Newton and the Coconut Tree...

My seven year old cousin hates his school as much as Salman Khan hates Vivek Oberoi. Every morning searching his school accessories is like a treasure hunt for his mom. These days he even started faking health problems! May be inspired by those politicians who are trying hard to avoid the jail. When asked about his antics to avoid school, his answer was very clear- "I don't want to become an engineer, like you." I was transfixed  by his answer, and secretly admired his decision making skills! By the time I understood why I am going to school, I was knocking the college door. Struggling to understand where all those physics and math formulas fits in real life. Theories and laws of Edison's and Einstein's appeared like a 'Da Vinci' code. I still remember that direct current shock I experienced after coming out of the exam hall, when I realized that I have written  Kirchhoff's voltage law instead of current law! While reading Newton's laws, I used to think, has Newton sat under the coconut tree millions of students would have saved from those painful laws. Lover affair with math continued till the concepts like double-integration and Fourier-series surfaced as  Khap Panchayats! Chemistry lab was the most horrible place on the planet after Nazi's concentration camp. To make the things worst, my Chemistry madam was an alter-ego of Hitler. Her name was Anjelina(but she wasn't beautiful). She was very passionate about Chemistry, If asked about how to prepare a tea, she would have explained like,

   Take an empty beaker of capacity 250ml.

   Pour 150ml of H₂O

   Put beaker on the flame.

   Add two table spoon of powder made up of enzymatically oxidized leaves of Camellia sinensis (Scientific name of tea plant)

   Heat the solution at 70^oC for few minutes.

   Add a cup of complex fluid made up of H₂O, lactose, fat, protein, minerals etc. In simple terms- Milk.

   Add one/two table spoon of  C₁₂H₂₂O₁₁ (Sucrose) or Sugar.

Incidentally a funny thing happened in the Chemistry lab. I was busy doing the experiment, and I had absolutely no idea why I was doing that experiment and how it is going to affect my career. Few students were present in the lab as most of the students including instructor were left for the lunch. Suddenly, one of  the students whispered a gush of feeling welled from in his heart to that girl in the corner, busy doing her assignment. After all the hard work, his luck turned out to be no better than Rahul Dravid. Reaction of that girl was similar to adding water in the sulphuric acid. No one understood why he choose Chemistry lab to propose a girl. May be Chemistry was his favorite subject! later we came to know that he has been ragged by seniors and asked to do so! Whatever, at least choosing Biology lab would have made some sense! Anyway, when it comes to the matter of choice, our education system is no better...