LIFE’S NON-SCHOLASTIC LESSON—THE PIZZA GEOMETRY

                                

“papa she is going to stay in our house tonight. Am very happy that my BFF will be in our house” my daughter told me. We were sitting in my car parked in front of a housing society.

She was referring to her friend and we were waiting for her to come down and get into our car.

“What is BFF?” I asked.

“Best Friend Forever” she told me.

“Why do you guys abbreviate everything?  For professor you say prof, for institution you say insti and now you are saying BFF” I told her.

“We get tired while using such big words and so make them smaller and sweeter”she replied.

Her friend came down with a bag pack on her shoulder. She jumped into the car and the two girls started laughing and talking to one another non-stop. We reached our house and sat in the hall. It was getting darker. “You better order it now. They will take longer time to deliver as traffic is more” my wife remarked.

“Mom have you not seen the movie ‘3 Idiots’? They tell us in the movie that in our country ambulance may  come late but Pizza comes in time” my daughter added.

I looked at my wife and told her “We are dealing with girls of 10^th standard and they know everything”. We called the pizza shop and ordered pizza, garlic bread and few other items.

The two girls went into my daughter’s room and I could hear  songs of Taylor Swift  with the girls singing along  . My son also ran into the room and joined them in the singing.

Within 30 minutes of ordering, the Pizza delivery boy was at our door and rang the doorbell. I opened the door and the delivery boy smiled at me. I took the boxes and kept them on the dining table. I paid him the amount and asked for more seasonings and chilli flakes. He handed over few packets. Once he left , I closed the door and looking at the bill said “ Rs. 1800 for this ? During my engineering days I was not getting half of this amount from my parents every month. You know the first hostel mess bill I paid was Rs. 129”.

My wife replied “ It is very obvious. You appear lean , mean and hungry in the photos of your engineering days. They were not feeding you enough for the Rs. 129 you were paying them monthly”.

 

“Girls the dinner is ready” I told them opening the door of the room they were sitting in.

The two girls and my son came out of the room and occupied the chairs around the dining table.

“Girls I have a question for both of you. Will you answer?” I questioned them.

“Yes uncle we will” my daughter’s friend replied.

“OK then tell me what do you observe when you see the pizza box and the pizza inside. It should be thought provoking and not simple observation” I told them.

My son raised his hand and said “ I will answer”. I was surprised that a 4th standard boy was ready to give a thought provoking answer.
He continued “ They have given the Pizza in a rectangular box as they did not not have 5 plates to give to us”.

All of us laughed and this made him wonder as to what was funny about his reply.

“Uncle I have an observation” my daughter’s friend said and continued “ The box , pizza and the slice represent the way people are. The box is rectangular and when you open it the pizza is circular and when you want to eat it the slice will be triangular. People think differently and act differently. We cannot take people by face value. A person may look very good but we do not what is in her mind and we cannot predict how she will behave”.

“Very intelligent” I remarked and looking at my daughter asked her “What is your observation?”

My daughter started “ The box , pizza and the slice indicate the adaptation we do in our lives. There is no rule that the shape of the box should be rectangular. It can be circular also. But they make it rectangular as it is easy to handle and easy to open or close. The pizza inside the box could have been rectangular but again handling a circular pizza is easier while making  and packing it. Imagine eating a circular Pizza. Very difficult as you cannot insert it into the mouth. They best way is to slice the pizza into triangular pieces as per the size and convenience”.

“Very well said girls. You both have come out with very good observations. My learning from the box , pizza and the slice is very different. About a decade ago we did not have pizzas available so easily in India. We were happy and comfortable with our idlis, dosas , paratha and other items.

Now a days every main road is having a pizza shop. A Udupi tiffin center makes many varieties of dosas, poori, Idli, Vada, Rice,and other dishes. But these Pizza houses have very smartly made us buy items which they sell rather than giving us what we want. They  are able to make Pizza a very important food item when we have a get together or a party. They also make us sweat while paying the  bills”. 

The girls looked puzzled with this short economics lecture. They could not understand the logic .I looked at my son . There was a blank expression on his face. I looked at my wife. She could understand my feelings as  I had paid over Rs. 1000 for the pizza and Garlic bread.

“I will tell you my observation about the pizza” my son said. We wondered what he would come out with this time.

“The Pizza box is rectangular and it has the pizza in it . We need to open it and the pizza will be circular and the slices are already cut. We should take one triangular slice” saying so he took one slice and started eating it.