By Jayant Narlikar
Pre-reading Task
Imagine you wake up one day and find yourself in a world where a major historical event has turned out differently (e.g., a different outcome in a famous battle, a new discovery in science, or a change in government). How does this change affect your daily life? Describe the world you find yourself in, highlighting its key differences from the one you know.
Structure Suggestions:
- Introduction: Start by explaining the event that led to this alternate reality.
- Body: Describe the physical, social, and political changes in this world. How do people behave? What is different about their daily lives? You can also include how you feel navigating this world.
- Conclusion: Reflect on how living in such a world would affect you personally. Would you prefer this world to the one you know?
- Use descriptive language to bring the alternate reality to life.
- Stay focused on the impact of the historical change you have chosen.
- Write around 250-300 words.
Example Answer:
Historical Event: Indian Independence Movement
Alternate Outcome:What if India had not gained independence from British rule in 1947? Instead of gaining freedom, the British Empire decided to stay and reinforce its control over India for several more decades. In this alternate reality, the freedom fighters' efforts would have been suppressed even more harshly, and the Indian subcontinent might have remained divided by colonial policies. Indian leaders like Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru might have been imprisoned for life or even executed.
Impact on People:
Without independence, India would not have experienced the rapid development of its own industries, and English might have continued to dominate the cultural and educational landscape. The partition might not have happened, which would have changed the course of Indian-Pakistani relations, but the tension between religious communities could have worsened under continued colonial divide-and-rule tactics. Ordinary people’s daily lives would still be influenced by British policies, leading to more economic exploitation and cultural suppression, and India might not have emerged as the world’s largest democracy.
Notes:
Alternat History
- Professor reads startling facts, even in his own book – he finds history upto Aurangzeb’s death, but it takes a different turn thereafter
- Marathas won the Battle of Panipat
- Abdali chased away
- the influence of the East India Company got restricted to pockets like Bombay, Madras and Calcutta
- Marathas retained the puppet Mughal regime for political reasons, set up centres for science and technology
- Peshwas gradually replaced by elected representatives in a democratic India
- Bombay was a British business outpost, on lease up to 2001
- Professor wants to know how Marathas had won the Battle of Panipat
- learnt that a bullet brushed past Vishwasrao and he was saved
Actual History
- Marathas had lost the Battle of Panipat
- Vishwasrao was killed and his uncle Bhausaheb had disappeared for ever – the Marathas had been led by the two
- the British came to rule over the whole of India
- the Mughal king became a puppet king
Explanation of Some Terms / Statements Used in the Text
1. “The lack of determinism in quantum theory!”
Ans. The quantum theory is based on the idea that energy exists in units that cannot be divided. This theory lacks the belief that people are not free to choose what they are like or how they behave because these things are decided by their background, surroundings and other things over which they have no control.
2. “You need some interaction to cause a transition.”
Ans. Rajendra Deshpande explained to Gangadharpant that the latter was able to experience two worlds by making a transition. Gangadharpant wanted to know why he made the transition. Science does not provide a ready-made answer to it. Rajendra observed that one needs some interaction to cause a transition. He made a guess. Perhaps Professor Gaitonde was then thinking about the catastrophe theory and its role in wars or he might have been wondering about the Battle of Panipat.
3. “You neither travelled to the past nor the future. You were in the present experiencing a different world.”
Ans Gangadharpant, according to Rajendra Deshpande, had made a transition from one world to another and back again. By making a transition, he was able to experience two worlds although one at a time. He neither travelled to the past nor to the future. He was in the present but experiencing a differen world.
4. You have passed through a fantastic experience: or more correctly, a catastrophic experience.”
Ans. Gangadharpant had passed through a strange experience. He had the experience of living in two worlds-the one he lived in now and the other where he had spent two days. This world had a different history. Rajendra explains his experience by terming it as a catastrophic experience.
Short Answer Type Questions
1. What were the things that Professor Gaitonde noticed as the train entered the British Raj territory?
Ans As the train touched Sarhad, From where the British Raj began, an Anglo-Indian in uniform went through the train checking permits. The blue carriages of the train carried the letters GBMR on the side an acronym for ‘Greater Bombay Metropolitan Railway’. There was the tiny Union Jack painted on each carriage as a. reminder that they were in British territory. As the train stopped at its destination, Victoria Terminus, the station looked remarkably neat and clean. The staff was mostly made up of Anglo-Indians and Parsees with a handful of British officers.
2. What was the strange reality that Professor Gaitonde saw as he stepped out of the station?
Ans As Professor Gaitonde came out of the staton, he saw an impressive building. The letters on it revealed that it was the East India headquarters of the East India Company. He was shocked as it was supposed to have had stopped operation soon after the events of 1857 but here it was flourishing.
3. Why did professor Gaitonde enter the Forbes building? What was his experience there?
Ans. The professor went to Forbes building to meet Vinaya Gaitonde his own son. The receptionist searched through the directory of employees. But there was no person bearing that name. It was a big blow. He felt that so far everything had been shocking so the below of non-existence of his son was not totally unexpected.
4. How did the victory of the Peshwas in the Battle of Panipat help them?
Ans The victory in the battle was not only successful in building their confidence tremendously but it also established the supremacy of the Marathas in northern India. The East India Company, watching these events temporarily deferred its plan to spread out further. For the Peshwas the immediate result was that the influence of Bhausaheb and Vishwasrao had to retire from state politics.
5. Did the victory of the Peshwas cause any effect on the alternate reality which Gangadhar visited?
Ans: Yes, it completely changed the chain of events. The East India Company was alarmed when the new Maratha ruler, Vishwasrao, and his brother, Madhavrao, expanded their influence all over India. The Company was limited to pockets of influence near Bombay, Calcutta and Madras. However, in the nineteenth century the Marathas were aware of the importance of the technological age starting in
Europe. Hence when they set up their own centres for science and technology. The East India Company saw another chance to extend its influence. It offered support and experts. But they were accepted only to make the local centres self-sufficient.
6. What was the final outcome of the Peshwas?
Ans: During the twentieth century, inspired by the West, India moved towards a democracy. By then, the Peshwas had lost their enterprise and democratically elected bodies replaced them. The Sultanate at Delhi survived even this change because it exerted no real influence. The Shahenshah of Delhi was only a nominal head made by the central parliament.
7. Gangadharpant began to appreciate the India he had seen. Why was it so?
Ans: After reading this new history, Gangadharpant was pleased at the India he had seen, it was a country that had not been subjected to slavery of the white man; it had leamt to stand on its feet and knew what self-respect was. From a position of strength and for purely commercial reasons, it had allowed the British to retain Bombay as the sole outpost on the subcontinent.
8. What happened when Professor Gaitonede went ahead to occupy the chair on the dais?
Ans: When Professor Gaitonde went ahead to occupy the chair on the dais, the audience protested vehemently. Professor Gaitonde went to the mike to give his views but the audience was in no mood to listen. However, he kept on talking and soon became a target for a shower of tomatoes, eggs and other objects. Finally, the audience rushed to throw him out bodily but he was nowhere to be seen.
9. 'But why did I make the transition? What explanation did Rajendra give to the professor?
Ans. Rajendra guessed that the transition must have been caused by some interaction. Perhaps the professor had been thinking at the time of collision about Catastrophic theory and its role in wars. The professor admitted that he had been wondering at that time what course history would have taken if the Marathas have won the Battle of Panipat.
Thanks sir, nice content.
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