-Jayant Narlikar
Text:
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Summary:
"The Adventure" by Jayant Narlikar is a story about Professor Gangadharpant Gaitonde and his strange experience.He most probably travelled to a separate realm of his own.
The story opened with the Professor travelling from Pune to Bombay via the Jijamata Express,a train which was faster than the Deccan Queen.
The train followed its due course and the Professor in the way met a man named 'Khan Sahib' who talked about his business and chatted about several things.He got off at Victoria Terminus and saw the East India House.
The professor was completely perplexed as according to him,the Britishers had long ago fled away after the incidents in 1857.
He loitered around and went to the Hornby road and noticed that the shops were different.He went to Home Street and inquired about Mr.Vinay Gaitonde who was supposed to be working there.But,no such man worked there.These revealations were quite surprising for him.He then went to the Town Hall which housed the library.He asked for some books and very carefully went through the volumes.He jotted down every major event in History and investigated them pretty thoroughly.
According to the fifth volume of "Bhausahebanchi Bakhar" ,he found that the Marathas had won the Battle of Panipat and spread their influence all over India.The professor was completely perplexed as all this was very different from what he knew.Finally,when the time came to close the library,the librarian told him to finish.Absent-mindedly,he shoved some notes and tne Bakhar into his pockets.
He found a guest house to spend the night and also had his supper.He then decided to walk towards the Azad Maidan where a lecture was being delivered.Upon reaching bear the pandal,he observed that the Presidential Chair was empty.The speaker was talking and the crowd was continuously moving hither and tither.A lecture was going on but he noticed something unusual that the presidential chair was empty.The speaker was talking and the crowd was listening.
He couldn't control himself and moved towards the stage and sat on the chair.The crowd was completely taken aback and asked him to get up and move away.The crowd was completely angered and asked him to get up and move away.He tried to talk to them but the crowd was in no mood of listening to him.They started hurling abuses at him at throwing eggs and tomatoes on him.Soon,the crowd pushed him away and soon he was nowhere to be seen.
Next,he woke up in a hospital bed and saw Rajendra in front of him.He narrated the entire sequence of incidents that took place and Rajendra Deshpande was completely amazed to hear all this.The professor was completely dumbfounded as to where he was and if he had been in a coma for the past 2 days.He could not identify where these incidents were taking place and whether all these things were real or not.
Rajendra explain to him that it happened because of two theories.The Catastrophe theory and the lack of determinism in Quantum theory. Catastrophe theory states that a small change in any situation can result in a shift in behaviour. In reality,the Marathas lost their leader Bhausaheb and Vishwarao and hence they lost the battle. But the professor read that the bullet was missed and Vishwarao was not dead. Gangadharpant showed Rajendra the torn page from the "Bakhar" book to which Rajendra told him that is realities can be different for different people.According to Deshpande, this was a catastrophic experience.
Rajendra further told him that in case of electrons, one cannot predict which path the electron takes at a point of time. He told Gaitonde that it is the lack of determinism in Quantum theory and explained to him what it meant. In one world, the electron may be found here and in another, it may be found in another different place.The position of the electron may be completely different. Once the observer knows about the correct placement of the electrons in every world, it might happen that an alternative world exists at the same time.
Hence, the professor was in two alternate worlds at the same time simultaneously. He had a real life experience in an alternative reality and he came back from another world. Both the world's completely had different histories and different set of events from the past.Rajendra also had the answers to the professor question as to why he was the one to make the transition. Rajendra asserted that at the time of the collision with the truck, the professor was thinking about the catastrophe theory and its role in the war. He was also simultaneously thinking about the battle of Panipat at that moment.This made the neurones in his brain act as a trigger which is why he made a transition.
Rajendra confidently told the professor that for the last two days,he was in a different realm!
Difficult Words:
1)Townships:A kindof human settlement associated with an urban area.
2)Terminus:The end of a railway or other transport route.
3)Parsees:Adherents of Zoroastrianism from Persia.
4)Directory:A book or web listing individuals thematically.
5)Blow-by-blow:An in-detailed account.
6)Avidly:With great interest or enthusiasm.
7)Expanisionist:An advocate of a policy of economic expansion.
8)Relegate:Assign an inferior rank or position to.
9)Acumen:Ability to make good judgements and quick decisions.
10)De Facto:Holding a specified position but not by legal right.
11)Astute:Sharp-witted.
12)Figurehead:A nominal leader without any power.
13)Doctored accounts:An account which is changed to deceive somebody.
14)"Bakhars":A form of historical narrative written in Marathi.
15)Frugal:Simple and plain.
16)Pandal:A fabricated temporary structure.
17)Sacrilege:Violation or misuse of what is regarded as sacred.
18)Melee:A confused fight or scuffle.
