Panikia - The Odia Multiplication Table

 Does anyone, especially from Odisha remember PANIKIA, the Odia equivalent for "Multiplication Table" taught to be memorized during our primary school days ? For most of us KODIEKA PANIKIA MUKHASTA or memorizing the multiplications from 1 to 20, e.g., (1 × 1 till 1× 10, 2 × 2 till 2 × 10, 3 × 3 till 3 × 10... 20 ×1 till 20 × 10) was challenging.

I managed to rote it by heart. Whenever someone would ask me "18 PANCHAA KETE" (what is 5 times 18) ? I would reply NABE (90) without having any clue how that figure is arrived at but would get accolades for doing MUKHASTA (memorizing) of PANIKIA. GHOSA (rote) or BALADIA (like a bullock) method of rote was the norm of those day. 

The person who remembers the most was considered the smartest, nurturing creativity always taking a backseat. Switching to D M school was a smart step. In the late 70s, the famed English medium school decided to take students from the Odia medium schools through an entrance examination, a written test followed by a personal interview for those who get through it.

Not very keen on travelling all the way to Unit IX from BJB Flats, I appeared in the Exam half heartedly. Thought that only a few will turn up for the Entrance Exam. I was wrong. To my surprise there were hundreds sitting inside multiple classrooms competing for only a handful of seats. Anyway, I managed to qualify in the written test.

Then came the invitation for the personal interview. I was sure it's going to be my Waterloo. During my interview a bunch of General Knowledge questions were thrown at me. I answered all of them correctly. I remember one question - what's A.I.R. stands for. I replied, "All India Radio". The last question was asked by Headmaster, Late Mr. K.C.Das himself. He asked me to name the author of the book "Good Earth". Pearl S Buck was my answer. 

The gentleman sitting next to him exclaimed - "ARRE BAH", complimenting me for being the first one so far in the interview to answer all questions correctly. Sri Das, Headmaster nodded in agreement. I came back, dismayed at the prospect of getting selected. My memorizing skills probably clinched me a seat to the arguably the most coveted school of the time in Odisha's capital. 

D M School had some excellent teachers who taught me go above and beyond roting and focus more on understanding. But my father who taught Physics and later his counterpart Mr. Raghu Nath Panda, my Chemistry teacher in College and Mr. Banamali Mishra, Math teacher and a moving encyclopedia taught me to how to think and analyze. 

I found Chemistry, especially the organic part of it extremely boring as I could not make any head or tail out of those complex equations. R N Panda Sir told me to come out of the mugging mode and try to understand the subject. In a few months Chemistry which was as tough as a teak stump to crack, felt as smooth as a hot knife through butter. I realized that the fun of learning lies in understanding, not in roting the subject which was unhelpful and strenuous.

Reminds me of this scene from iconic movie "3 IDIOTs". When the Hindi speech writer told Chatur Ramalingam to understand the text of the speech before speaking in public, he said "Don't worry, I will rote it". Then Aamir Khan who did the playful and witty role of Rancho went on to change the word "CHAMATKAAR" to "VALATKKAR" and so on in the script. We all know what happened to Chatur who read it out loud on the stage without an idea of what he was talking about. That famous scene from the movie reminds us the perils of studying without understanding.

Chatur memorizes a Sloka (hymn) in Sanskrit meant to eulogize his Principal and spits it out on the stage, without understanding a single word of it, not realizing that the original one was altered by Aamir Khan. As Chatur on the stage was about to vomit out the Sloka, the later warms his friends to get ready to hear some sermons about Chatur's farting prowess. Chatur recites:

UTTAMAM GAD GADATA PADAM,
MADHYAM PADAM TUCHAK TUCHAK;
THUR THURIYA KANISTAM PADAM,
SUR SURIYA PRANA GHATAKAM.

Roughly transliterated...

"Loud farts are majestically thundering;
Medium farts come along stuttering,
Small Farts arrive whisteling & sirening;
The silent ones can be life threatening."

As the crowd went berserk, poor Chatur got kicked out of the stage. Rancho's dark humor teaches us another lesson in academics - Knowledge acquired through roting sans understanding may earn you a Degree. Rancho tells this to his friend, "You can pass by roting and get a job, "LEKIN AGLE 40 SAAL TERA VALATKAAR HI HOGA" (you will be screwed all the next 40 years of your life). He stood so vindicated.