Sometime back a state government abolished the Common Entrance Test for admission into professional courses. This government order has brought joy and hope to tens of thousands of school students that aspire to become doctors and engineers, their parents and teachers.
However, hundreds of tuition teachers and organizers of coaching classes lost a lucrative income opportunity. While many of them are unhappy with the government order, Ravindran, is immensely happy with it. "I had been conducting coaching classes for Plus Two students that were preparing for entrance examinations for professionals courses for the past two years. I used to earn around Rs.10,000 a month. But, my work did not give me job satisfaction because deep inside my heart I knew I was just creating memory machines. When I first read about the government order in newspaper, like other tuition teachers, I was also disturbed beyond measure and criticized the government for frequently changing the policy. However, careful thinking made me realize that I was disturbed not because of the change in the policy but because I did not know how to earn money through a new project."
"That's wonderful. Such analysis is the first step in creating prosperity. What did you do next?" I was eager to hear more from him.
Ravindran replied, "I am good at teaching school students. I have had years of experience in it. So, I decided to teach some useful life skill to school students. In recent years, hundreds of schools have come into existence. Each school claims that it has got the magical remedy for all the problems in the education system and this remedy is based on a special, infallible system from America, Japan or Europe. Our snobbish parents rush to these schools and pay exorbitant fees only to be disappointed after a few years."
I agreed with him and said, "Indians have contracted the bad habit of valuing anything American or European as useful, and anything Indian as useless. Though we have physically achieved independence from western powers long ago, we are still emotionally and mentally slaves to them."
He said, "Ancient Indian literature is overflowing with knowledge. We must embrace knowledge from other countries, if it is useful. But before doing that, we must take a good look at what we already have at home. I know something about Vedic mathematics. So, I decided to teach it as it helps students solve problems at lightning speed. I spent a few weeks in perfecting my knowledge in this branch of knowledge and then began to teach it. Do you know that even NASA uses this knowledge?"
I said, "Though I don't know how accurate your big claim is, I believe that many great Indian scholars such as Astronomer Arya Bhatta and Astrologer Varaha Mihira were experts in mathematics, and they acquired the knowledge from the works of Vedic period. Can you please give me an example to prove that Vedic mathematics helps people do mental math at lightning speed?"
"Sure. I'll tell you how to quickly figure out the square of any number that ends with 5. If you want to find out the square of 35, multiply the first digit of the number with its next natural number. Here 3 is the first digit and 4 is the next number. The result of 3x4 is 12. Then put 25 next to the resultant and you get 1225. That is the square of 35. Try this method with any number that ends with 5 and you can get the answer within seconds without using a calculator," Ravindran gave me an example.
I tried the method for 125 and within 5 seconds I got its square 15625 in my mind! I told him, "It's amazing. Have you developed such shortcuts for all mathematical operations?" He replied, "I did not develop these methods. Indian sages had developed methods to solve any type of problem."
"How do parents respond when you approach them?" I asked him. "Most of them frown at me when they hear the word Vedic. But, I offer their children a free session of one hour. During this session, I teach some impressive methods and make them solve problem mentally at amazing speed. Naturally the next day the parents enroll their children for regular classes," he said.
"Are you happy with your income?" I asked him. He replied, "I started to market my services only two months ago. At present I earn Rs.8,000 a month. I am working hard to convert my knowledge into a franchise and market it all over India."
"I am looking forward to meet a successful, prosperous entrepreneur soon," I told him before taking leave of him.