National Mathematics Talent Contest (NMTC-3)

It was really the most astonishing day of my life. I was sitting in my chemistry class with Mr. Errol Fernando when Ms. Sumera came running in the class to give me the news that I had qualified the first phase of National Mathematics Talent Contest. I nearly fell off the chair. I didn’t believe her first but when she took me to Mr. Abdan’s office to show me the results, I started to believe. Everyone was shocked because there were three other students, with three straight As, who also gave the test but didn’t qualify.

Well what was next? I had to wait for the invitation letter to arrive at my home which happened in late August. As soon as I received the letter, I was into the mathematics courses of Intermediate and A-Level.

Finally the day came when I had to leave Karachi and say hello to Lahore for the first time in my life. Although alone in the train, I wasn’t bored at all. In my compartment, there were two newly-wed couples ready for their first honeymoons! Listening to their conversations was the most difficult, yet an entertaining, task. As I didn’t have anyone to talk to, I started studying from some books I had brought, but couldn’t concentrate. During the whole one day o travel, I had to listen to their discussions on how they would celebrate their honeymoon!

I reached Lahore the next day in the morning and my father’s friend came to receive me. He took me to his office where I refreshed myself in the washroom! He offered me to use his computer with a high-speed broadband internet which I couldn’t reject. So the first three hours went just like that. After the lunch, he took me to my destined place, School of Mathematical Sciences, a department of Government College University. There were already ten other students waiting for others with whom I exchanged greetings. It was definitely going to be an exciting week!

When we were taken to the hotel, everyone was tired and immediately went to sleep. The next day, we had to wake up at 7:00. The bus was waiting for us to take us to the school at 8:00. Just after we reached the school, a whole lot of never-read-before Masters Level Mathematics was thrown at us! Our trainer was Mr. Dan Schwarz who was also the trainer of the Norwegian team. It continued till lunch and after that we went in the computer lab to refresh ourselves. Just after half an hour, Hell broke loose on us again! This continued till 9 o’clock in the night when we were again taken to our prison cells (hotel) to rest so that we would be able to break stones (school) again in the morning! During the whole week, we just went once outside the parameters of the school to Anaarkali Bazaar and tasted some of the fantastic foods of Lahore.

The nightmare of Mathematics continued for the whole week. But then came the finest moment of that trip, the last night! Everybody was relieved of the tensions and the two tests that followed. We met a guy who was Philippine by nationality, was born in Germany, had a British passport, and worked in Australia! Intriguing isn’t it?

That night we played cards till 2 o’clock in the morning. After we got bored of the cards, we went to see a movie but didn’t like it. Switching off the TV, we went on to dirtying the whole hotel. We emptied every bottle of oil and shampoo in the main hall and sprayed water all over the hotel. Done with that, we went on making fireballs with a matchstick and deodorant, and damaging the neighbour’s property. Obviously no one noticed it as everybody was sleeping. Well, after all these menaces, we also went to sleep but just for three hours.

The next day was the closing ceremony when we were taken to the main university campus of Government College University for the distribution of certificates at the hands of the Chancellor of the university himself! After the ceremony, we had lunch with the professors and the Chancellor of the university. At the end, we bade farewell to everybody and I went to the train station to catch the train to Karachi. This time I wasn’t alone. Two others were also there to accompany me in the travel. The next day we had to stop at Hyderabad because the heavy rainfall had damaged the tracks. We took the bus from there and at last reached home!

I was expecting a good result and even a chance to be at the final, but, unfortunately, didn’t qualify the second phase. There was a bit of disappointment but then again, the time I spent there was the best and the most memorable week I ever had!