💬 I can recite pi to 32 digits and it has never once been useful

3.1415926535 8979323846 2643383279 50. That's 32 after the point. I typed that from memory. I learned it in class 9 because a boy named Farhan knew 20 and I couldn't stand it. 2 weeks of saying it on the bus to school, under my breath. My mother thought I was praying. Farhan never learned more than 20. I won. Nobody cared. I still know it 20 years later. It has come up 3 times in my adult life. A quiz night, a bet with my brother in law, and a date. The quiz night it was worth 1 point. The bet got me 500 rupees. The date did not go well. She asked if I had any hidden talents. I said yes and did pi. She went very quiet. In my defence I was 24 and thought it was impressive. My wife, who I met later, has never been allowed to ask. The annoying part is what my brain chose to keep. Pi to 32 places, yes. My car number, no. My PAN number, no. I have to check my phone for my own blood group. But 2643383279, always there, ready to go. My son is 7 and has started learning it to beat me. He's at 9 digits. I'm a bit scared. Like father like son, my wife says, and she does not mean it nicely. What's your most useless talent? The one you're secretly proud of even though it does nothing. Can you fold your tongue? Name every Indian cricket captain in order? Whistle with your fingers? I need to know I'm not the only one carrying useless information around. Farhan, if you're reading this, it's 32 now, not 20. Your move.

A date, a bet and a quiz night, that is not nothing. I only know pi to 6 digits and even that took me a week. My brother can recite the multiplication table up to 25, learnt from a school notebook in the 90s, and he uses it at the vegetable market. Did the date notice, or did she just stare?

I can tell you the day of the week for any date. Give me 1987 June 12th, it's a Friday. Learned it from a book in college to impress people. It impressed nobody except my grandfather. He'd test me every Sunday with dates from his life. His wedding, my father's birth, the day he got his job. He passed in 2021. I still do the dates sometimes, his ones, for no reason.