Rough Work

I was studying with Manish. As most of the students we were surrounded by books and copies. There were fair copies and rough copies. There were some pages and yes we were having a black board for brainstorming at Manish's house. I loved that black board as it proved to be very handy for solving problems.

Today was the first day when I was studying with Manish. He was calling me again and again since last week and it happened to be today that we are group studying.

I saw him writing problems in his copies and even on the black board. His handwriting was very good with decent curves. When I wrote besides his writing it was just like garbage kept besides flowers :(

I noticed one very strange thing in his writing. He wrote all the things very clear as if this were the final write-ups. I mean literally no rough work.

"Hey why are you wasting so much time in making the things complete, after all this is rough work right?" was my innocent question to him.
"Look, I believe that what you always do is what you will do at the final time. This is my character, yaar to write complete. Why should I change it even for rough work." he uttered.
"But you can always write with good handwriting when it is needed, why do this in rough copy and even on the board." I was insisting on my argument.

"Once I read a statement", said he," and it goes like live as if this is the last day of your life. That statement inspired me to always write as if I am writing for the last time. You know this habit has helped me make my handwriting better, I was not such a good writer before."

I was amazed and was thinking can I do this. No, never. I am always in hurry to do things quickly and I know I will write enough good in the examination to get required marks. But I noted this habit as a good habit to have.

Tushar Joshi, Nagpur