Hornbill

The Portrait of a Lady

The author briefly describes how his grandmother used to look when he was a child.
He describes her appearance to be typical of most grandmothers – she was an old,
wrinkled woman. Although he had learned from people that his grandmother had
been pretty in her younger days when she had a husband, he found it hard to
believe. He then adds that he regarded his grandfather as someone who could not
have a wife or children but could have only many grandchildren.

The author had seen his grandmother as an old lady since he was born. He found it
against his nature to imagine his grandmother as a young woman – just like he could
not believe her accounts of childhood when she used to play games. He could not
come to terms with his grandmother being a pretty woman, but he always thought
she was beautiful. He compares her to a winter landscape in the mountains –
serenely white with her white outfits and silver hair. He found her to be the epitome
of peace and contentment.

The author now tells us about the dynamics of his relationship with his grandmother
over the years. As a child, his grandmother took care of him since his parents were
in the city trying to earn a better life. His grandmother used to wake him up and
prepare him for school. They used to go to the school together as it was attached to
the temple. He attended classes while his grandmother read scriptures inside the
temple. After school, his grandmother would feed stale chapattis to the village dogs,
who would follow them home, fighting for the chapattis.

There came a turning point in the author’s life when his parents called him and his
grandmother to the city where they had finally settled down. The author started
attending an English school, and his grandmother no longer accompanied him to
school. There were no dogs in the streets, so she fed sparrows. Their relationship
began to change. She would ask him about his school, and he would tell her about
the different concepts of western science and learning. The grandmother could not
help him with these kinds of lessons at school. It made her unhappy. She became
more disturbed to know that there were no lessons on God, and that music lessons
were given at school. She became less friendly towards the author after learning
this.

When the author went to the university, the friendship between him and his
grandmother was broken. He stayed at the university, and his grandmother spent her
days sitting at her spinning wheel, followed by afternoons when she would feed the
sparrows. When the author decided to go abroad for further education, he expected
his grandmother to be upset about it. But to his surprise, she was not. Instead, she
accompanied him to the station to see him off and said goodbye with a silent prayer
and a kiss on his forehead. He had imagined this to be his last physical meeting with
his grandmother.

After five years, when the author returned, he found his grandmother looking the
same as she used to years ago – not a day older. She welcomed him with a silent
prayer and did not talk. Her happiest moment on the first day of his arrival was
during the afternoon she spent with the sparrows. In the evening, she collected some
women from the neighbourhood and sang songs about the homecoming of warriors.
The author and his family persuaded her to stop, so she did not overstrain herself.

The next morning the author’s grandmother fell ill with a mild fever. While the doctor
informed them that it would subside quickly, she was sure that her end was near.
She expressed her desire to pray rather than talk to them since she was left with
only a few hours of her life. Although the author and his family were reluctant, she
paid them no heed. After some moments of praying, she passed away. The family
mourned, and she was covered with a red shroud as was customary. Everyone went
ahead to prepare for her funeral, and when they returned to her room to take her
body away for cremation, they saw hundreds of sparrows scattered around her from
her bedroom to the verandah.

Everyone felt sorry about the sparrows, and the author’s mother tried to feed some
bread crumbs to the sparrows, but they did not seem to notice the food. When his
grandmother was carried away, the sparrows flew away quietly.
A Photograph
The poet describes a photograph framed on cardboard. It is an old photograph of her
mother from when she was young and had gone paddling at sea. It shows her
mother with two other girls who are her cousins. She is twelve years old in that
picture. She is the eldest of the three, and each of the two younger siblings is holding
her hand. They seem to stand still so the photographer can click a good photograph
of the three.

The poet gives us a detailed description of how her mother’s face looked in the
photograph. The wind had ruffled her hair along with her cousins’. She finds her
mother’s face to be sweet. She refers to the simplicity and innocence on her
mother’s face as she posed for the photograph. The poet emphasises that this
photograph of her mother’s belonged to an era before she was born – when her
mother was just a young girl.

The background of the photograph was the sea. It washed the feet of her mother and
her cousins. She uses the word ‘transient’ to describe their feet, which are in the
process of growth, washed away by the sea, which does not seem to have changed
at all. It seemed to retain a look and charm of its own, implying that no matter how
old or young one is, the sea does not seem different to anyone. The poet is trying to
contrast the ageing of her mother with the unchanging nature of the sea.

Some twenty or thirty years later, when the poet becomes a part of her mother’s life,
she is shown the same photograph. Her mother laughs with fond reminiscences of
the past. She points out her cousins Betty and Dolly in the picture and comments on
how they are all dressed for that particular outing. The poet mentions to the reader
that the photograph has become her mother’s past, while the memory of her
mother’s laugh is now the poet’s own past. Her mother passed away long back. The
poet remembers her mother with a sad longing for the past.

In the last stanza, the poet reveals her mother’s death had taken place twelve years
ago – just like the age of her young self in the photograph. This realisation is painful
for the poet, and the only reaction that manifests at this moment is that of silence.
The silence also refers to the absence of her mother’s laughter from her life. And in a
way, it also points at the silence of the image in the photograph. This silence hurts
her deeply, and she is at a loss for words to explain her emotional state.

“We’re Not Afraid to Die if We Can All Be Together”

The narrator describes a particular part of his journey in the southern Indian Ocean.
He is chronological in his approach towards the narration. He and his wife Mary and
their two children, Jonathan and Suzanne, who were 6 and 7 years of age,
respectively, started their journey from Plymouth with an estimated journey of three
years in July 1976. The first part of their 1,05,000-kilometre-long journey went
smoothly until they reached Cape Town. From there, they hired two crewmen – Larry
Vigil and Herb Seigler to help them tackle the rough sea of the southern Indian
Ocean.

As they sailed out of Cape Town, they started to experience gales which blew
continuously for the next few weeks. The narrator was not bothered as much about
the gales as he was about the waves. He found them to be alarmingly high – almost
as high as their main mast. By December 25th, they were 3500 kilometres east of
Cape Town. Despite the rough weather, they celebrated Christmas with joy and
pomp. The rough weather continued till the new year and resisted change further on.

