A Nobel Prize for my mom

    I was driving today to work and listening to NPR about the Nobel Prize for peace, how that beautiful and courageous girl went to school amid serious threats and real danger that in the end got her shot. And the more I listened to the story, the more my mind was overridden with the memory of a different story.

  In a small village, in a big poor family of 6 (at that time) the oldest girl really wanted to go to school. Her two older brothers were already of school age, so she couldn't wait to start as well. When time came, she loved every second of it. The novelty, the excitement, the fact that she was spared the many house chores she was given. But fall in the country side comes with a lot of labor, field work, house work, preparations for the hard winter to come. So, the girl's mother told her she has to stay home to care for her younger sister and take care of some chores. Yes, a 6 year old was expected to do that, not because the parents were child abusers, but because there was no other way to survive in those times. Pretty much all families expected that of the children.

  The difference comes in the children here. Most of the kids in the country side loved the idea of skipping school. But this tiny girl (she was short and skinny and awfully pretty) decided that she will go to school, just like her brothers. So she ran away from home to go to school and learn. The teacher (who had received a note from the parents that the girl will be out of school) was perplexed. The teacher talked to the parents and convinced them to let girl come to school. She just wanted to be educated. And educated she was. 12 years later, after she finished high school, her parents expected her home to work the land. She worked hard the whole summer and then she asked permission from her parents to go to the city for a week to spend it with a relative. Where did she go instead? She went to a bigger city to apply to a Math college. Few days later, in the small village her mother gets congratulated: "you must be so proud, your daughter will be a student at one of the best colleges in the country"! Should the mother be angry at the not-so-obedient girl? Should she be proud? I think she was both. And like this, from a tiny cute girl in a small poor village emerged a very much loved and esteemed mathematics professor.

  This is the story of how my mom chose her profession, always running and fighting to get the education others took for granted. Just like Malala Yousafzai. True, she was not in an Arab country. Believe me however, my grandma can be as scary as the talibans :). My mom continued her life spreading the love for science and education, not only to my sister and I, but to anyone who cared to listen to her. For this and for so many more, even if only in a smaller community and without the 8 million swedish kronor I am awarding my mom the Nobel Prize for peace. For love as well, but that is not a "thing" yet :)

To mom, for running away from home to go to school