On Mothers’ Day, England is playing against India at Lords and Geoffrey Boycott and Sunil Gavaskar are in the commentary box. Everyone has heard from Boycott that his mum can do everything, so often that it has become irritating for them. Saurav Ganguly drops a catch, which prompts Boycott to say, "See! My mum could have caught that ball. ‘Keep your eyes on the ball, son’ — that’s what she always says."

Sunny can’t control himself anymore. He says, "Enough of it Geoffrey, your mother is not a super genius like Einstein," "Dear fellow, compared to my mum, Einstein is nothing," says Boycott. "I see! Tell me what can she do, besides playing cricket," says Gavaskar. "She can prepare wonderful juices," says Geoffrey, "Come to my house for the Mothers’ Day party tonight and you will see how good she is."

In the evening, at his house, Boycott introduces Sunny to his mum. Boycott’s mother: "Mama mia! So, you are Mr Gavaskar. Sit down, dear boy, and let me bring some juice for you. I like to mix pineapple juice with mango juice and I call it pi-man juice." "Pi-man! That’s an odd name for a juice," says Sunny. The old woman says, "Oh! I love mathematics, you see. Today, I took a pitcher containing 45 ounces of pi-man juice that is 20 per cent pineapple juice and 80 per cent mango juice. After tasting the mixture, I decided that it had too much of mango juice, so, I added 15 ounces of pineapple juice to it and mixed well. For this party, I poured the juice from the pitcher into four large glasses, with the same portion in each glass. I hope that you like it."

Gavaskar sees a chance here to test Boycott’s mother. He says, "I would like my pi-man juice to be 25 per cent pineapple juice and 75 per cent mango juice." He wonders whether she will be able to tell how many ounces of mango juice should be added to his glass to make the juice taste the way he likes it.

he pitcher has 9 ounces of pineapple juice and 36 ounces of mango juice, since 20 per cent of 45 ounces is 9 and 80 per cent of 45 ounces is 36. Adding 15 ounces of pineapple juice gives 60 ounces of pi-man juice, in which, 9+15=24 ounces are pineapple juice and 36 ounces are mango juice. By pouring the equivalent amount of pi-man juice into four glasses, each glass will contain 24/4=6 ounces of pineapple juice and 36/4=9 ounces of mango juice. Sunny wants pi-man juice that is 25 per cent pineapple and currently has 6 ounces of pineapple in his glass. Therefore, he needs 18 ounces of mango juice in his glass, since 6 is 25 per cent of 24. He also needs 24 ounces of pi-man juice in his glass, so, Boycott’s mum adds 9 ounces of mango juice to it.

"Delicious, just the way I like it," says Sunny, after tasting the juice. "See, my mum has unusual ways of doing things," says Boycott. "What’s so unusual about it, my mum could have done it," says Sunny and the two have a good laugh together.

— Aditya Rishi