On the evening of 2nd January, there came an ominous silence – with no wind and a
big roar, what sounded like thunder turned out to be a big wave that wreaked havoc
on the ship. The narrator was wounded in the process, and so was Suzanne. As the
ship was about to capsize, another wave hurled her upright. The author asked his
wife to handle the wheel while he went to fix the damaged starboard to prevent water
from entering the ship. This problem was accompanied by other issues like blocked
hand pumps and a short circuit in the electric pump. The narrator and his crew spent
the whole night pumping, steering and working on the radio to issue Mayday calls.
Suzanne’s injury on her head had worsened.

The next morning the water level in the ship was under control, and while looking for
a leak below the water level, the narrator found the ship’s main rib frames smashed
to the keel. It was evident that the ship would not hold together till Australia. They
decided to reach Ile Amsterdam – a small island a few hundred kilometres to the
east. On January 4th, after 36 hours of pumping, the water level in the ship had
come down to a few centimetres. Owing to the severely damaged condition of the
ship, they hoisted the storm jib instead of the main mast and headed towards the
island.

Clouds started to form around 4 p.m. in the evening again. A storm started within the
next hour and continued for the next whole day. When the narrator went to comfort
his children, Jonathan asked him if they were going to die. The narrator assured him
that they could make it through the storm. To this, Jonathan responded that they
would not be scared to die alone. This response rendered the narrator speechless. It
strengthened his resolve to survive in the face of nature’s calamity.

On 6th January, the storm receded, and the wind was at ease. The narrator was
working in the chartroom trying to calculate the wind speeds, drift, currents, etc.
when his daughter Suzanne came up to him with a card she had made herself. She
expressed her love for her parents in it. The narrator felt energetic on a new level to
look for a survival strategy. Around 2 p.m., he asked Larry to steer a course of 185
degrees, hoping they found the island and went for a nap in his bunking bed.

He was awakened at 6 p.m. by Suzanne, who wanted to hug him. When he asked
her why she wanted to hug him, Suzanne informed him that he had found the island
and was the world’s best daddy and captain. They anchored offshore for the night
and were welcomed by the island’s inhabitants in the morning. As he stepped onto
the island, he found himself grateful to Larry, Herbie, his wife and his two children,
who were brave in the face of danger and were not afraid to die.

Discovering Tut: The Saga Continues

The author talks about the day when the mummy of Tut was put under a CT scanner.
It was arranged to find out the reasons behind the pharaoh’s untimely death more
than 3,300 years ago. It was 6 p.m. in the evening on the 5th of January, 2005. It
was a cloudy atmosphere with strong winds creating dust devils as Tut’s mummy
was taken out from his cemetery in the Valley of the Kings. The afternoon saw the
usual tourist traffic that came to pay respects to the dead pharaoh. Most tourists
pondered over the sudden death of the pharaoh in his teens, while others wondered
if the pharaoh’s curse of death or misfortune on those who disturbed him was true.

As the mummy was brought out, the Secretary General of Egypt’s Supreme Council
of Antiquities, Zahi Hawass, observed that it was in a miserable state due to what
Carter did to it in the 1920s. Howard Carter was a British archaeologist who
discovered Tut’s tomb in 1922 after many years of futile searching. Carter went
through the contents in hurry and carelessness. The discovery of Tut’s tomb by
Carter made it the richest royal collection to be ever found. The excitement that
followed the discovery of the stunning artefacts of gold, buried along with the
pharaoh to ensure a resurrection, still lingers today.

Carter took months to record the pharaoh’s funerary treasures. Then he went on to
investigate the three nested coffins. The first one had a shroud adorned with leaves
and flowers, indicating a burial that took place in March or April. When Carter
reached the mummy, he saw that Tut’s body was cemented to the bottom of his gold
coffin because of the ritual resins. He tried to separate the body from the coffin by
putting it in the sun. It did not work. So, Carter had to chisel the body away from the
coffin’s surface. The author defends Carter for this act, saying that if Carter had not
done that, thieves would have ripped Tut’s mummy apart for gold.

The author talks about the use of computed tomography, which can create a
three-dimensional virtual body during scanning with the help of X-rays. Forty years
after the investigation by Howard Carter, an anatomy professor X-rayed the mummy
to reveal that the pharaoh’s breast bone and front ribs were missing. The CT scan
helped reveal two very important questions about Tut’s death – how he died and how
old he could have been during the time of his death. Amenhotep III – Tut’s father or
grandfather – had ruled for almost four decades, after which he was succeeded by
his son Amenhotep IV. The latter promoted the worship of Aten, or the sun disk, and
changed his name to Akhenaten. He moved the capital from Thebes to the new city
of Akhenaten – formerly known as Amarna. He shocked the people by attacking a
major god named Amun.

After Akhenaten, a new ruler named Smenkhare appeared and ruled for a brief
period of time. Young Tut sat on the throne after him. He changed his name to
Tutankhamun or the ‘living image of Amun’ and restored the old ways. He ruled for
nine years and died an unexpected death.

While scanning, an eerie detail was found in the resulting image of Tut’s head. The
scanner stopped functioning twenty minutes into the scanning process due to the
presence of sand in a cooler fan. A guard joked nervously that it could be a curse of
the pharaoh. Two plastic fans were brought in to finish the scanning process. The
pharaoh was put back in his place within less than three hours of scanning. A
technician pulled up images of the pharaoh on a computer screen. Everything
seemed anatomically correct. Zahi Hawass felt relieved. He was not able to sleep
the previous night because he was worried about discovering some terrible reason
behind Tut’s death.

By the time the author and his team left, they found the cold winter air still and quiet.
They could see the constellation of Orion above the entrance of Tut’s tomb.
According to the Egyptians, Orion is the soul of Osiris – the god of the afterlife. It
seemed to watch over the boy king.

The Laburnum Top

The Laburnum Top is a poem to be relished through its active imagery. The name
itself presents a picture of hanging yellow flowers that relaxes our mind and takes us
to the world of nature’s beauty.

The poet talks about an afternoon in autumn. The laburnum tree is standing still.
There are no particular movements in its branches, flowers or leaves. The afternoon
sun shines upon the tree. The yellow sunlight seems to intensify the aura of the
yellow laburnum tree. Along with the bountiful growth of yellow flowers on the tree,
the leaves are also yellow since it is autumn. All the seeds have fallen down.

