Resigned from Mitsubishi and came back to America in 1995. There were no job prospects and I had become morbidly fat. About 42 inches waist, height 5’7.5″.To calm my mind, decided to take a few mathematics courses. And just to see if I had any intelligence left.
First course was Complex Analysis. Did okay, the professor was happy. Then decided to take Real Analysis in Summer. Reversing the normal order.
Read Analysis is core to mathematics and is is considered very important to study for graduate programs.
There were about 30 students. A mid-term and a final.
Mid-tern surprised me. I got 98 out of 100. The teacher had plotted a histogram, and I looked for the person who came second. There was nobody in 80 or 90. There was a young Indian girl in 60s or 70s, likely 70s.
Final exam came. It was easier than the mid-term. I completed everything in a hurry. Thinking there must be at least question difficult, found a question – and decided to attack it in a different manner. Got confused, and couldn’t complete that. When I came out I asked the Indian girl how to solve it, I banged my head, oh it was so easy.
There was no fear of getting a B or something.
Final scores were outside TA’s office. The girl’s grade – 150 out of 150 in the final, overall A+. Mine 144 out of 150 in the final, overall A+. I was happy.
The girl had told me she studied in Delhi, and was going to Princeton on scholarship. That I remembered. Last year the TV was on and the word came out Princeton economist. I looked. She was the same girl – Gita Gopinath – chief economist of IMF.