19)Inadvertently: Without any specific intention.
20)Rationalise:An attempt to explain or justify something.
21)Juncture:A particular point in events or time.
22)Rout:A disorderly retreat of defeated troops.
23)Impetus:Something which quickens an activity or process.
24)Manifestations:An event emboding something abstract.
25)Determinism:Everything is determined by previously existing causes.
26)Ignoramus:An ignorant or stupid person.
27)Trajectory:A path followed by a projectile.
28)Macroscopic:Anything visible to naked eye.
29)Transition:The process of changing from one state or condition.
30)Neurons:Nerve cells which are fundamental units of brain.
NCERT Questions:
A)Understanding the Text.
I)1)False
2)True
3)False
4)False
5)True
II)1)This statement was said by Rajendra Deshpande to Professor Gaitonde.The professor made a transition from one world to another and back again.By making a transition,he was able to experience two worlds although one at a time.
He neither travelled back in time nor formed in time.He was in the present experiencing a totally different realm.
2)The statement was said by Rajendra Deshpande to Gangadharpant.Gangadharpant has recently experienced a eerie transition.He had the brief experience of living in two worlds.
The one which he lived now and the one which he had been for two days.
3)Gangadharpant was an historian and knew the India which had seen the decline of the Peshwas and experienced the slavery of English people.But,the India he had seen in two days was completely different.It had not been subjected to slavery for the Whiteman but also self-dependent and enjoyed its self-respect.He compared the two realms and found both had different histories.
4)Professor Gaitonde had decided to go to a big librarary at Bombay and browse through history books.He would be able to know how the present state of affairs where reached. On his return to Pune, he had a long chat with Rajendra Deshpande as we hope that Rajendra would help him understood what had happened with him.
5) this statement was said by Rajendra Deshpande to professor Gaitonde. Rajendra wanted to explain that the interaction of the neurones in the professor's brain had led to such a transition very experienced two different realms.
B)Talking about the Text:
1)i)For:
A single event may completely turn the course of events in the history of a nation. This is rightly executed in the story 'The Adventure'. The protagonist experiences two completely different worlds where both of them had completely different history.This certainly proves that a single event from the past can completely change history.
Against:
It cannot be stated with certainty that a single event can change the course of history. This is a matter of perspective history is the systematic set of events occurring in the past. It is completely unfair to say that one single event can distort everything.There are many possible outcomes to an event.So,it is not fruitful at all that any single event is the reality.
ii)For:
Our senses helps us in awaring us of the facts about the world we live in. Knowledge from experience comes through these senses. The reality is what we experience through the senses. No other reality exists which is not revealed to the senses.
Against:
Reality is not exactly what is revealed to these senses. We don't see the interaction of many microscopic particles such as the kind of atoms and molecules. But these are real. We cannot predict the behaviour of these entities accurately.These proclamations prove that there may be alternate entities and realms existing simultaneously.
iii)For:
If we observe thoroughly, the methods of enquiry of History,Science and Philosophy are similar.
One can observe that the perspectives of History,Philosophy and Science converge towards a common point. All these disciplines have observation, analysis and rational approach towards their subject matter.
Against:
It is a misnomer the methods of enquiry of History,Science and Philosophy are similar. The similarity only stays at the surface but as we move to the core of these disciplines,we can easily discern that these are completely different from each other.
2)i)There is a big difference between the story "The Adventure" and the story "We're not Afraid to Die .... if We all can be together".The latter what's the story of a family stuck in between their voyage in the sea. The parents with their two children and crew members challenge the might of the ocean with their own seafaring skills and the determination to win. Their experience was actual and physical. But the adventure of Gangadharpant takes please in his imagination.This happens during the two days he remained unconscious after a collision.
ii)Professor gaitonde had a bitter experience, not actual but in imagination, at the public meeting in Azad Maidan. In the state of unconsciousness, he saw the presidential chair on the podium to be vacant. He was almost compelled to preside over the chair and started addressing the audience. The people unwilling to hear the remarks started hurling tomatoes, eggs as well as abusive at the professor who was finally made to leave the stage. That experience prompted Gangadharpant to never again preside over a seminar or meeting.
C)Thinking about Language.
1)Gangadharpant was a Maratha Khan Sahib was a Muslim.They must have conversed with each other in Hindi.But the professor must have also talked to the English receptionist in English.
2)"Bhausahebanchi Bakhar" was written in Marathi language most probably.
3)The Muslims book Urdu, the Marathas spoke Marathi whereas the Anglo-Indian usually conversed in Hindi and English.I think they must have used Hindi as their means of communication.
4)Yes,it is generally observed that rulers impose their language also on those who they rule. With the passage of time, there are people who adopt the language of the ruler,though with reluctance.
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