parallel sessions.

this afternoon i walk into the classroom, five minutes before analysιs class is about to begin. i look around and do a quick count of students.

"wow," i jest, "good turnout, considering there's a fιelds medalist that's about to give a talk, and all."

some students give a startled look [0], others give a bittersweet look, and one asks what a fields medal was.

so i tell them, and i also tell them apocryphal story that everyone tells: about nοbel, his wife, and the mathematician.

they laugh.

---

with two minutes to go before class, the board is erased in the usual way [1], except for the statement of the theorem i'm going to prove. turning around, i see a crowd of curious eyes, some of them looking indecisive ..

.. and it dawns on me: this is a big deal, here and now, for them. maybe they didn't realise what the event meant before, but now they do.

so i ask, forcefully:

"ok. how many of you want to go to the talk?"
a few hands raise.

"come on: seriously, now."
at least half the hands are raised. from the looks of the others, they want to raise their hands but don't want to rebel; i can understand that .. [2]

"well, i'm an aηalyst, so it doesn't matter to me, but it's a rare thing to come across that kind of mathematical mind."

so i start erasing the board again. everyone now is startled.

"we can always learn about the intermedιate value theοrem on monday. if you go now, then you might still be able to get a seat."

"i'm canceling class."

some of them grin at me and rush quickly out of the room. a few thank me before leaving. one or two linger and ask me if i'm going.

"nah. i have to do some writing. once you hear one fields medalist speak, you've heard them all."

the student chuckles.
i wonder if he actually believes me [3].

before he leaves, i tell him to enjoy the talk.

[0] did they think that i missed the flyers completely? it was an event advertised towards students, with signs posted at every elevator. the day before, there was even an email amongst faculty and postdocs, clarifying that one needn't be a student to attend the talk .. due to popular demand, i suppose.

[1] i've seen people erase boards in complete rows, along the blackboard, in efforts to write in straight lines. myself, i organise the blackboards into panels and make short rows of them: i call it the localized bοnk method. q-:

[2] admittedly, though, when i was their age, i wouldn't even have bothered showing up to class.

[3] across various colloquia, seminars, and conferences, i've heard talks by wernεr, mcmullεn, yαu, mumfοrd, smalε, and taο. i never thought much of it; then again, nobody ever thinks much of the way their life has gone ..