The Adventure

Jayant Narlikar

What is common among the following works of fiction?

• ‘1984’ by George Orwell
• ‘The war of the worlds’ by H G Wells;
• Frankenstein, or, The modern Prometheus by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
• Time Machine by H. G Wells
• Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

Science Fiction Movies�

• E.T., the Extra-Terrestrial by Steven Spielberg
• 2001: A Space Odyssey by Stanley Kubrick
• Men in Black 3 by Barry Sonnenfeld
• Planet of the Apes by Franklin J. Schaffner
• War of the Worlds by Steven Spielberg
• Blade Runner by Ridley Scott
• The Matrix by Wachowski brothers
• Jurassic Park by Steven Spielberg

What is science fiction?

• Science fiction is a genre of literature which combines science and fiction
• Science fiction’ s content is imaginative, but based in science. It relies heavily on scientific facts, theories, and principles as support for its settings, characters, themes, and plot-lines, which is what makes it different from fantasy.
• So, while the storylines and elements of science fiction stories are imaginary, they are usually possible according to science—or at least plausible.

Some sub genres of science fiction

• Alien invasion
• Alternate History
• Artificial intelligence
• Colonization
• Dystopia
• Hard science fiction
• Soft Science fiction
• Time Travel
• Utopia
• Nano technology
• Space exploration etc….

The Adventure

Born  19 July 1938 (age 77) Kolhapur, India (1938-07-19) �Institutions:  Cambridge University Tata Institute of Fundamental Research Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics�Alma mater:  Banaras Hindu University Cambridge University�Awards:  Padma Vibhushan, Padma Bhushan�Education:  University of Cambridge, Banaras Hindu University�Books:  The return of Vaman, introduction to cosmology, The lighter side of gravity, An Introduction to Relativity, Seven Wonders of the Cosmo�Similar People:  Fred Hoyle, Geoffrey Burbidge, Thanu Padmanabhan, Chandra Wickramasinghe, Jean‑Claude Pecker

The Adventure

PART 1

On July 19,1986 Professor Gangadharpant Gaitonde collides with a truck and vanishes into thin air

Prof. Gaitonde

• An eminent historian
• Has written massive tomes on Indian history
• Leading public figure
• Much in demand for presiding over public functions.
• Has presided over 999 functions
• Well established as leading orator in Pune.

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• Has decided that his thousandth appearance on the platform would be for history, his favourite subject.
• The occasion was two weeks hence at a seminar devoted to the Third Battle of Panipat

But what happened during 999^th appearance?

• Occasion – a seminar by the mathematics department of Poona University – a seminar on Catastrophe Theory.

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• But how should a professor of history be presiding at a mathematics seminar?

It came about this way.

• According to a mathematics professor, catastrophe theory is not mathematics.
• So they approached Gangadharpant

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• Catastrophe models real life situations involving sudden dramatic changes.

examples

• Cricket side collapses all of a sudden
• Mob gets out of control and runs amuck
• Share prices crash down unexpectedly
• Something happens to turn the tide in a battle

Battles?��

• What would have happened if some crucial battles had ended differently?

• Rajendra Deshpande a young research fellow who was an expert on catastrophe theory gives him some ideas and some articles to read.

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• Gangadharpant enjoyed the seminar and was looking forward to his thousandth occasion – the Panipat seminar, the third battle of Panipat

• He was making his way home thinking about the 1000^th seminar when the accident took place
• He didn’t hear the warning of the cleaner.
• The truck driver attempted a last minute swerve but could not avoid a glancing blow.

• The driver and the cleaner had a momentary glimpse of the professor before the collision. They searched thoroughly. But they could not locate the professor either below the truck or on the sides
• He simply vanished into thin air

• Sixty hours after this event Professor Gaitonde reappeared in Bombay’s Azad Maidan.

