dy/dx

Long Long ago (yeah its almost 7 years back) there was a gal who was scared of numbers. The excuse – am a commerce student! The very thought of mathematics and she would see a horror movie instantaneously. And the worst is yet to come. Behold!! She was preparing for one of the toughest competitive exams and yes you guessed it right; Quant was one of the sections. (For some of you who still couldn’t figure out – the lead role in this story is I, Me and Myself).
One fine evening, I was in the classroom. The most dreaded topic of all. Yeah it was this dy/dx topic. Is that called differentiation by any chance? As if it weren’t enough it was differential calculus. Double Jeopardy!! And there stands my trainer, (Ranga - the toughest one I eva came across – Initially, I thought he was a villain) with the threat of calling out some name and asking that fella to solve the problem on the blackboard. I was 200% sure it would be me.

Ranga : Sirisha. Solve this problem
Me : Errr… but you know.. I mean I don’t know calculus

Ranga : But you could give it a try
Me : No ! You see, I don’t even know what it means (not budging from where I sat)

Ranga : There’s no other go. You gotta try this one.
Me : gggrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr (no thought of trying it too)


And what followed is something nobody would guess. He stood there explaining us that “Fear is a useless thing in life. It is just a state of mind. Most of the times you fail not because you don’t know how to do something, but because you haven’t tried it. The best way to conquer is to put your best foot forward and do it even if it means failing the task………………………………………….... I guess this is same for anything in life not just mathematics. Nothing is too difficult that you cannot try.”

I vividly remember that day of my life and how I started looking at things a little different – I meant fearlessly. That small pep talk made a lot of difference in my life. Then on Ranga has become my mentor for everything in life and I have idolized him. Be it calculus or some problem dealing people !! Some one who absolutely leads by example.
Thanks to all those great souls I met in my life without whom I wouldn’t have been what I am.

Ranga, I know you would be reading my blog and slyly smiling to yourself. Or may be you would ask your wife to read it aloud for you! And you thoroughly deserve it.