Zero Power

When the concept of 'zero' was first discovered, little did anyone comprehend that this discovery would send ripples across the entire globe. Anyone would have hardly realised that the aftereffects of this invention can be so critical! Who knew that from time to time, the 'zero' which appears to be simple and which in fact means "nothing" would keep on victimising and lingering in the minds of the students' community as a 'dread'? Who knew that this "nothing" would form an exclusive terrain of mystification?
Confusion emanates from early days itself when you start off with your fundamentals of Mathematics. Zero before any number has no value and the significance of the same zero augments when placed after a number? Oh, what a confusion! You are already flummoxed. And to add to your perplexity and woes, the same 'zero' smacks you hard when it appears in your mark sheets. God, who knew that zero when solo can be so deadly? By the time, you come out of your mental fog, you realise that you have already been inflicted with 'The Maths phobia'.

Yes, Maths phobia! It's something that can really numb your thoughts and haunt you before your exams. This phobia grips most of the people and hey! I am no exception. Maths was just like an ordeal I never wanted to undertake. But Maths is a favourite theme of my father's conversation. He is a Matho –philic (has a strong affinity towards Maths). One could see a glee in his eyes whenever he got an opportunity to talk about his pet subject. He feels that just like tea, Maths is addictive. Both inspire deep commitment.
Come exams, and I would always be at the receiving end of dad's fury before my Maths paper. Mathematical formulae, shapes and their properties, signs, conventions etc would dizzily spin around my head. But my dad's philosophy: 'Put on your loyalty chords and practise your sums as if you are infatuated with them. Then only you can win over your phobia.' Only if he could understand, that Maths is not everyone's cup of tea!
Everything apart, he sometimes uses it as a weapon to shoo me and my brother away whenever we pester him by our gibberish talks. He immediately comes up with a question. " Okay, come on tell me, what is 1 percent of 1?" 1 percent of 1? What an eccentric question, one might wonder. Though the answer is as simple i.e. 0.01, the question at first baffles you and makes you feel as if you are mentally bankrupt. Alas! And then there we are, me and my brother, trying to find the remotest corner of the house where we can duck in to stay away from his further questions.

I pause to recall an incident, which always gives me reason to tickle my funny bone. My cousin studying in class two once got a 'star' in his Maths paper for excellent performance. Seeing this, his younger sibling commented, "So what? Even I have got a moon in my Maths paper." Hardly he knew at that time, the moon on which he was exulting was none other than a 'zero'.
I love to talk a lot, many say. But if they are nurturing any such notion, then hold on! Whenever my father invites answers for his Maths questions, I strongly feel that 'Silence is Bliss'. Don't you feel the same?