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• He was lying on the grass with torn clothes and empty pockets.
• Passers by had gathered around him.
• Someone in the crowd recognized him as the history professor who disappeared three days ago
• But Gangadharpant could not remember anything

• He managed to remember his son Vinay Gaitonde worked in Bombay. He was contacted. He came, identified his father and took him home.

• A doctor examined him and found him essentially unharmed except for a few bruises
• A famous psychiatrist probed his mind and found it blank for those 60 hours.
• The professor could not remember anything
• Proud of his extraordinary memory found this extremely disconcerting

• How could he forget everything that happened to him in those 60 hours?
• Could he find the answer in Bombay?
• But Pune was beckoning him, he had not forgotten the next seminar he had to preside over – 1000^th
• He booked a seat on the Deccan �Queen the next afternoon

• At Karjat station, put his hand in the inner pocket for money to buy vadas and took out his wallet. His hand felt a piece of paper. He extracted the paper. It was the torn page of an old book

• He found the page familiar and soon regained his memory

• ‘Nobody will believe my story’

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• Is this paper factual history or fiction?

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• ?

As the train reached Shivajinagar station, Professor Gaintonde made two resolutions

1. to see Rajendra Deshpande; only he could elucidate this mystery

2. he would not chair any function ever including panipat seminar

What lay behind this historic decision

The third person account of what Gangadharpant told Rajendra Deshpande

• Lost consciousness when the truck struck him a glancing blow
• He found himself on hospital bed.
• Vishwasrao Peshve Hospital, Veshwasrao Peshve Marg , Pune

Gangadharpant had not heard the names of the Hospital and the road.

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When he said he was walking along the Senapati Bapat marg when the truck hit him, the nurse could not recognise this name.

• The doctor could not recognize Gangadharpant who was famous historian and professor.
• When Gangadharpant reveals his address Varun Housing Society, behind Fergusson College, the nurse and the doctor seem unaware of the famous college in Pune.
• The doctor suspects that Gangadharpant suffers from mental relapse

• Many things the doctor revealed puzzled Gangadharpant.

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• Doctor found Gangadharpant’s history books rather tedious especially the minute details in the regimes of 17 peshwas and 20 Mughal emperors. The figures puzzled Gangadharpant
• The doctor said the date that day was Ashadh Shukla Charurdashi, Shaka 1908 in Pune, and July 20, 1986 in Bombay; Why two calender puzzled him. But the date is correct. One night has elapsed since his accident

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• The next day he was examined and found perfectly alright.
• The doctor offered to drop him

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• The hospital looked different
• The car model was ‘Chakravarti’, the most common model

Introduction by Dr.

• The doctor’s name is Arvind Modak
• He says he stays near Swargate.
• Gangardharpant knew this place so well.
• He asked Dr. Modak to drop him at the ST stand.
• Dr. Modak had not heard of it.
• ST stands for State Transport Buses run by Maharashtra. But according to the doctor, the buses are run by private companies and they run from the railway station.

• Dr. suspects Gangadharpant of mental aberrations and thinks of recommending him to see a psychiatrist.

The thoughts of Gangardharpant

• The accident changed the environment around him
• The date and place had not changed but the city of Pune and the inhabitants had
• Probably the changed extended to beyond Pune to the whole of India – he had to find out

• Gangadharpant asks the doctor to drop him at Shanivar-Wada.
• Luckily for him, such a place exists

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The imposing walls of the Shaniwar Wada, in an 1860 photograph.

Doctor’s apology

• Apologies on his remarks about Gangadharpant’s books
• The background for making these remarks: In high school they had a series of books written by his namesake. 4 volumes of intricate details; relieved that the author’s untimely death spared us the fifth and final volume.

• Gangadharpant had written a five volume Concise History of India, but the author Dr. Modak mentioned was dead.
• Dr. Modak also reveals the name of the series Concise History of India
• Gangadharpant doubts if he has travelled 25 years to 30 years in the future but finds that he lives in the present ‘Ashadh Purnima, Shaka 1908.

