Kolkata: She had summoned all her political astuteness and understanding to single-handedly unseat the Left Front from power in West Bengal, but when she was a child, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee was so innocent that she

was often back stabbed by her friends.

She had once failed in her mathematics examination due to

betrayal by a `trusted` classmate, Mamata wrote in her

just-published memoirs "My Unforgettable Memories" while

reminiscing about her childhood days.

She said her maths exam had finished 15 minutes earlier.

Upon pestering by a trusted friend, she agreed to exchange the

answer sheets and started solving mathematics problems on her

friend`s paper for the remaining few minutes.

When the bell rang, Banerjee`s paper was still with her

friend who submitted it to the invigilator.

"However, when the results came out, I passed with flying

colours in every subject expect maths. I asked for a review

and found that while I was trying to get her to pass, she had cut out all the answers in my answer sheet - a nice way to repay a friend!" she writes in the book.

She wrote that her childhood world was mostly restricted

to home, school and play and had no time for anything else,

not even a wish to have a `boyfriend`.

A spinster, she said she didn`t even knew the meaning of

`boyfriend` when her friends were having an affair.

"I did not even know what the word `boyfriend` meant and

could not ask anymore. What if people misunderstood? What

would they think of me?," she says while recalling how awkward

she had once felt when her friends chatted with their

boyfriends in her presence.

PTI