Are you afraid of numbers?

a boy is sitting on a classroom bench. it''s well past the play hour but he doesn''t seem interested. zoom in a little closer and you notice a perplexed look on his face. he is concentrating intently on a piece of paper and murmuring some incomprehensible words. tightly clutching a pencil in a tiny, sweaty palm he is scribbling some indecipherable stuff in the notebook.one would definitely suspect something terribly serious. but, the truth is that the little one is suffering from a very common form of irrational fear- maths phobia. a phobia is described as an exaggerated usually inexplicable and illogical fear of a particular object, class of objects, or situation. many of us can identify with that empty feeling in our stomachs every time there are some quick mathematical calculations to be done. hats off then to the roadside bhajiwallah for the absolutely amazing mathematical abilities that he displays every single day! while you rattle off different permutations and combinations of an assortment of vegetables and fruits, he usually has a blank look on his face. but the moment, he finishes weighing the stuff, you are at once informed the amount that you owe him. no calculators, no fancy attitudes. just plain and simple genius! some can effortlessly breeze through a mind-boggling quantity of calculations with consummate ease, but for some it is still akin to chewing cannon balls. "mathematics gives me the creeps", says twenty-two year old ekta sharma. she adds, " i always had this ludicrous fear that i will not have time in the examination to crack some simple logarithmic calculations. i can’t use my brain to find out what 29842839 multiplied by 45096 divided by 0.38748 would amount to!" the inevitable question then is why do some of us have such a phobia? "some people have a natural ability for mathematics and the others who don''t have it, struggle. then there are pressures to perform and gradually a fear psychosis develops," says city-based psychiatrist sohan derasari. "i''ve always found mathematics interesting. i usually work on mathematics problems with the music blaring in the background!" says swati shah, a computer engineer. there are many like swati, who are in love with the subject. then, there are such remarkable and resilient warriors like 20-year old rohit sachdev, who has managed to overcome this seemingly incurable phobia, to emerge a winner. he says, "i was keen on doing my mba. but the entrance tests were like a nightmare because of the various mathematical ability questions. i decided that i could not let my fear destroy my career and so i meticulously started doing four hours of math practice everyday. i made it to the b-school of my choice and i am proud of myself for that." "do not worry about your difficulties in mathematics. i can assure you, mine are still greater." albert einstein, the epitome of scientific brilliance uttered these words at one point in his life. so, cheer up! with a logical frame of mind, perseverance and practice you too shall be rewarded with the correct answer.