Shanivar Wada

• The guardsmen in old uniform -not the rehearsal of a play
• They are changed at regular intervals just like the guard at Bunckingham palace.
• The Shanivar Wada stood before him in all its glory reminiscent of the times of Bajirao I who built it

• Since he was already dead in this world where will he go now?
• He decided to go to Bombay where his son worked with a firm called Forbes & Campbel Company
• Dr. Modak confirms that such a firm exists
• He offers to take the professor to the railway station and help him board Jijamata Express

• Dr. Modak replaces 10 rupee notes with the ‘real ones’ These notes carried the picture of Kutub Minar and inscription “As the treasurer of the Shahenshah of India I promise to pay the bearer of this note the sum of 10 rupees’. The main inscription was not in English but in Hindustani

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• At the railway station, Dr. Modak took him first to an office which was simply labelld ‘Permits for Bombay’
• They need a permit to go to that British outpost.
• Then the ticket

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• Gangadharpant thanks Dr. Mokak profusely

• The décor inside the carriage of Jijamata Express was far superior to that of the Deccan Queen
• His fellow passengers included two whites and one bearded Muslim gentleman.
• The Muslim gentleman said he was going to Peshawar
• To Peshawar via Bombay.
• Is it difficult to get a passport to go to Peshawar?
• Khan Sahib replied that one needs no passport to travel in ones own country.

Questions???�

• So Peshawar was in India, but Bombay belonged to the British
• Who was this shahenshah of India?
• Why was Pune so changed/
• Was this an epoch in the past because the Shanivar Wada was still in its full glory and the British had not left the subcontinent?

• Gangadharpant glanced a the Bombay Times held up by the white man facing him
• The date on it confirmed that it was July 21, 1986

PART 2

The Adventure an overview

• Professor Gangadhar Pant Gaitonde finds himself in a strange world.
• No doubt he is in Pune, but the facts do not agree with history.
• He decides to go to Bombay and consult history books.
• Bombay is not what he expected to find it. East India Company is still ruling there. According to the history known to him, the East India Company was wound up just after the events of 1857. He goes to the library and finds the answer.
• The events took a different course after the battle of Panipat. The Marathas had won the battle, not lost it. 
• Rajendra Deshpande rationalizes Gangadharpant’s experience with the help of two scientific theories , catastrophe theory and lack of determinism in quantum theory.

The Adventure – an overview

• Professor Gaitonde: Professor Gaitonde, a historian is going to give a lecture on the implications of Catastrophe Theory in the Third Battle of Panipat. On the way his car collides with a truck and he goes into coma. In his unconscious state, he experiences another world where history is different from how we know in the real world. In the Third Battle of Panipat, Afghans defeated Marathas killing their leader Viswas Rao. But in the parallel world, Marathas win the war as Viswas Rao escapes narrowly from the bullet. The victory of Marathas brings about diverse changes and reforms in the country. He gains consciousness and his friend Rajendra Deshpande rationalizes his strange experience on the basis of two scientific theories, viz. Catastrophe Theory and the lack of determinism in Quantum Theory. 

The Parallel world

Professor Gaitonde is on his way to Bombay from Pune.

The stations en route

• Lonavala
• Karjat no change
• Kalyan
• Sarhad an Anglo-Indian un uniform went

through train checking

permits

Dadar

Victoria Terminus - The destination

Khan Sahib’s journey and what it signifies

• Bombay to Delhi
• Delhi to Lahore
• Lahore to Peshvar

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India in the parallel world is undivided and free from the bloody legacy of partition

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The East India Company - alive and flourishing

• In his familiar world, the East India company had been wound up after the events of 1857.
• In the parallel world, the imposing building of East India House, the Headquarter of the company proves it is alive and flourishing.

