Three Mistakes of My Life by Chetan Bhagat

change her pen. Then she had to reopen and fasten her hairclip. In fifteen
minutes, she needed a cushion behind her back. After that her mother sent in tea
and biscuits and she had to sip it every thirty seconds. Still, we plowed along.
Forty minutes into the class, she pulled her chair back.
'My head is throbbing now. I have never done so much maths continuously in
my life. Can we take a break?'
'Vidya, we only have twenty minutes more,' I said.
She stood up straight and blinked her eyes. 'Can we agree to a five-minute
break during class? One shouldn't study maths that long. It has to be bad for
you.'
She kept her pen aside and opened her hair. A strand fell on my arm. I pulled
my hand away.
'How is your preparation for other subjects? You don't hate science, do you?' I
said. I wanted to keep the break productive.
I like science. But the way they teach it, it sucks,' Vidya said.
'Like what?'
'Like the medical entrance guides, they have thousands of multiple choice
questions. You figure them out and then you are good enough to be a doctor.
That's not how I look at science.'
'Well, we have no choice. There are very few good colleges and competition is
tough.'
I know. But the people who set these exam papers, I wonder if they ever are
curious about chemistry anymore. Do they just cram up reactions? Or do they
ever get fascinated by it? Do they ever see a marble statue and wonder, it all
appears static, but inside this statue there are protons buzzing and electrons
madly spinning.'
I looked into her bright eyes. I wished they would be as lit up when I taught her
probability.
'That's quite amazing, isn't it?' I said.
'Or let's talk of biology. Think about this,' she said and touched my arm. 'What
is this?'
'What?' I said, taken aback by her contact.
'This is your skin. Do you know there are communities of bacteria living here?
There are millions of individual life forms -eating, reproducing and dying right on
us. Yet, we never wonder. Why? We only care about cramming up an epidermal
layer diagram, because that comes in the exam every single year.'
I didn't know what to say to this girl. Maybe I should have stuck to teaching
seven-year-olds.
'There are some good reference books outside your textbooks for science,' I told
her.
'Are there?'
'Yes, you get them in the Law Garden book market. They go into concepts. I
can get them for you if you want. Ask your parents if they will pay for them.'
*Of course, they will pay. If it is for studies, they spend like crazy. But can I
come along with you?'
'No, you don't have to. I'll get the bill.'
'What?'