Quantum Of Resistance

From Dreams To Reality

Summer of 2010

She sat on the terrace, with a couple of Earl Stanley Gardiner books in her hands. A small battery operated night lamp was set by her side, providing sufficient light for her to read. She raised her head slowly and looked into the clear night sky. At the far end of the terrace she sat on, light streamed onto the terrace from the grill on the roof, down from the grill, which acted both as a sun roof as well as ventilator, for the kitchen of the house, the permanent address of her mother.

"AVNI !!!" Her mother's loud, screechy voice, tore through the silence of the night.

Avni startled from her thoughts and looked towards the stream of light that emerged from the grill. She drew in a deep breath and closed her eyes tight. She got up, keeping the books down and walked towards the grill. Looking down from the opaque glass, she said, "don't be so loud mom. You know sound waves linger in space for all eternity ? Everything that you say out loud remains in space forever. So please don't be so loud," she said, just audible for her mother to hear. To herself, she thought, " and since everything is recorded eternally in space and returned back at least 10 fold, we must always say pleasant things."

Avni went back to the spot she was sitting in and sat cross legged. The night was pleasant, with a mild breeze playing though her soft hair, almost like playing a sweet tune on the flute, just for her ears. Her keen, sharp ears, heard the night time melody and her eyes closed automatically, her mind, commanding her body to breath in a deep inhalation of the fresh air. As her lungs expanded with the breath she took, Avni opened her eyes once again. Reclining her head back to rest it against the parapet, she gazed back up into the stars.

The moon lit sky was beautiful .... A normal human would describe it as beautiful. But for Avni, the sight was mesmerising. As she sat reclining onto the hard surface of the parapet, her head bent up at an odd angle, she forgot the discomfort her physical body experienced. Instead her body felt a sense of exhilaration, that could be described as equivalent of going out on a date with your most favourite actor, knowing at the end of it, he would propose marriage to you. As she looked up into the array of stars sprinkled over the navy blue sky, almost like diamonds stitched into a velvety curtain, glittering away, here one second and there the next, she knew the light she looked at, was probably  millions of light years old. With her naked eye, she was looking at an object suspended in space, through a force called gravity, from a time before humans even existed on this planet. What a miracle .... if you think of it. That speck of light, travelling all that distance through space and time, to shine down on a sleeping planet.... Why?

Why? Why did it have to make this arduous journey? What if the light illuminated the space where it originated and then dissipated into some other form of energy, just like the words spoken by a person, turn from sound waves , into frequency and stay in space? Was there a reason for  the light to come so far? The space is so vast, so vast that we have not been able to understand even all of it's dimensions fully. In this vast arena, in a small corner, we humans exist, in isolation, the only known, intelligent species so far, as far as the Universe is concerned. What a waste of space and energy. Sure, there is probably life, under the layers of matter on Mars or under the icy oceans of Neptune but nothing like us, advanced, intelligent, capable of so much art, science, exploration etc..What a waste of space and energy. It just doesn't make any sense... What is my purpose? Why am here....what exactly is out there? Her mind which usually delved into that question was restless again. No amount of staring into the vast unknown called space, would give her the answer. The answers could only be found through science. Only and only through science could this mystery be solved and she intended to solve, if even she had to spend all her life doing nothing else.

Survival and existence were not her concern. Her father had enough to keep her going till the end. The issue was time. Did she have enough time on her hands, to be able to understand the complexities of what lay above, beyond and literally all around us? TIME was the only factor. Frustrated at the lack of answers, "What a waste!" She said, pointing towards the night sky.

Summer of 2020

"Did you see him? He's here... he's actually here. I thought he'd look like one of those nutty professors that we see in cartoons, huge clown like curly hair, thick rimmed glasses with lenses as thick as soda bottles, ill fitting jacket, odd gait...." Anshul, went on all exited. "Uff, what are you going on and on about?" asked Avni, visibly irritated now. She had not looked away from the pattern she had been analysing for over 11 months now. The white coloured band like thing that she wore over her eyes, was actually a part of 3D goggles, that gave her an insight deeper than a computer image. With the move of her hand, she could turn the object around, up and down to understand the intricate patters that seemed to be forming in a random sequence. Was she finally looking at the building blocks of the Universe as we know it?

"No matter how many months you look at it, it's not going to change, it'll still be the same," said, Anshul, coming over from behind Avni and watching the various folds and bends the image curved into.

Avni, removed the eyewear and put it not so gently on the table. Turning around slowly in her swivel chair, her hair, tied up in an untidy bun, her face tired from exhaustion, it was not difficult to guess she was irritated. "Why? Why do you insist on breaking my concentration?" She asked, her breath turning slightly heavy now. 

Anshul hauled her up from her chair. "Agreed, you are the most promising new researcher we have here today. Also agreed that you are working on some extremely difficult, challenging, about to put you on the way to a Noble, kind of work. Completely agree. But still, you are only 28, you are a girl too and you've not dated anyone since I first met you. It's time, we rectify all that is wrong in your life. First, go to your room and have a nice...long... shower. That's the first step to turning human. Then wear some nice feminine cloths, try.... just try... using some perfume or at least a deodorant and attempt to put some lipstick on those dry, chapped lips. That's the next step in turning you into a female, human. And then, when you go to meet Prof Agnivesh, please do something about that hair, that falls all over your face."

"Remember, he's a man - a YOUNG man and please also try to remember that you are a girl - a YOUNG girl. It's time to explore an unchartered aspect of life... it's called DATING," he screamed.