So Peshvar is in India but Bombay is under the control of the British

His enquiries about his son

No such man worked in the firm

His investigations at the Town Hall

• Volume 1 - Ashoka
• Volume 2 -Samudragupta
• Volume 3 - Mohammed Ghori
• Volume 4 - Aurangazeb

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• The last volume ------- changes observed

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History as he knew it

The precise moment of history

• The Battle of Panipat
• Marathas won it handsomely
• Abdali was routed and chased back to Kabul
• The triumphant Maratha army was led by Sadashivrao Bhau and his nephew the young Vishwasrao

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The consequences for the power struggle in India

• Victory
• a great moral booster to the Marathas
• Established their supremacy in northern India.
• Made the East India Company shelve its expansionist programme.
• The company was reduced to pockets of influence near Bombay, Calcutta and Madras like other Europeans

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• The peshwas kept the puppet Mughal regime alive in Delhi.
• Set up their own centres of science and technology
• Took aid and experts from The East India Company to make the local centres self sufficient

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Twentieth Century Reforms

• India moved towards a democracy

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• Peshwas were gradually replaced by democratically elected bodies.

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• Sultanate at Delhi survived even this transition. Shahenshah of Delhi was the figurehead to rubber-stamp the ‘recommendations’ of the Central government
• Marathas allowed the British to retain Bombay as the sole outpost till 2001

How did the Marathas win the Battle?

The one that gave him the clue

Bhausahebanchi Bakhar

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It describes how Vishwasrao came close to being killed. A bullet missed him.

The closing time of the library

When the closing time for the library arrived, the professor shoved some notes into his right pocket. Absent-mindedly shoved the Bakhar into his left pocket.

Azad Madan incident

• During his stroll , he reaches the Azad Maidan where a lecture is going on.
• The absence of chairman for the meeting grabs his attention
• The crowd does not want one
• The professor protests
• He gets on to the stage, snatches the mike and starts speaking
• The crowd throws him out and he is lost on the crowd
• The Professor’s strange experience ends

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Rajendra’s explanation

• Rajendra explains the bizarre experience of the Professor on the basis of two scientific theories, viz. Catastrophe Theory and the lack of determinism in Quantum theory.

• Catastrophe theory states that a small change in circumstance can bring sudden shift in behavior. If we apply this theory to the battle of Panipat, we can find that there was a crucial moment when the Marathas lost both their leaders-Viswas Rao and Bhausaheb. So, the Marathas lost their morale and lost the battle.

• But in the parallel world Prof. Gaitonde saw the bullet missing Viswas Rao and Marathas winning the battle. A crucial event gone other way can change the course of history (the bullet missing/hitting the leader). The Professor produced a torn page of Bhausahebanchi bakhar from his pocket. The bullet hitting Viswas rao was the catastrophic incident in the battle.

• The present state of affairs has been reached because of such catastrophic incidents in history. We can apply this theory to any other battle or historical incident and see how history takes a different turn

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Lack of determinism in Quantum theory

The behaviour of electrons orbiting the nucleus in an atom cannot be predicted. There are different states of energy-higher and lower. It can make a jump from high to low energy level and send out a pulse of radiation or a pulse of radiation can knock it out of state no.2 to state no. 1. The transitions are common in microscopic systems. If it happened on a macroscopic level, it could be an interesting food for thought.

• Professor Gaitonde made a transition from the world we live in to a parallel world. One world has the history we know, the other a different history. He neither travelled to the past nor to the future. He was in the present but experiencing a different world. At the time of the collision with the truck, he was thinking about the catastrophe theory and its implications in war. He was probably pondering about the battle of Panipat. Perhaps the neurons in his brain acted as a trigger.

Like the electron jumping from one state to another, he made a jump from this world to the parallel world. Any catastrophic situation will provide various alternatives for us to proceed. But only one can be accepted by us at one time as we live in a  unique world with a unique history.

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But why did he make such a transition? An interaction is must for any such transition. The collision and the thoughts at that moment brought it about.

Will Gangadharpant recount his real life experience in the seminar rather than just speculating?

No,he would never again preside at public functions .

He has conveyed his regrets to the organisers of the panipat seminar