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).