This peaceful silence is interrupted by the arrival of a goldfinch. Its arrival causes
some activity in the tree. There are sounds of chirrups, and one end of a branch
seems to come alive with brisk movements. It is as if someone startled the quiet,
meditating tree. The goldfinch, with her lizard-like swift movements, enters the
rustling end of the branch. Her movement is alert and abrupt as if she knows exactly
where to go and what her objectives are. Her entry into the branch end livens up her
birdlings in the nest. They chitter and trill with joy, and there are vibrations caused by
their fluttering wings. The whole laburnum tree trembles with this series of events.
The chittering birdlings and the vibrant laburnum tree are like the engine of her
family.

The poet uses the word ‘stokes’ to refer to the goldfinch’s merry encounter with her
family that brings the silent laburnum tree to life as well. After a duration of content
uniting with her family in the laburnum branch, she goes to another branch playfully.
Her face is visible now. Goldfinch birds generally have patches or stripes across their
faces. Hence, her face looks like a mask covering her true identity. It can also be
interpreted as her barred face providing her with some sort of distinctive identity.

Next, we can see her making delicate whistling sounds. Her sounds sound like
delicate chirrups, also. After lingering around the tree for some time whistling and
chirruping, the goldfinch flies away. The poet uses the word ‘infinite’ to denote the
goldfinch flying far away into the sky. It also denotes the long duration of her
absence from the tree.

The laburnum tree returns to its initial state of rest and calm.

The Voice of the Rain

The poet talks to a soft shower – the rain, asking it about its identity, and the rain,
strangely, seemed to reply to his query. It replies that it is a ‘Poem of Earth’. It
describes its identity through poetic lines that capture the beauty of its idea of a
being – a being that explains how the earth functions with its help.

It appears incorporeal to humans and other life forms as it travels from the land and
the deep sea towards heaven. Here, ‘heaven’ is nothing but a metaphor for the sky.
Since the sky looks peaceful and denotes endless possibilities of an outer world,
people generally consider heaven to be in a direction towards the sky. After this
travel to heaven in an incorporeal form, the rain takes a different form. It is vague in
nature – it looks different, but its core changed. It is the same rain as before – the
‘Poem of Earth’.
The rain descends down to the earth from the skies and washes the droughts, tiny
particles and dust that accumulates over things in the absence of rain. This bountiful
pouring of water by the rain leads to the creation of life. The rain explains that before
it poured upon the earth, all kinds of life – small and big – were like seeds with the
potential to give birth waiting for the optimum conditions.

The rain continuously repeats this process of travelling back to heaven after it
nourishes the earth with water. This cycle never stops, and the rain calls itself a
creator of its own origin. It adds beauty and purity to itself by repeating this process.
There is no stop to this event, and it will continue forever.

The rain compares its process of continuous regeneration to the way a song returns
to its origin. A song originates at a particular place but spreads worldwide through its
singers and listeners. Bits and pieces of the lyrics and tones might change in due
course of its journey, but it retains its identity all the same. It returns to its origin in
the form of love and appreciation received from listeners worldwide. The journey of
the rain on earth resembles this phenomenon closely.

The Ailing Planet

Nani Palkhivala compares the Green Movement to an extraordinary revolutionary
concept that captured the imagination of human beings quickly and entirely. It started
more than twenty-five years ago, in 1972, when the first nationwide Green party was
founded in New Zealand. Humans have adopted a more holistic and ecologically
sensitive perspective of the world, abandoning the narrow mechanical view of the
previous centuries. The author calls this a change as big as Copernicus’ discovery
that the planets, including the earth, actually revolved around the sun.

This consciousness helps us to view the world as an enormous living organism that
has metabolic needs and vital life processes. We are like the parts of this being. The
earth’s vital signs show the earth as a patient whose health is declining. With the
initiative of the Green movement, a number of reformative elements showed up –
like the concept of sustainable development that talks about meeting present needs
without compromising the needs of future generations.
To remind us of the damages inflicted by human activities on the environment, Nani
cites an example of a cage in a zoo in Zambia. A notice placed before it reads
‘world’s most dangerous animal’. Placed inside it is a mirror in which we can see
ourselves! He says that man shares the planet with other 1.4 million living species.
Apart from these, the author also states that there might be another three to hundred
million unnamed living species on earth. He discusses the roles of famous
personalities in awakening our consciousness towards the preservation of the
environment. Mr L.K. Jha – a renowned Indian member of the Brandt commission,
which dealt with ecological issues – had questioned the indifference of the present
generation towards environmental issues. The First Brandt report warned that future
generations might have to deal with a scorched planet full of deserts.

Mr Lester Brown pointed out in his book The Global Economic Prospect that
fisheries, forests, grasslands and croplands form the foundation of the global
economic system. Human needs and demands impose ungrateful claims on these
areas that not only lead to the depletion of these systems but also endanger the
various living species that are part of these habitats. The author quotes Dr Meyers,
who claimed that the tropical forest is the powerhouse of evolution, to condemn the
rapid extinction of several living species.

On the topic of forest depletion, the author provides an alarming figure – forty to fifty
million acres of forest land is lost every year. The World Bank had estimated that
there is a need for a five-fold increase in the rate of forest planting to cope with the
expected fuelwood demand in 2000. Nani Palkhivala now comes to the reasons
behind these horrific outcomes in the environment with respect to India. He points
out that laws are never respected in India. Even though Article 48A of the
Constitution of India mandates the protection and improvement of forests and
wildlife, a recent report by the Parliament Estimates Committee presented forest
depletion in our country happening at an alarming rate of 3.7 million acres a year.
But, the actual loss of forests has been found to be eight times the rate indicated by
government statistics.

The author points out that another reason for the environmental tragedies around us
is population growth. He presents a brief account of exponential growth in population
– the present rate of increase being one million people per day. Nani calls education
the best contraceptive as it leads to a fall in fertility with a rise in incomes. Education
also leads to improvement in health. He claims that humans cannot be simply
sterilised like cattle to lessen the growth, but a certain element of coercion is
necessary to regularise voluntary family planning. The population of India, as
estimated in 1994, was 920 million, which was equal to the combined population of
Africa and South America at that time. The author cites this reference to argue that
people in India will die if population control is not given top priority.

The author seems to notice a keen interest in promoting the survival of not only
people but also the planet on which they live for the first time in history. He reckons
this new vision to bring in the Era of Responsibility – looking at the world as an
integral whole rather than as a collection of dissociated parts. He concludes the
chapter by quoting Mr Edgar S. Woolward, who took responsibility for excellent
environmental performance as a leading manufacturer in the industry. During her
tenure as the British Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher said that no generation had a
freehold on this earth. Lester Brown had recognised the world as a place borrowed
by us from our children and not as a legacy of our forefathers.

