Dyad easy

I remember Shastri Miss...our interim math teacher.
She was short, stout..the boisterous, vocal type.

She taught us algebra and geometry with passion in the eighth,
but the only thing ...everything went above our heads.
I learned indices well, but geometry theorems were awful.
So she took us home for coaching...a group of five or six of us...including the milkman's son

I noticed her hubby was too henpecked, always at her beck and call...
whether it was shopping or running to the door, saucepan in hand, to fetch milk from the milkman.
Her small son, Bujji, threw tantrums, one too many.

She never took one paisa from us.
Her favorite words were, "Yeh to dyad easy hai," in her heavy Telugu accent, referring to a problem we found dead difficult..

One day she called me home. She was busy checking our exam answer sheets.
"Slight error here. Would you want to correct it..I'll give you full marks."
I shook my head.
"No, Miss, I don't think that's right."

Another time, she came up to me just before the Geometry exam began, minutes before the bell rang. She beckoned to me from outside the class, desperately.
She disclosed to me the questions that would come and how to answer them. I felt very odd. I smiled and went in.

My friend asked me what she'd just told me. I told her, "Nothing."
It was true. I had forgotten all she had said.
After my results, she gifted me with a fountain pen. I treasured it lovingly.

A year quickly flew by.
One day we heard the sad news...her hubby had met with a scooter accident, her son had escaped..but hubby lost his life.
Maybe he was on another errand of hers.
It was tragic!

I saw her as weeks later she bid adieu to our neighborhood.
She smiled at me as she walked away slowly to her waiting car.
I would miss her sorely.

Wonder where she is now. I'm sure she's still going strong. What with the killer spirit inside her.
If I meet her, I'd say 'thank you' from my heart, for being so dedicated and true to her passion.
She inspired me then and continues to do till date!