& çâÌæÚUæð´ ·¤è ¥ôÚU Îð¹Ùæ ÁæÚUè ÚU¹ð´ ¥ÍæüÌ ¥ÂÙð ÜÿØ ÂÚU ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´Ð ãæÚU Ù ×æÙð´, €UØô´ç·¤ ·¤æ× ·¤ÚUÙð âð ¥æÂ·¤ô ©gðàØ ·¤è Âýæç# ãôÌè ãñ ¥õÚU ÁèßÙ ·¤æ ¹æÜèÂÙ ÎêÚU ãôÌæ ãñÐ ÖÜð ãè ÁèßÙ ×ð´ ç·¤ÌÙè Öè ·¤çÆÙæ§ü €UØô´ Ù ¥æ°, çÁ™ææâæ ¥õÚU ©ˆâæã ÕÙæ° ÚU¹ð´Ð ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´, ÜÿØ ã×ðàææ ¥æÂ·Ô¤ Âæâ ãôÌð ãñ´ çÁ‹ãð´ ÂæÙð ·Ô¤ çÜ° ÂýØæâ ¥æÂ ·¤Öè Öè àæéM¤ ·¤ÚU â·¤Ìð ãñ´Ð

Homework
If you believe mischievous children over the ages, vast proportions of humanity's homework have been consumed by the dog. However, joking aside, homework plays a critical role in our intellectual development. The boy in the photograph reminded me of all the homework of my life and how they evolved over time.
I remember no homework before Class VII; they were neither memorably difficult nor painful. Class VII marked a change because the English teacher, Brother John Stephens, was appalled by our poor vocabulary. So he required the class to learn ten new words every day for the entire year and tested our learning through daily quizzes. I resented the extra work back then; now I realize what a blessing it had been.
Two years later, Mr. Shawkat Hussain ignited my lifelong passion for all things mathematical. His charm lay in his clear and effortless explanation of mathematical principles. His creative approach to problem-solving turned the difficult subject into a challenging game. My favourite memory of Mr. Hussain was the morning he walked into class and announced, "I had trouble falling asleep last night, so I came up with three new proofs of Pythagoras' Theorem."
Homework became progressively time-consuming as my education advanced and independent thinking gradually replaced rote-learning. But it remained somewhat optional even during my A level days in London. That's because what mattered was the grade one received in the final A level examination where one's homework grade made no difference.
Things changed drastically when I began my Electrical Engineering undergraduate studies in the USA. Homework - along with frequent, gruelling examinations called "prelims" - were the lifeblood of this program. Not only did grades depend heavily on homework, but performance in "prelims" was directly related to how hard one worked on the homework.
Professor Toby Berger's class - on engineering mathematics - was particularly stimulating. The first problem on his first homework assignment was staggeringly difficult. But he added this life-saver -"Hint: Use a Lagrange Multiplier. If you don't know what one is, find out."
Childhood had indeed ended. We were no longer responsible for knowing only what was in the syllabus, but were also expected to research and learn new
concepts - outside the syllabus - on our own.
Incredible as it may seem, in graduate school, homework became even more important. My graduate advisor was completely hooked on abstract mathematical concepts. His long homework sets required countless hours and numerous pages. After exhausting several writing pads every' week for a few weeks, I developed the habit of using the (empty) backside of recycled computer printouts for my homework to save money on writing pads.
The boy in the photograph appears captivated by his homework. Did he have any idea about all the homework of life that lay ahead? How did he face them? What a story that would make!
www.facebook.com/tangents.ikabir