Childhood
The poet laments the loss of his childhood in his poem ‘Childhood.’ He tries to recall
the exact time when he lost the pure joys of childhood. The poet lends voice to his
meandering thoughts on this sense of loss through the poem. The way he repeats
the question, ‘When did my childhood go?’ accentuates his longing for something
precious he lost in his journey to adulthood. Throughout the poem, he shares various
thoughts and emotions connected with its main theme – the loss of innocence.

The poet wonders why and when he lost his childhood. He imagines he could have
lost it when he turned twelve. He is quoting this certain stage of life because the start
of the twelfth year usually marks the beginning of adolescence, which further leads
to youthhood and adulthood. He cites this as one possible reason for his loss. But
his musings do not stop here. He says he probably lost the innocence of his
childhood when he learned that hell and heaven were not real. He never learned
about these concepts in the Geography lessons at school and hence, stopped
believing in them.
People generally form stereotypes about certain things that feed their thinking and
imagination. He remembered how he viewed an adult when he was a child. He
viewed them as caring, understanding and responsible individuals. His beliefs were
shattered when he discovered that adults were also capable of being uncaring,
inconsiderate and ignorant of other people’s pain and suffering. This is a turning
point in his life, and he cites it as an event that was responsible for his transition into
an adult from a child.

The poet rues the loss of his childhood again. This time, he mentions self-realisation
as the reason behind it. He blames the day when he knew that he had a mind of his
own – the day he realised that he was unique as an individual and could think and
create on his own terms and choices. He learned that he was capable of producing
thoughts and decisions that were completely his own. No one could have any control
or authority over his thoughts, memories or experiences.

Finally, the poet concludes that his childhood is irretrievably lost. He comes to terms
with the fact that the innocence he seeks can be found only in the happy face of an
infant. Once we are exposed to the knowledge and reality of the world, we lose the
innocent way of viewing the world as a wonderful place with endless possibilities.

The Adventure
The story starts with Gangadharpant Gaitonde – a history professor exploring a
different world, searching for answers to some questions that had altered his
understanding of the past and present. He was travelling to Bombay on the Jijamata
Express. He had made a plan – researching by studying some books at a library and
returning to Pune to talk to Rajendra Deshpande about his findings. He knew
Rajendra Deshpande would help him solve his queries. However, Professor
Gaitonde was also uncertain about the existence of his friend Rajendra Deshpande
in this world. As he came out of the station in Bombay, he was shocked to find the
headquarters of The East India Company alive and flourishing – which according to
historical records, was supposed to be wound up after the events of 1857. He
reasoned that the time period could be one of those before 1857. He decided to find
out. Meanwhile, when he went to see his son at the Forbes building, the English
receptionist informed him that there was no employee named Vinay Gaitonde in the
building. Gangadgarpant was further shocked. He guessed that there was no reason
for his son to be alive if he himself was dead in this world. Maybe his son was not
born at all.

Professor Gaitonde found a library at the Town Hall and asked the librarian to
provide him with a list of History books, including the ones he had written. As he
went through the books, he looked for the point where history had taken a different
turn. Contrary to common knowledge, the contents of this book presented the
outcome of the Battle of Panipat as the Marathas winning over the army of Abdali.
As he read on, Professor Gaitonde noticed that the writing style was unmistakably
his, but the content was completely new to him. The victory established the
supremacy of the Marathas in Northern India, and the East India Company decided
to put a halt to its expansionist agendas.

His book in the new world talked about Vishwarao, the new Maratha ruler, and his
brother Madhavrao using their political acumen and valour to expand their control all
over India. They had made developments in the fields of Science and Technology
with the help of the East India Company. India had become a democracy by the
twentieth century, and the position of the Shahenshah at Delhi was diminished to a
figurehead to rubber-stamp the recommendations made by the central parliament.
He went through another book by Bhausahebanchi Bakhar that talked about the
Battle of Panipat in a graphic manner. It talked about how a bullet had missed
Vishwarao, hence, changing the original course of history as we know it. The
librarian reminded Professor Gaitonde that it was time to leave the library. Gaitonde
put the book of Bakhar into his left pocket absent-mindedly when he was putting
some notes into his right pocket.

Gaitonde found a guest house to stay in, and after having a frugal meal, went out for
a stroll towards the Azad Maidan. In the maidan, he found that a pandal was
organised for a speaker. He noticed that the presidential chair was unoccupied. He
went to occupy the seat, and the audience revolted against his action. When he went
to reason with them by talking about the importance of a speaker on a presidential
chair, the audience grew furious and removed him from the stage by themselves.
The next scene shows Gangadharpant talking to his friend Rajendra Deshpande.
The latter asked Gaitonde what he was doing before he hit the truck and had an
accident. Gaitonde replied that he was thinking about the catastrophe theory and its
implications on history. Rajendra smiled, and Gaitonde explained that it was not his
mind playing tricks on him. To prove it, Gaitonde took out a piece of paper from his
pocket. It was a page torn from the book of Bakhar that he had accidentally slipped
into his left pocket. It talked about how a bullet had missed Vishwarao and how this
event was interpreted as a good omen by the Martha army that led to their victory.
Gaitonde then took out his own copy of Bakhar, which showed Vishwarao getting hit
by a bullet.

He went into a deep state of thought and finally told Gaitonde that he would try to
solve this catastrophic experience of the latter using two scientific theories. Rajendra
pointed out that the page that talked about Vishwarao’s victory presented a crucial
event gone the other way. He now started connecting the events to a scientific
theory. Reality is not only about things that we can perceive through our senses. It
could have other manifestations as well. It is not easy to predict the nature of
systems comprising atoms and their constituent particles, even if all the governing
principles are known. In different world pictures, an electron might be present at
different positions. Once we find the position of the electron, we can easily determine
which world it is. At the same time, interestingly, alternative worlds with the electron
in different positions can also exist.

