When we were young, our mother spent several hours each evening monitoring our studies.
She would check our homework, give us lessons at home, and even quiz us to assess how well we were learning.
She was our teacher, pretty much.
Mum believed in using corporal punishments to bring out academic excellence.
She always kept a ruler and cane in close proximity during these evening sessions.
If we made mistakes or showed any lapse in concentration, she would beat us.
During our younger days, getting the ruler a few times for some mistake or the other during studies was a daily affair.
The most common form of punishment was a hard swat of the ruler on our open palms.
At times, she would even smack our knuckles, which was very painful.
Even if we made a simple spelling mistake, our mother would draw our hands out and smack it a couple of times.
We then had to write the misspelled word a dozen times.