It was during COVID times. I was in class six or seven. The school had just started taking online classes. Fun. One day, the teacher was teaching geometry. Theorems. Let’s say the teacher’s name was Spitting Cobra. On paper, the class duration was one hour, but my financially struggling school couldn’t afford premium software. So whatever had to be done had to fit within Zoom’s forty-minute free time limit. Twenty minutes were already gone just fixing everyone’s mics and getting the teacher’s camera working. The teacher was about to start teaching. I was sitting there with that excited feeling. Online class! Such a futuristic thing. Anyway, the teacher said, “Children, open Theorem 2. It’s on page such-and-such.” The super-punctual kids in class were flipping through their books with their webcams on. I didn’t know the word ‘panic’ back then, but what the kids were doing — I could guess it could be defined as ‘panic.’ A few seconds later, the teacher asked, “Have you found it?” Everyone started saying ‘Yes sir! Yes sir!’ in unison, so I blurted out ‘Yes sir’ too. But the thing is, my volume was a bit too loud. The teacher said, “Himel, read aloud the special corollary!” Not only was the book not within my reach — I didn’t even know where in the house it was. Who studies during COVID? I’d practically eaten the book. Somehow I muted my mic and started searching drawer after drawer. I knew the book wasn’t there. The probability of finding it was zero. But still. As they say, a drowning man catches at a straw. Ten minutes of the remaining twenty from Zoom’s free forty minutes — gone. The teacher was furious. He was scolding me, and spit was flying from his mouth onto the webcam. Later, due to this special species-characteristic trait, the teacher was nicknamed Spitting Cobra. I’m a well-behaved boy; I’d never been scolded by a teacher in my life. On top of that, the teacher threatened to file a complaint with the head teacher. Though nothing actually happened afterward. In the following days, thanks to the science club, a really good relationship developed between the teacher and me.
(School life is basically over. I’m taking the SSC exams. Monday is the math exam. It’s almost 3 AM on Saturday night. I sat down to study at midnight, but looking at geometry reminded me of this story. Lately I’ve developed an addiction to documenting everything, so I wrote this down too.)