He finished the paper with ten minutes to spare—a first in his life.

Over the next week, he became obsessed. He started narrating every problem like a cricket commentary.

“This was my Physics book when I was in Class 9,” Mr. Sharma said. “I hated Physics too.”

Dinesh didn’t panic. He saw the bus. A tired old school bus. The driver was slowing down. He whispered, “It’s okay, bus. I’ve got you.” He wrote the formula, substituted the values, and got the answer: a negative acceleration, or retardation .

The class laughed. Mr. Sharma sighed. “See me after school.”

Mr. Sharma handed him back the old book. “Then keep reading. Because Class 9 is just the beginning. In Class 10, you’ll learn about light—reflection and refraction. That’s the story of how a ray of light gets lost, bounces off a mirror, and finds its way home.”

Instead of panicking, he closed his eyes and imagined. He saw a little blue car, waiting at a red light. The light turned green. The car didn’t jump—it eased into motion. After 1 second, it was slow. After 5 seconds, it was faster. After 10 seconds, it was zooming. He could see the speed growing. Suddenly, v = u + at made sense. v was the final speed. u was the start. a was the push. t was the time of pushing.