" I feel there has been a good attempt here," he says, " but it's shocking to see that some of the textbooks still being used ate the ones introduced during the British Rule. The country needs to modernize and elevate the level of higher education." Speaking of modernization, he chuckles: "I can barely manage to send an e-mail my self." Unlike his contemporaries, Atiyah says he still prefers the blackboard to solve his sums instead of the computer. The reason is understandable him more than the calculations." Math for me is a living thing ," he says, "and even though it can never be an easy subject, I wish more people would start enjoying it . It's a lot of fun." Fun and mathematics? Yes, he says. And no, not all mathematicians are nerds. "They are balanced, adaptable and mathematicians can never be stupid." With a Lebanese father and a Scottish mother, Indian curry suits the professor well. His other interests include walking in the hills. And when you ask him if he wishes to walk in the Himalayas, he gasps: "That would be a bit too high for me." Maybe physically but certainly not in his mathematical mind.