Moreover, transitions happen in systems with electrons and their constituents. An

electron may cause radiation while transiting from a higher state of energy to a lower
state of energy. Rajendra speculated that this kind of behaviour could also happen at
a macroscopic level. An astonished Gangadharpant asked Rajendra if it was
possible that he had travelled to one world and returned to his original one. Rajendra
explained that catastrophic situations offer radically different alternatives for the
world to proceed, but the observer can experience only one at a time. Gaitonde had
made a transition to another world where he stayed for two days and was able to
experience two worlds at one time. In both the worlds, the bifurcation took place at a
certain point – the Battle of Panipat. Gaitonde had travelled neither to the past nor
the future, but he was in the present, experiencing a different world. There could be
many more different worlds formed by bifurcations at certain points in the timeline.

Professor Gaitonde was curious to know why he had gone through such an
experience. Rajendra explained that interaction was necessary to cause a transition.
Gaitonde was thinking about the catastrophe theory and its implications for war.
Maybe he was thinking about the Battle of Panipat, and it probably triggered the
neurons in his brain. Gaitonde conveyed to Rajendra that the topic for his thousandth
presidential address was going to be about the consequences of the reverse
outcome of the Battle of Panipat itself.

Silk Road
The author of the chapter ‘Silk Road’, Nick Middleton, narrates his journey to Mount
Kailash through Tibet. He wanted to perform the holy ritual of the kora and saw it as
a motivation for positive thinking that he wanted to inculcate more in his daily life.

While leaving a place called Ravu, the author is accompanied by another person
named Daniel. The name of their driver is Tsetan. A local lady from Ravu named
Lhamo gifted a sheepskin coat to the author. It was the general attire of the drokbas.
Tsetan knew a route to Mount Kailash in the southwest direction that would involve
passing through several high mountain passes.

Along the way, the author saw vast, open arid pastures with gazelles nibbling on
them; dust clouds called kyang; solitary drokbas looking after their cattle and
nomads’ tents guarded by Tibetan mastiffs. The massive and fear-inducing anatomy
of these Tibetan mastiffs made the author realise why they were popular as hunting
dogs in China’s imperial courts. Soon, they encountered snow-capped mountains
that were quite difficult to pass through. The altitude at this place was 5,210 metres
above sea level, according to the author’s watch. The cold affected his physiological
functions and he started experiencing a headache.

They reached the top of the mountain pass, which was 5,515 metres above sea level
and marked by a pile of rocks. The author finally started feeling better as they
descended to a work camp set up beside a dry salt lake. By afternoon, they reached
a small town called Hor – which the author describes as ‘miserable’ with no greenery
and only rocks and dust. Daniel parted ways here and went back to Lhasa. The
author expresses his disappointment at his expectations of the Mansoravar Lake on
whose shore the town of Hor was situated. There was garbage everywhere.

Finally, they arrived at a guest house in Darchen at night. The author could not
sleep, and Tsetan took him to the Darchen medical college the following morning.
Once he was assured that the author was well and could do the kora, Tsetan
returned to Lhasa.

After a good night’s sleep, Darchen did not look so horrible to the author, and he felt
relaxed. He describes Darchen as a dusty and derelict town with a few rudimentary
stores. The author could not see too many pilgrims around and assumed that he
might have arrived very early for the pilgrim season. He did not want to do the kora
alone, with the snow blocking most of the way.

As he waited for optimum conditions to do the kora, he met Norbu, who was an
academic researcher working on the importance of it in various works of Buddhist
literature at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in Beijing. The author got to
know Norbu better and found out that he was there to do the kora as well. Both
academicians decided to do the pilgrimage as a team, and the author felt that his
positive-thinking strategy was working again.

Father to Son
The father describes his relationship with his son in the first stanza. He says that
although he has lived for so many years in the same house with his son, he is not
able to understand the latter now that he is grown up. The father tries to build up a
good relationship with his son. His approach is similar to how he used to
communicate with his son during his childhood. Though we see a sense of despair
from the father’s end to reach out to his son, we also perceive a lack of a suitable
communication strategy to appeal to the latter’s attention.

The father also doubts the upbringing of his son. He fears that he might have done
something to sabotage the relationship with his son. The thread of communication
might have broken due to his untoward behaviour with his son. The word ‘land’ is
used to represent the two different worlds father and son are inhabiting. It is a
metaphorical expression of how alien and strange the son appears to his father. The
father confesses that their conversations have no mutual understanding, and they
talk like strangers. His son shares his blood and genetic features by birth, but the
father cannot still figure out the former’s likes and dislikes.

The poem depicts the feelings of hopelessness and anguish the father feels. His
voice has a tone of eagerness – which stems from sorrow and fear. The fear that he
might never be able to know his son again. The father’s desperation to bond with his
son is such that he would rather see his prodigal son return home than see him
create a future of his own somewhere else. He does not want to be estranged from
his son. The father resolves to reform his behaviour towards his son. He decides to
forgive him and forget all differences between them. The father plans to shower love
on his son – love that arises out of the sorrow the former has experienced.

The father understands that he and his son have to live in the same world and place.
The problem arises when there is a clash of temperaments between the two. The
father does not understand why he experiences anger while talking to his son. This
anger results from his grievous experience with his son. The relationship between
the father and son seems unresolvable. Forgiveness seems to be a long way for
both. Father and son both expect each to forgive the other, but no one seems to take
the first step.

Snapshots
The Summer of the Beautiful White Horse
One morning, around dawn, when Aram was nine years old, his fun-spirited cousin
Mourad tapped on his window. When Aram looked out of the window, he could not
believe what he was seeing – his cousin Mourad was sitting on a beautiful white
horse. Mourad asked Aram to come down quickly if he wanted to ride the horse.
Aram stood there in utter awe and disbelief because there was no way Mourad could
possess such a beautiful white horse.

While his family and his whole tribe suffered from poverty, their hallmark was
honesty. The whole Garoghlanian tribe was known for their honesty for many
centuries. They were proud, honest and justice-oriented. There was no way Mourad
could have stolen that horse. But given their financial conditions, it was evident that
Mourad had not bought the horse – he had stolen it. Aram felt both frightened and
delighted at the situation. He asked his cousin why he had stolen the horse. Mourad
simply asked Aram if he wanted to go for a ride or not.

As Aram got up to dress, he engaged himself in thoughts – trying to justify Mourad’s

actions. He reasoned that stealing a horse for a ride was not the same as stealing
something valuable as money. It was not stealing at all, given how crazy Mourad and
Aram were about horses. It would be considered stealing if they offered to sell the
horse. It was something they would never do. He leapt down to the yard from the
window, and both went riding. The horse went very fast, and Mourad started singing
loudly – almost roaring.

