S and I had made a deal before our baby was born.
He, being of a technically-oriented brain was to teach our child Maths and Science, and I would teach Languages and Social Sciences.
When Anna was born, I was confident that like other girls, she would share my love of languages.
...
One day, last year, during a Parent's Afternoon, I sat in front of Anna's teacher who explained to me the intricacies of solving a mathematical problem.
S was working away from Muscat at that time.
"Miss, can you please explain this to Anna directly?" I pleaded.
"Uh...ok" said the teacher, quite perplexed, and closed the book.
This triggered a memory of my Sophia College days.
Miss Shanti, our docile Maths teacher with the well-oiled plait and a sandalwood tika on her forehead, proceeded to derive an equation on the blackboard.
She went on and asked us from time to time, "Are you with me?"
Most students nodded seriously and replied, "Yes, Miss".
I, on the other hand, had lost the plot from the first line of the equation.
In my mind, I was tying up the loose ends of a story that had taken a definite shape.
I did not notice it when Miss Shanti turned to me and asked directly, "Are you with me?"
I looked around and saw the others staring at me.
"Are you with me?" Miss Shanti glared. Her sandalwood tika glared too.
"Yes...Miss....yes...I...er...I am with you."
"Then why were you smiling?"
"Miss...er...I am sorry, Miss"
"Am I a joker paid to entertain you?" The others giggled a bit.
"No, Miss" I looked down, suddenly guilty.
"Listen, this is a Maths class and I don't want any more smiling."
"Yes, Miss....sorry, Miss."
After that, just before every Maths class, I remembered the glaring sandalwood tika on Miss Shanti's forehead. I stopped attending Maths lectures.
I graduated as an English major.
...
Yesterday:
"8118" Anna was reading out the number of the car in front of us.
"What is so special about that?" I asked.
"Nothing. I just liked this number."
"Why?"
"Mama, don't you see the symmetry?"
"Hmmm....yes, I do now."
"35421" Anna reads out the number of the car behind us.
"Now what?"
"Mama, how can you miss the serial order?"
"Hmmm..."
I focus on the road ahead.
...
Auntie Violet went to school with my mother-in-law.
"Please pass on my regards to your mother-in-law" she always said whenever she called.
One day, I asked her, "Auntie, why do you think of her so fondly?"
She said, "Your mother-in-law helped me with Maths during our school days."
"Oh I see."
I saw more than I said I saw.
...
(Pictures courtesy: Google images)
