Tukka Singh stood rooted. He was dumbfounded. He had never been so confused in his life !

His life had been full of instructions. Concise and no-nonsense instructions ! For the first twenty one years of his life, he had received instructions from his parents and teachers. And for the subsequent twenty one, he had been giving instructions, non-stop, day in, day out, to his students as well to his own off springs.

Tukka Singh was a teacher of Mathematics in a well known school in the city. He was known to be clear-headed and precise—acutely analytical!

But at this moment, his head was far from being clear. Clouds of doubt were looming large, all over his cerebrum. But there seemed to be no likelihood of rain ! At least our dear old Tukka Singh saw no hope !

Shakku, a below-average student had asked a question. It was a question, which Tukka Singh would have answered, under normal circumstances, with well-rehearsed ease. But these were not normal circumstances. Shakku had posed the question with a fervent request to be provided with a real-life example .

What did Shakku want to know ? A simple query : “if A is greater than B and B is greater than C then why is A greater than C ?”

The root of the problem was in the phraseology, the nomenclature, Tukka Singh analysed. And he was a perfect analyser, as we all know. He thought: “what if I replace the word ‘greater’ with some benign term like ‘bigger’ or ‘larger’ ?

He requested Shakku for a little time to come up with a convincing real- life example.

“If A is bigger than B and……” Tukka Singh realised that he would fall in the same trap. Changing the phraseology would not help ! “I shall find myself in the same trap” he grew very worried.

A fleeting moment of weakness suddenly gripped Tukka Singh: “What if I ask Shakku to demonstrate that atleast A is greater than B, then I can easily prove the remaining part of the equation”

“Shame and disgrace on you !” Tukka Singh immediately rebuked himself for acting in this cowardly manner. “ You are a black-mark on this noble profession !” he was relentless in self-effacement.

But the answer was elusive for our mathematician. Outside the domain of his number-line, this magician-with-numbers had no expertise ! Real life was a  much different ball-game !

Tukka Singh was miserable. He seriously contemplated getting a transfer. But he also realised that the ghost of Shakku would follow him wherever he went. He wanted to bury the ghost once and for all. But how ?

In the meanwhile, Shakku had forgotten about the question. He could not care less ! In fact, Shakku, and all others in his school, and in fact every student in every school in the city was busy solving sample test papers ! Final exams were round the corner !

As luck would have it, the same question appeared in the final exam and Shakku scored a perfect ten ! He proved it with consummate ease, on his examination sheet,  that if A is greater than B and B is greater than C then A is greater than C !

Tukka Singh was badly shaken. His students swore that his hands shook whenever he wrote a formula on the board! His wife often hear him muttering strange things in his sleep ! something to do with ‘real life’ and ‘mathematics’……

Then many years passed. With each passing year, Shakku climbed yet another rung of the ladder and one day became the Inspector of Schools.

But poor Tukka Singh remained a poor Maths teacher and a sleep-talker.
… It was the school annual function. Tukka Singh was nominated to receive the chief guest… and you have guessed it right! Shakku, the Inspector of Schools was the chief guest that year. He came, well-starched, in all school-inspector-like-pomp.

Tukka Singh failed to recognise Shakku. He was no more clear-headed and sharp. He failed to recognise his tormentor!

But Shakku, who was not otherwise bright, had acquired the necessary skills to become a successful bureaucrat. He immediately recognised Tukka Singh.

Tukka Singh reached the dais and spoke in his stage-frightened whisper : “ It is our honour and great privilege to have such a great officer in our school as our chief guest ! We welcome him and request him to speak a few words.. please !”

Shakku spoke with a gleam in his eyes : “ I am a great chief guest according to this teacher. And I think he is greater than me as he was once my teacher. But I must add that our students here are even greater- in fact, they are the ones who teach us a thing or two about real life ! And now I shall end this monologue by simply posing this question to our dear old Tukka Singh here :

“ Who is the greatest: the students, the teacher or the inspector of schools ?”

Everyone laughed and cheered. They thought the new Inspector of Schools was very witty; and a great human being !

But poor Tukka Singh, in this moment of truth, clearly recognising Shakku, and recognising many more things about real life, fainted right there on the dais !