Aram tells us about his cousin Mourad. Like in every family, Mourad was considered
to be the natural descendant of the crazy streak in their tribe – uncle Khosrove.
Although Mourad was considered to be the descendant of Uncle Khosrove, his
father, Zorab, was nothing but a practical man by nature. Uncle Khosrove was a man
of furious temper and little patience. He would stop people from saying anything by
just roaring at them. His classic response to any situation was to tell the person
concerned not to bother about it. It so happened that once Uncle Khorove’s son,
Arak, went running to his father in the salon to tell him that their house was on fire.
Uncle Khosrove simply roared at his son, telling him to pay no attention to it.

After letting the horse run as much as he could, Mourad asked Aram to get down. He
wanted to ride the horse alone. Aram asked Mourad if the latter would let him ride
the horse alone. Mourad’s reply was that it would be the horse’s decision. As Aram
saw his cousin kick into the horse and let it burst into a fury of speed, he felt like it
was the loveliest thing he had ever seen. Mourad rode the horse across a field over
an irrigation ditch and returned five minutes later completely drenched in sweat. He
got off the horse and asked Aram to ride the horse.

Aram got on the horse and realised that the horse was not moving. He felt scared.
Mourad instructed him to kick into the horse’s muscles. The horse began to run, and
Aram did not know how to guide it. Instead of running across the field, the horse ran
into the vineyard of Dikran Halabian and started leaping over the vines. After going
over seven vines, Aram fell off the horse, and the horse continued running. Mourad
and Aram went different ways looking for it, and the former returned half an hour
later with the horse.

Aram discovered that Mourad had been riding the horse for quite some time. But,
when asked about it, Mourad only asked Aram to remember that they started riding
the horse that morning. Mourad took the horse to the barn of a deserted vineyard.
He informed Aram that it was not easy to get the horse to behave nicely in the
beginning, but he had an understanding with horses. Mourad explained that Aram
would be able to understand horses when he reached thirteen years of age.

Uncle Khosrove came to Aram’s house that afternoon for coffee and cigarettes and
sat there remembering the old country. A farmer named John Byro arrived and
started talking about his lost white horse. It was stolen a month ago, and he was still
not able to find it. As usual, Uncle Khosrove told him not to bother about it. John
Byro talked about his plight – he could not operate his surrey without the horse, and
his left leg hurt. The horse had cost him sixty dollars. Uncle Khosrove retorted that
he spat on money and stormed out of the house.

Aram ran to Mourad after hearing this and told him all about John Byro and the
horse. He wanted Mourad to return the horse when he had learned to ride properly.
Mourad told him that it would take him at least a year to learn riding the horse.
Mourad did not want to keep the horse that long and decided that they would return
the horse after six months. They took the horse for a ride every morning for two
weeks. There seemed to be no improvement in Aram’s riding. One morning, they ran
into John Byro. Mourad wanted to talk to the farmer, saying he had a way with
farmers. John Byro felt that this horse resembled his lost horse and wanted to
inspect its teeth. Mourad agreed. John Byro informed Mourad that he would have
definitely claimed that horse to be his if he did not know about their family’s
reputation for honesty.

The next morning, Aram and Mourad took the horse back to John Byro’s. The same
afternoon, John Byro came to Aram’s house in his surrey and showed his found
horse to Aram’s mother. He informs Aram’s mother that the horse is stronger and
more well-tempered than before.

The Address
The narrator begins with the experience of her first meeting with Mrs Dorling at her
house. Mrs Dorling did not seem to recognise her. The narrator introduced herself as
Mrs S’s daughter. Still, there was no expression of recognition on Mrs Dorling’s face.
The narrator doubted whether she had the wrong address. Then she noticed Mrs
Dorling wearing her mother’s green knitted cardigan. Mrs Dorling finally seemed to
remember the narrator by her intent gazing at the cardigan. Mrs Dorling had thought
that no one would come back again. The narrator told her that she had come,
especially on the train to meet her and would like to talk to her for a moment. Mrs
Dorling excused herself, saying it was not a convenient time and closed the door.

The story goes into flashbacks, where the narrator remembers how various events in
her life lead her to this particular moment. It happened long back during the initial
years of World War II. She came back home for a few days to find a number of items
missing from the house. When she asked her mother about this, her mother told her
about an old acquaintance of hers – Mrs Dorling. Her mother was in contact with Mrs
Dorling after a long time.

Mrs Dorling had offered to help the narrator’s mother with all their precious things. If
the narrator’s family had to leave that place, they would lose everything. Mrs Dorling
wanted to save all their nice things. So, she took things like antique plates, table
silver, vases, etc., every time she came to their house. The narrator asked her
mother if the issue of final possession of those things was discussed with Mrs
Dorling. Her mother felt that even talking about that issue would be an insult to Mrs
Dorling’s intentions. After all, she was taking such huge risks going out of the door
each time with a full bag or suitcase. After her mother gave her a reproving look,
they never talked about it.

As the narrator arrived at the station for her return journey, she tried not to look at
any of the surrounding things. She was walking in this place for the first time after the
war, but she did not want to upset herself with the familiar sights that took her back
to memories of her past. She remembers how she had encountered Mrs Dorling long
back in the past. It was in the morning after the day the narrator’s mother told her
about Mrs Dorling. She had gotten up late to find her mother about to see someone
out. Her mother beckoned her and introduced her to Mrs Dorling and asked her to
remember the address – Number 46 on Marconi Street.

After the World War, during the Liberation, the narrator did not want to recover or
think about those old things at all. The trauma of the war was fresh in her mind, and
she was scared that those stored things might just connect her constantly to the pain
and suffering. But, as time passed and the situation became better and more stable,
and she had a room with a view in which she could sleep peacefully, she began to
develop a curiosity for her mother’s possessions left at Mrs Dorling’s house. After her
first failed visit, she decided to try for a second time.

A fifteen-year-old girl opened the door this time and asked the narrator to wait in the
living room. Mrs Dorling was not home, and the narrator was ready to wait. While
going to the living room, the narrator saw the old-fashioned iron Hannukah candle
holder, which was never used at her house because it was cumbersome. As she
moved into the living room, the sight of her mother’s old belongings gripped her in
horror. A weird feeling seemed to oppress her. She did not dare to look around her
much and sat on a chair the girl offered. She recognised the woollen tablecloth. As
she ran her fingers through the knitted patterns, she searched for a burn mark that
was never repaired.

