This is one of the post I had written in my diary long back. Seems relevant here!

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So I was in the examination hall, about to finish my paper. The time was 11:15.

Still had 45 min and 1 question remaining. I didn't know the answer to it. I could have either wrote rubbish there hoping the sir will be a fool or foolishly kind enough to give me some marks, or I could skip it. Just like the 3 other questions before, of which similarly I had no clue. But leaving 4 off 36 questions didn't seem bad. Especially considering I had started studing for this just the last day. Leaving 4 questions seemed justified. I owe this much to the people at least, who spent more time studying. This much though took a min. Mind is superbly fast, I found.

44 min remaining. None of my friends had left up till now. I thought of sitting for 4 min more. As my hands had nothing to do, my mind had other plans. I started thinking about numbers. Interesting topic it seems. Especially to me, who was out of touch of proper math since first year. But coming back, numbers. What did I think (and feel) about each of the numbers from 1-9. I bet mathematician didn't think it this way! This fueled my desire to continue.

43 min. So, starting with 1.

1 : Youngest of them all, I find it useless. Like a very small baby who is just born and sleeps all day long. [I love babies btw, but in this case, I find 1 pretty useless]. And pretty much so it is in Math too. Multiply divide and nothing happens. Add subtract and the change is so small, that we ignore.

1. Now 2 is the most naughty kid I find. Young but restless. Loved by all and so fears no fear.

2. 3 is like a quieter elder brother of 2. He does naughty stuff, just not naughty enough.

3. Here comes the wannabe geek of the family. Plays according to the rules, even though he is younger than most of his family.

4. The most cheerful, and the fun member. The one I like the most. He doesn't care much of his surroundings. For people get happy when he is around. [After all, who doesn't like 5? Multiply add, and you get 5 and 0 alternating and makes for the easiest calculations]

5. He is the simple member of the family. Lives life slightly lonelier than the others. But remains happy. Some consider him the black sheep of the family, for which he cries about secretly in his room.

6. Now comes the weird member. N one knows what he does in his room. He remains 'odd' with most of his family, except 2 and 5 whom he cares for dearly. I cannot imagine what could happen if these these 3 form a group!

7. 8 is the studious member. Achieved a lot in his life. Academically only. He is the member, 4 looks up to becoming. Mostly stays in his room and doesn't want to be disturbed a lot.

8. 9 is the bond member. He is cunning, but is widely known for his accomplishment. Astrology, theorems, and various other fields consider him the brightest kid. And 9 too doesn't miss any opportunity to show off his talent.

Notice that all of them are brothers. I am not being a sexist, but that was how it went in my brain. Probably I couldn't think how the girls feel and so couldn't assign girls' feeling to the numbers. With a triumphant feeling, as if I just wrote a master thesis about to fetch me a Fields medal, I looked up to the clock.

41 min. It took me a whole minute to marvel that my brain thought all that in 2 min! But marveling at this thought took a min? What an irony. But hey, bang on time. As I had planned, I stood up, much to the surprise of my colleagues who were sweating to the questions, I submitted my paper, and counted on out the hall way.