"I love math and I'm great at it" said no one ever. Okay, maybe a lot of people did but I'm just not one of them and there are many other unfortunate souls like myself. Math and I simply don't get along and the worst part is it's something you can't escape in everyday life - like that creepy neighbour you run into almost every day.

PUBLIC TRANSPORT: Whether it's riding the local bus or opting for a relaxing rickshaw ride, when it's time to pay up you find yourself channelling all your concentration into calculating how much change you're supposed to get back. At this point your turtle-like speed is probably causing a backlog of traffic behind you so you just rely on the mama's math skills. Have you received the right amount? Why is the mama grinning as he puts the fare away? You don't know.

SHOPPING IS A DISASTER: When shopping involves a receipt that tells you how much you paid and subsequently how much change you'll receive, you sigh with relief. On the other hand when you're at the kacha bazaar or a smaller mudi'r dokan and they tell you the price of 1kg potatoes and you want something slightly more or less, say 1250gm - bringing out a calculator, crunching numbers to figure out how much 1gm will cost, realising that 1250gm will cost 1250 times that amount then feeling slightly successful thinking you've finally got the hang of the unitary method doesn't help. The shopkeeper bursts your bubble and is silently judging you, murmuring the answer (as a matter of fact-ly) before you can calculate it yourself.

SPLITTING BILLS AT HANGOUTS: Oh yes. You and your friends have enjoyed a nice meal and the waiter appears with the bill. Spontaneously, each of your friends fishes out the right amount correct to the poisha for what they've eaten because 235 Taka for that burger and 180 Taka for that shake and another 250 Taka for that cheesecake plus 15% VAT is a calculation some unearthly beings seem to carry out within seconds. After scratching your head trying to add up prices you can barely remember, you give up, handing over a 500 Taka note even though all you had was sandwich.

TO USE A CALCULATOR OR NOT: This doesn't just happen in Math exams, a small side calculation such as 15 minus 9 can be a part of your answer in many other subjects. Feeling confident, for once you decide to mentally calculate 15 – 9 = 6 because time is of the essence and using a calculator would take up so much precious time and of course who does that? But as you write down the answer anxiety creeps up to you, reminding you that you're just about as good at mental Math as Donald Trump being nice to people. Frantically you search for your calculator and punch the numbers in, cursing yourself for wasting time in not doing so in the first place.

If you can relate with these situations then the calculator app is probably the most visited app on your phone and you probably have that one friend whose math skills always put you to shame but hey, cheer up. You're probably better than them at something else.  

Salma Mohammad Ali fears she is becoming a crazy cat lady and uses writing as a means to grasp on to sanity. Send her your views/hate/love at fb.com/salma.ali209