My First Logic

I think I am quite a logical dame and to my memory this was the first time my pea-sized brains applied any logic to anything. I have always been a bright student, ever ready to learn new things, first one to raise my hand for any questions-answers session, always giving tough competition to fellow boys.

This recounting goes back to when I had just entered the fourth standard, very enthusiastic to venture into my new books and learn new things as fast as possible.
But summer time, scorching heat of north India, lack of interest in food, me delicate little angel, couldn’t bear it all. The result? I fell sick. Could not go to school for four days.

During my absence, my science teacher taught something of which I was completely unaware of as what was taught. For your understanding, it was something on types of trees with ample of examples – difference between a normal tree (mango, apple) and a creeper (pumpkin, bitter gourd).

On fifth day when I went to school, apparently there was a test on what was taught in last four days with teacher (read dictator) scaring us she’d deduct marks and make us redo the whole thing whoever gave a wrong answer. My heart plummeted. For a change, I knew this time I was fated to write answers 10 times in my notebook and how much I detested that.

The teacher (she was a nice lovely teacher) wrote the question on board asking us to write answer in one sentence. Fortunately or unfortunately (for me) she didn’t use the words like creeper or normal. Had she written that, I would have answered differently for I knew what they were.

The question was “What is the difference between a mango tree and a pumpkin tree? Write in only one sentence.”

Now, what type of a silly question it was? What was she trying to ask, I thought. Both are trees, both bear fruits. Maybe some hidden answer. I cursed myself, this time she finally got me.
Nevertheless, me an intelligent introvert thinker with a never say die attitude, have a habit of solving things on my own. I always try to quench my thirst of queries on my own.

After thinking for a while & giving my first ever logic to someone outside my family, I wrote a one-line answer which teacher had to mark . She could not mark and thus I was saved from writing answer 10 times. Smart me. :))

That day after looking at my teacher’s face, I had decided one thing – I would NEVER become a teacher. It is indeed a tough job.

My answer was “Mangoes grow on mango tree and pumpkins grow on pumpkin tree.”.

Current song- Jungle Jungle Baat Chali Hai Pata Chala Hai, Chadhi Pehen ke Phool Khila Hai