"A smile comes easy to you", Aruni blurted out unexpectedly, triggering an equally unexpected giggle from him. She tried to elaborate: "I mean you don't have to try to smile, whereas I have to make a lot of effort".
Life Coach: That may be because you are told you look ugly when you smile.
Aruni Suketu: Isn't that obvious?
LC: I know what you mean. When you smile, your left eye closes while the right one remains open, your mouth twists to one side and your nose to the other. So you have decided that it's a good idea not to smile at all, at least in public.
AS: And now, just like everyone else, you will try to convince me that I look beautiful when I smile.
LC: On the other hand, I'll be honest with you. You look odd when you smile. But does it really matter? A math teacher like you should know that half the numbers are odd.
AS: Yes, I know. But all prime numbers except 2 are odd as well.
LC: Of course! But why is a prime number bad in any way?
AS: Well! It has no factor except 1 and itself.
LC: I see! However, I believe prime numbers have many more attributes. For one, they're rarer than any other type of numbers. Moreover, students are asked to list out all prime numbers from, say, 50 to 100 or 100 to 500. That makes being odd and prime extraordinary. Why would anyone give up being extraordinary in order to stay with the ordinary?
AS: I never thought of prime numbers in that way. To me, prime numbers have always been lonely and useless, those no number would want to come near.
LC: That's where our points of view differ. You see, they're as social as other numbers. They appear in sequence with all. They're part of every set of numbers, be it real numbers, integers, fractions and so on. Just one peculiarity, that of their being prime, shouldn't make them so distant from all others. Don't you think so?
AS: This is the first time I don't feel embarrassed about my weird smile. And now that I think of it, the whole thing about my ugly smile seems so trivial.
At this, Aruni Suketu burst into a smile and continued to smile till the end of her session.
There may be any number of characteristics in each of us that make us odd or prime numbers, improper fractions, unsolvable equations, disproportionate values or anything else. But it is much better to stand out from the crowd and be extraordinary. Don't you think so?