The girl offered her tea. As the girl opened a box to take out spoons, the narrator
found herself appreciating the box. The girl told her that it was an antique and there
were more. The narrator could look around to see more. The narrator felt reluctant
and kept looking at her beloved pewter plate from her childhood. The girl informed
her that they used the pewter plate often and had even once used the antique plates
on the wall to eat. The narrator found the burn mark she was looking for. She then
responded by saying that it was easy not to keep notice of such nice things in a
house when we use them for daily purposes. We only notice when something is
missing, or something has to be repaired. The narrator felt her voice was unnatural
but went on to tell an anecdote. Her mother had once asked her to help her with the
silver. When the narrator wanted to know which silver her mother was talking about,
she got to know that the spoons, forks and knives they ate with were made of silver.

The narrator next asked the girl if she knew what they ate with. The girl hesitated for
a moment and went to open a drawer. The narrator knew what was coming next.
She jumped to her feet, explaining that she was getting late for her train. She did not
want to wait for Mrs Dorling, and as she walked down the passage, she could hear
the jingling of spoons and forks.

From the corner of the street, the narrator looked at the nameplate. The address was
correct, but she did not want to remember that address now. She felt that objects
linked to memories of former times lose their value when we see them in strange
surroundings after being separated from them for a long time. Besides, she found no
utility for those things in a small rented room that could not hold many things.

She resolved to forget the address, and knew that it would not be a difficult thing for
her at all.

Mother’s Day
The play starts with a scene of Mrs Pearson and Mrs Fitzgerald drinking tea during
an afternoon in early autumn. Mrs Fitzgerald is a fortune teller and is telling Mrs
Pearson’s fortune. Both of them have contrasting personalities. While Mrs Pearson
looks pleasant but anxious, Mrs Fitzgerald looks stronger with a sinister personality.
The former is in her forties, and the latter is older.

The conversation starts with Mrs Fitzgerald advising Mrs Pearson to take a stand
and be the boss of her own family. Mrs Pearson replies meekly that it was not that
simple – she was still fond of them even if they were thoughtless and selfish. Mrs
Fitzgerald reminds her that it is not acceptable to be treated the way she was treated
by her children and her husband. Mrs Pearson replies dubiously that she does try to
drop them a hint, and she does not know how to begin. She looks at the clock and
panics, saying they will be home soon and nothing is ready.

Mrs Fitzgerald tries to calm her down and asks Mrs Pearson to put her foot down,
but Mrs Pearson does not seem to be sure about her capabilities. To this, Mrs
Fitzgerald replies that she will do it for Mrs Pearson. The latter denies politely
explaining that her husband and children would resent Mrs Fitzgerald. Then Mrs
Fitzgerald reveals her plan, which involves an exchange of their personalities. She
then takes Mrs Pearson’s hands and chants a spell, after which Mrs Pearson talks
out of Mrs Fitzgerald’s body and vice versa.

Mrs Pearson, who is now Mrs Fitzgerald, sounded alarmed at this transformation
and expressed her fear – in case they were not able to reverse their personalities
into their own respective bodies. Mrs Fitzgerald, who is now Mrs Pearson, convinced
her not to worry and go to her home. She could come back after some time to check
on things. Mrs Fitzgerald hurries back to her house while the real Mrs Fitzgerald, in
the form of Mrs Pearson, waits for the children and husband to return home from
work. She smokes away carelessly, whereas the real Mrs Pearson has never
smoked in her life.

The daughter Doris, a pretty young girl in her twenties, bursts inside the room asking
her mother to iron her yellow silk dress because she is going out for the night. She
notices her mother smoking and starts questioning her. Mrs Pearson calmy
retaliates, saying there is no law against smoking. When Doris asks her mother if tea
is ready, Mrs Pearson informs her that she has had her tea and is thinking about
going for dinner at Clarendon. Doris, who has now become sulky, reminds her
mother that she works hard and Mrs Pearson has always prepared tea and ironed
clothes for her. Mrs Pearson rebukes Doris’s comments and reminds her that she
works twice as much as Doris but gets paid in neither wages nor thanks. She also
goes further to insult Charlie Spence, with whom Doris had planned to go out in the
evening in her yellow dress. Doris is on the verge of tears.

Mrs Pearson’s son Cyril arrives home after a while and starts asking for tea and
things that he needs for going out in the evening. In a similar manner to how she put
down Doris, Mrs Pearson replies curtly to Cyril’s demands and queries – implying
that she could not care less. She reminds Cyril that everyone in the family expects
her to listen to their rude comments and demands. She has decided to fight against it
just like Cyril goes to the Union in case of any discrepancies at work.
As Cyril stands there baffled by Mrs Peasrson’s unnatural behaviour, Doris joins him
in the living room. She had been crying, and her mother just aggravates the situation
by telling her that a crying face does not suit her for an evening out with Charlie
Spencer. As Cyril tries to figure out what Mrs Pearson could have possibly said to
Doris, he finds her looking for some stout in the kitchen. Cyril and Doris talk to each
other about the new development in Mrs Pearsons’s attitude. They find the thought
of their father dealing with Mrs Pearson’s behaviour funnily intriguing and wait for his
arrival.

As Mrs Pearson enters the drawing room with her stout, she intercepts the siblings’
laughter and giggles and reprimands them for not behaving their age. When Doris
asks the reason behind her sudden change in behaviour, Mrs Pearson replies that all
the family members do is come home, ask her for something and go back again. She
also threatens them by saying that her work of eight hours is done and that she
might go for an outing during the weekend.

The husband, George, arrives home and is treated in the same way as Cyril and
Doris. Mrs Pearson also goes ahead to tell him how people at the club called him
‘Pompy-ompy George’. Mrs Fitzgerald enters the house now and is worried about
how Mrs Pearson is treating the family members. She begs Mrs Pearson to stop, but
the latter seems furious at her family’s behaviour and scolds them to learn some
manners. Mrs Fitzgerald asks Mrs Pearson to exchange their personalities back
while Mrs Pearson is intent on doing some more reforms in the family members’
behaviours. But Mrs Fitzgerald is no longer able to bear it, and Mrs Pearson
exchanges their personalities back.

