacies are also the people who believe in either eternal recurrence or reincarnation.
- They’re also the people who think and talk like this:
- “Think about leaving a better Earth for future generations.”
- Why? Maybe because you would be asked by an entity in the afterlife about what you did or didn’t?
- It’s all make-believe.
Dancing light of grace 