Last day I happened to read
a few paragraphs on investments and various patterns of investments. In spite
of being a banker, I never understood a word out of it. It was Greek, Latin and
every other possible and impossible foreign language for me. It was hard to
understand and it was hard for my conscience to digest that I wasn’t able to
pick a word out of it. Moreover it hurt my ego. My mind travelled 20 years
back, which went in quick succession.
There was a boy sitting
in the mathematics class of his third standard. It was a classroom, a mere
annexe, near the library room, which was part of an old building, the rights of
which were transferred from the royal kingdom of Kochi. He was there trying to
grasp the long division method. It was the method of deriving out the quotient
and reminder from the dividend and the divisor. After the moment, teacher left
the class; it was all blank for him. He was there gaping in awe. He was not
sure whether he would be able to understand the method ever. He asked his friend
sitting near him whether the class made sense. The friend replied with a
smile-“You are one, who manages to come among top three in the class
tests.” However, he tried his best to
explain the method to that boy. The boy tried concentrating. But, he was unable
to concentrate because, he was brilliant and he was taking tuition from a
moderate student who manages not to fail in the class tests. His eyes filled
with tears. He was angry on self. It was the ego that was burning inside him.
I was there in the same shoes as the boy, empathizing with him, teeming with anger. In spite of being good at grasping things, not knowing even after trying to understand something hurts.