The original Mrs Pearson starts talking in a pleasant manner while Mrs Fitzgerald
reminds her to be strict. Mrs Pearson thus uses a strict tone with her family finally,
and all seem to be aware of her problems and needs now. Cyril, Doris and George
become polite and understanding in their behaviour towards Mrs Pearson. She
proposes a nice game of rummy and asks them to help her with supper. Mrs
Fitzgerald wishes the family goodnight and leaves the house. The play ends.
Birth
Andrew was returning from a date with his girlfriend when he found Joe Morgan
waiting for him outside his house. It was nearly midnight and Joe’s wife was about to
give birth. Andrew snapped out of his heavy and dark thoughts, took his bag, and
walked with Joe to his house. Upon reaching, Joe informed Andrew that he would
not go inside the house. Andrew could see that Joe was very much under strain.

Andrew was taken to the bedroom which was small in size and poorly lit by an oil
lamp. Along with Joe’s wife on the bed, her mother and an elderly midwife were
present in the room. Mrs Morgan’s mother, an old woman, was wise enough to know
the complications of the situation. She knew it was going to be a long night and did
not want the doctor to leave at any point of time. So, she offered Andrew some tea.
He knew that this case would require his undivided attention and decided to stay at
the house until everything was over.

Andrew drank the tea downstairs and checked on Mrs Morgan after an hour. During
this long wait, his head was filled with dim thoughts about marriage. He thought of
famous personalities like Bramwell and Edward Page who had unpleasant
experiences in relationships and marriage. He wanted to think of marriage as an
ideal state of bliss. His thoughts were unhappy and while he was brooding over his
girlfriend Christine, Mrs Morgan’s mother interrupted him. She informed him that
Susan (Mrs Morgan) did not want to be put under anaesthetic. Andrew convinced
her that it was not harmful at all.

The midwife called for Andrew at half-past three. He thought he might as well start
working on the process of delivery. The labour went on for a long one hour. The child
was born at dawn but was stillborn. Andrew felt a chill of horror run over him. The
mother was also in a fragile state. He did not know whom to attend first and let his
instincts take over the situation. He gave the child to the nurse and injected medicine
into Mrs Morgan and tried fiercely to revive her flaccid body. Mrs Morgan regained
herself after a few minutes.

Andrew wanted to attend to the stillborn child next. The midwife had hidden the baby
boy under the bed. Andrew lifted the boy from the newspapers where he was kept.
The boy’s body was tender and lifeless. His head hung weak and lifeless, and his
limbs seemed boneless. Andrew began to analyse the situation and thought of
different medical conditions that might lead the child into this condition. His mind
instinctively ran back to a case in the Samaritan. He frantically ordered the midwife
to bring hot and cold water and basins.

He prepared two basins – one with cold water and the other with hot water at a
temperature his hands could bear. Then he dipped the baby into the basins
alternately. Mrs Morgan’s mother and the midwife were looking at him in utter shock
and bewilderment. He remembered how hopeful Mrs Morgan and her mother were
about this baby. There seemed to be no change in the baby’s physiological
conditions. The midwife begged him to stop, but he did not heed her and went for a
last try – pressing the boy’s little chest to get breath into his limp body. Finally, a
miracle happened and the baby came to life. This experience was so stirring that it
almost made Andrew faint.

The midwife sobbed hysterically while Mrs Morgan prayed to God silently.
Overwhelmed by the strenuous experience, Andrew put on his jacket and went out of
the room – informing that he would come for his bag later. He drank some water in
the scullery and went outside to find Joe sitting with a tense expression. He
announced to him that both the child and the mother were all right. As Andrew
walked along the street with other miners he could not help thinking that he had done
something real at last.

The Tale of Melon City Summary

There was a king who was considered just and composed. He had announced the
construction of an arch that would run above the main road in his city. It was meant
to uplift the spirits of people. The king wanted to impress his people. So, the
workmen started to build the arch without questions – since it was the king’s order.
The city seemed to live by principles based on long-held traditions of obedience and
hierarchy.

When the construction was over, the king rode to the thoroughfare to inspect the
arch and interact with the spectators. The archway was not built high and toppled off
the king’s crown. The ‘just and placid’ king called it a disgrace and ordered the chief
of the builders to be hanged. As the builder was brought to the gallows to be hanged,
he shouted to the king that it was not his fault and the workers were to blame. The
king paused the proceedings and ordered all the workers to be hanged. In turn, the
workers protested and blamed the incorrect size of the bricks. The king called for the
masons to be brought in. The masons passed it on to the architect. The king then
summoned the architect.

Now, the architect made a bold revelation. He reminded the king that the latter had
made amendments to the plan. The king was alarmed to learn about this and did not
know what to do. So, he decided he needed some counsel and ordered the wisest
man to be brought to the court. The wise man was brought to the court on the king’s
orders. He was a very old man who could hardly walk or see. The old man decided
that the true culprit was the arch that removed the crown from the king’s head. The
arch was now being taken to the scaffold when a councillor protested that it was not
wise to hang something that had touched the king’s head. The king admitted that this
was true. But, by now, the crowd had grown restless.

The king understood the public was impatient. And to appease them, he announced
a hanging. The hanging could be of anyone. It just had to be an execution. A noose
was prepared, but it was quite high. As a result, each man was measured to identify
someone whose height matched that of the noose. However, only one man fit the
particular height, and he was the king. Thus, the king was hanged by royal decree.

The ministers felt relieved at their ability to find a suitable match for the noose. They
were worried about the consequences if they could not hang someone. The public
would have turned against the Crown. They hailed the king’s death and proclaimed
in the name of the dead king that whoever passed through the city gate next would
be chosen as the ruler of their state. And the coronation would be observed
ceremoniously, as was the custom.

The next person to pass by the city gate was a man. He was an idiot who only liked
melons. His standard answer to any question was ‘melon’, and he did the same
when asked to decide on a king for the state. The melon was crowned and carried to
the throne with respect.
This event happened long ago. Whenever people of the state are questioned about
their present ruler being a melon, they explain that they chose their king according to
the state’s customs. Interestingly, they did not mind their king being a melon as long
as the people were given freedom of choice and were left in peace. The principles of
laissez-faire are well established here.