Motion...

This piece is dedicated to Krishnan Nandakumar, Karthik Kumaraswamy, Manikandan Narayanan, Rajsekhar Sastry, Madhusudan Natarajan and Karthik Chandran Krishnamurthy. They all know why...


It was before gravity! It was before Isaac Newton even considered science as an interest and much much before he would be regarded "Sir". It was the when he was a goofy young lad who spent all day dreaming...

One fine sunny day, he rose nice and early. He was excited! He had all day to dream. He stretched his arms, looked out the window and set his thoughts in motion (pun unintended) even as he got out of bed...

"I'll go for a walk today", he told himself and stepped out into the sun. It was a beautiful day indeed. The air was clear, the birds were chirping, you get the picture, don't you? He started treading on the gravel path...

Soon, he was whistling a tune, wishing people around and enjoying himself. No matter what he did, his thoughts never left him. He was wandering alright, but his mind wandered farther than one could imagine...

He passed some fields and then some factories. He climbed some hills and crossed some streams. He looked into the deep blue sky and thought what he alone could think. He thought of things beyond...

Noon came and his shadow shortened. He was not done dreaming but his legs were tired. "I'll rest a while", he said to himself and looked around for a place. In a field beside, he set his sight on a mighty apple tree...

He picked the shade, cleared out the leaves and sat himself on the ground. He wiped his sweat and took a deep breath as he looked around. All was quiet, for it was lunchtime, so he continued to dream in peace...

He felt the pang of hunger himself. Had he known he'd walk this far, he would have packed a lunch. He looked around but found nothing. "I'm in a tough spot. What do I do now?", he continued to think...

And then it happened! Something fell, he felt it hit him and rolled out in front of him. He stopped thinking and started smiling, for he was now staring at a fine, juicy red apple...

He picked up the fruit and cleaned it on his shirt. He bit into it and felt the juice hit his throat. In his sweet relish, he started dreaming again. Even as he munched, his mind was not there, wandering far somewhere...

His apple done, he licked his fingers. He was sated and starting to feel rested. "I'll stay a little longer", he said to himself as he stretched out his legs and started to close his eyes. To dream would now be easier...

He rose with a start! "Was I dreaming?", he thought. He didn't feel well and when he pulled himself up, he could quickly tell what was wrong. He stomach rumbled, he felt it grumble. Lo! it was nature's call...

"Oh my God!", he thought. "Home's too far, but I can't wait that long, now I've got a problem to solve"! He did'nt have to look around, he knew where was. "Oh! There's no place to go", he thought...

And then he had an idea! He looked to check if he was seen and once he sure there was no one around, he took a quick peek behind the apple tree. The pressure was building. Clearly, there was no time to think...

In all these days, in all his dreams, he had never dreamt that it would come to this. Not a moment more to lose, he made himself brave, picked himself up and disappeared behind the mighty old apple tree...


I don't know what happened after so I'll stop here. But whatever it was, I suspect, it must have been a real inspiration to what we know and tell in science today as "Newton's Laws of Motion"...

The Apple and The White Fence!

How many of you parents remember the story of Tom Sawyer? It is one story I read in my childhood that never left my mind. And it is also one of the very first stories that I told my child.
I don't even remember how old he was but one night he came to me and said, "Tell me a Story". My first reaction to this was, "Wait Kanna, Amma will come and tell you a story". I was tired and it had been my wife's job to do all the reading and storytelling. But tonight was a different story and tired as I might I have been, my little fellow was determined it had to be me doing the storytelling.

I did not have to think much because Tom Sawyer was kinda my HERO from my childhood days so that's obviously the first name that came to mind. And so, sleepy me started off on this journey with Tom Sawyer and how he was a naughty and lazy fellow. I slowly went on to how he was so naughty that his mom gave him a punishment on a fine saturday morning and asked him to paint the fence white.

Very soon I was into how his friends came along and how Tom tricked his friends into painting the fence for him while they still ended up parting with all the wonderful things that they brought along. OK, timeout, I know all of you parents have already read Mark Twain's Adventures of Tom Sawyer, so what's this all about? Is this some kind of trick?

No, not really. But the twist in the tale is that I was telling this kadhai in tamil. Picture this. "Indha Tom irundhaan illai Tomu?". And so on. At some point, the only things I remembered the friends had to trade were the apple and the marbles, but I kind of let my imagination run wild and started saying balloon and chocolate and anything else that came to my mind. More so, I started adding things that my son liked like toy trains.

I had gone through a whole bunch of stuff and my exhaustion wasn't getting any better. The time had come for this story to end but my son was so excited about this story that he wanted more and he wasn't feeling a bit sleepy himself. I was soon running out of things that Tom Sawyer's friends brought him that day and at some point, I paused to think of what else I could say and that's all I knew.

The next thing I knew was I woke up the next morning to see my son and wife, happily asleep next to me. No, this is not tamil cinema style and it was not a dream. I thought about the previous night and how I weaved this Tom Sawyerin Attagasangal to my son and it put a smile on my face. Sure enough, I had a great day.

If anyone of you reading this has not read Tom Sawyer, it's still not too late. It's a great read. And for those of who you know the story, try telling it to your child in your mother tongue. I am sure you will enjoy the experience as much as your child does.

Happy Storytelling!