In school, I was always one of the top scorer in Mathematics. I was usually the favourite student of Maths teachers in pretty much every standard and it started from primary school itself.

It was a board exam in my twelfth standard. We finished the exam, and were getting out of this different school’s room we were in, as board exams are assigned in another school than our own. I get out, and I see a teacher on duty, guiding students towards the exit…

“How are you, Anu?“

I was shocked like I have seen a ghost. She can’t remember me, no, I must have misheard… That was what, like, eight years ago? I haven’t seen or spoke to her since.

After an unusual long pause of me saying nothing…

“You… you remember me, ma’am?” My face was showing how overwhelmed I was, and why I couldn’t speak right away. And she knew it, she knew me.

She has known me as a kid, the kid who loved the subject she taught, and the parts of me which even I don’t remember now.

“How can I ever forget you?” she replies with one of the most precious smile I have ever seen. It came straight from her heart, that genuineness, that memory. Unforgettable.

All of it, told me one thing – These whole eight years, I have been thinking about her, my lovely primary school teacher who helped me in loving Mathematics even more. But.. she has also been thinking about me – probably like this – some silly shy girl in last row of her class, adding and subtracting and calculating all the numbers precisely. Playing with those numbers she loved (still does!) and showing it to her, and getting a smile from her saying “You did it right, kiddo!“

We both just smiled at each other, with no words. There was nothing to say. There was nothing needed, in fact. We knew it all.

I left with other students, as it really was time for the exit, but I kept looking back at her, still guiding students in the row. I kept repeating in my head whenever I turned around to look at her “Poonam ma’am, thank you.“ The subject of the exam that day? Mathematics.