"Where is Uganda?” My husband asked me. I said it’s near ‘Utopia’ and murmured: “Marrying a journalist doesn’t mean that I have to learn the history of the world.” This episode happened barely a week after our marriage.
I don’t know how I managed to learn history until Grade 10. It was one of the compulsory subjects and there was no escape from it. It was a struggle for me to remember historical dates. Mughal emperor Akbar’s administrative changes and the life and times of kings and queens never fascinated me. It was mathematics that kept me going.
When I was in middle school, one of my paternal uncles got his doctorate in mathematics. As part of his academic programme, he went to Paris and came back with a small replica of the Eiffel Tower. My father proudly told me: “Look at your uncle, you should also study like him.”
That gave me more impetus to focus on mathematics. Time passed and when I reached high school, my history teacher regularly used to complain to my mother that I was only interested in mathematics. She was a good friend of my mother who, incidentally, was also a teacher. My aversion to history lessons and my lackadaisical attitude towards the subject reached my mother’s ears on a regular basis.
My privileges were cut and I was told to turn my attention more on history. I tried to argue: “Why am I being forced to learn something that I don’t like ... we all have our likes and dislikes.” But my protests were mowed down by practical arguments of teachers and parents: “How can you get by, if you only learn mathematics?”
Eventually, I learned history — only to pass my examinations and not beyond that.
I know many who despise mathematics. For them it is a nightmare, but I love mathematics. If you know the basics, mathematics is probably one of the easiest subjects to learn. I was captivated by the way some people found square roots or calculated big numbers without the use of calculators. A case in point is my statistics professor. While we, students, used the calculator to find the sum of numbers, our professor would have written all of the answers on the board after calculating them — mentally!
I love solving mathematical problems and love to learn and teach mathematics. I also enjoy planning and calculating monthly home budgets. My understanding and admiration of numbers are well-recognised by my husband, but he keeps telling me to keep track of things around the world. I am aware of the happenings, but am not keen on world affairs.
Every now and then, my husband used to poke me with history questions: What is the capital of Poland? When did the Second World War end? Well, Warsaw is Poland’s capital, but when did the Second World War end ... I had to Google that.
Over the years, he finally gave up by saying: “My dear wife, learning history of the world and knowing past and present events are really interesting. Hope you will learn this one day.” I answered with a smile.
Time passed by and recently my daughter, who incidentally is also interested in mathematics, asked me: “Mama, how many countries are there in the world?”
I thought for a while and said: “I don’t know.” My daughter turned back and her quick response shocked me: “What do you know then, only cooking and cleaning?” “Not that”, I tried to reason with her. “Your dad is sitting there doing nothing, go ask him, I have some work in the kitchen.”
That event really shattered me. And finally, I decided not to give up. After finishing work, I took my laptop and Googled: How many countries are there in the world? Suddenly, I heard a familiar voice: “What are you doing?” “Nothing, just searching something,” I replied politely. “Oh really!” my husband said with a sarcastic smile on his face.
My arguments and counter-arguments faded and the words of my schoolteacher kept buzzing in my head: “Keep yourselves updated, whether it is history or mathematics, or you will be outdated.”
- Anu Biju is a former mathematics teacher based in the UAE.
