Imagined Realities - Force behind progress of civilisations

It is believed that, humans of our kind, were born some 2,00,000 years ago in Omo, a place in East Africa. Evolutionists say they were not born. They evolved from apes. Apes are our ancestor. Charles Darwin, an English naturalist and biologist, in his theory of evolution (1859) says that all living beings that we see around or have become extinct are descendants from common ancestor. A human is an another animal in vast kingdom of animals. He is vastly superior to a monkey as a monkey is to a rat and a rat is to an ant. This was a big blow to the people who held firmly a belief that humans were privileged beings created by nature for a purpose. They refused to accept Darwin’s theory of evolution. It is anathema to many , even to this day, to imagine that long long ago a man came out from womb of an ape. If such thought ever crosses their minds, it is an act of blasphemy for them and and they would run to the nearest church, mosque or temple to seek pardon from the God. All religion in their sacred books and scriptures have linked birth of humans to divinity. In Christianity Adam and Eve fell from Heavens and in Hindu religion Lord Brahma after rising from naval of Lord Vishnu became a Prajapati- father of all living creatures.

The theatre of this wonderful and fascinating play is universe. How universe came into being? This is the most enigmatic question humans are struggling to find answer. Religions, philosophers and scientists have said and written about this. Besides , there are some myths and traditions. According to one myth among the Boshogo people of Central Africa, there was nothing in the beginning except darkness and great God Bumba. Universe came into being from God Bumba’s vomits. He vomited the sun, the moon, the stars, the animals and finally he vomited a man, and his abdomen ache ended. Religions hold a belief that universe had a beginning and it didn’t begin of its own. Its creation was not an accident. The God created it with some intent. Aristotle, the most famous Greek philosopher, believed that universe existed for ever. Something eternal. There was no beginning. German Philosopher, Immanuel Kant, studied whether or not the universe had a beginning. He felt that there were logical contradictions either way. Science came out with its theories on creation of universe. Among them the ‘Big Bang Theory’ is widely accepted one. The theory says that universe has a beginning. It began suddenly from nothingness some 13.8 billion years ago. With it were born space, time, energy and matter. This nothingness expanded like a balloon. The expansion was initially slow. Later it speeded up and it continues to expand to this day. This expanse according to ‘Big Bang Theory’ is universe. After more than 9 billion years of Big Bang, some 4.5 billion years ago Earth was formed and 3.8 billion years ago tiniest living creature emerged on it. Homo Sapiens, zoological nomenclature of humans of our kind have evolved over billions of years through complex and chancy process of natural selection

Before Homo Sapiens and many thousands of years along-with them lived  many generations of several species of humans- Homo Erectus, Homo Rudolfensis, Neanderthals and some more. The odds of natural selection didn’t favour them for long, besides they couldn’t defend themselves from onslaughts of incoming Homo-Sapiens from African Continent, and they got extinct over the period of time. No other species of humans now exist except for our kind. Humans for most of their existence lived like any other animal except that they stood upright on two hind limbs and carried on their shoulders a bigger skull. It was 70, 000 years ago humans moved significantly away from the seemingly common path shared with humans of other kinds and other animals. They chose a different course that set them apart from all other animals and at hugely elevated position.

Yuval Noah Harari in his best seller, ‘Sapiens- A Brief History Of Humankind’ says that it is believed that in long course of evolution brains of humans by pure chance of natural selection got differently wired. This lead to revolution in their cognitive abilities.They gained the ability to process and transmit larger quantities of information about their surroundings. They transcended the objective reality of their surroundings and weaved myths and stories around imaginary characters, things and places. They shared and believed in these myths. These myths became rallying elements for social corroborations. Humans spread from Africa to other places on the earth. Their numbers increased greatly so increased their social interactions and contradictions making room for many more diverse myths and legends to emerge. At first, it briefly seemed strange to me that my social values and beliefs have origin in man’s propensity for gossiping and his cognitive ability of creating fictional stories. And in his ability in believing as if his fictional stories were real and also making other men to believe in them. Gods, religions, nations, money, laws, equality, rights, democracy, and many other like these have no objective reality. But these social constructs are something real in our minds. They are part of our daily lives. They influence our decisions and preferences. They shape our world view. There is limitless possibility for humans to create newer and diverse myths and fictional stories and legends forming new imagined realities in our minds for forging larger social collaboration for further progress. Humans are also not averse to do away with some existing imagined realities. They do it. Without these social constructs, creation and absorption of new social constructs and doing away with the defunct ones, world will become disorderly and disjointed, and stop progressing 

I agree that behind the humongous progress that humans have made in short span of time is their cognitive abilities. We are in stage of development, popularly known as ‘Internet Age’. In this age we notice that social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp etc are hugely popular. Facebook has nearly 2 billion subscribers and number is increasing. There are reports that people are getting addicted to social media. Some fear that addiction may reach to epidemic levels in a few years from now. Is it humans’ propensity and love for gossiping reason for popularity of social media ? Humans gossiped and created myths and fictions to forge greater and larger social collaborations for their further progress. But we witnessed that diametrically opposite happening on social media. Does our biggest asset cognitive ability need an upgrade to deal with social and economic issues that have arisen due exponential growth of ‘Internet’?

Time-A Sweet Ignorance

I retired from the service of a bank two months ago. Some days back,I received a phone call from an old friend,Kishore. He asked me a benign and simple question. How was I spending my time after retirement? It was a genuine and courteous question from a well meaning friend. But I couldn’t give him a convincing reply. While replying to him I felt something strange happening inside me. I felt lost. I was trying to understand what was I doing with time when I was in service. Our conversation ended as usual on a good note of cracking some non- vegetarian jokes and having a hearty laugh. What held me back to give answer to a straight forward question kept on lurking in my mind. The reason could be that meaning of time inside me is undergoing change or it could be that I hadn’t in the past thought over it. Whatever may the reason, time suddenly has become a strange entity for me. My thoughts on time are vague and amorphous. They are wandering  aimlessly in all direction. I decided to collect all my thoughts and make an effort to find why time has suddenly become a strange entity for me. I am not a philosopher nor a scientist to get the answer methodically to this question. I need to relook into my idea of time from the beginning. I trust my childhood experiences of knowing of time will be a good position to start with. I can’t say how and when an infant gets idea of time. I can’t also say how old I was when I noticed that day passes into night and that light of the day goes away and darkness of night falls, with regularity. I believe I got  elementary idea of time from this diurnal rhythm of night follows day and day follows night. I also noticed that diurnal rhythm broadly regulates the daily chores of our large joint family, day for working and night for sleeping. The other noticeable thing was that specific activities of the family were regulated by instruments called clocks and watches. These instruments  elders told me show time and I was taught how to read it from them. Time for me got thus objectified as continuously changing set of number shown by clocks and watches. At the age of six I was admitted to a neighbourhood school. The school was housed in a small building. There was no play ground, no laboratory and no library. But this school had wonderful teachers. I liked to go to school. I liked to chatter with class mates and make friends. Jatinder, who was admitted to the school on the same day as I was, became my best friend. We used to sit beside each other in the class room and share our tiffins and toffees. I also made my first female friend, Pinki. She was a little chubby girl with fair complexion and rosy cheeks, having thick black hair parted in the middle with two neatly done plaits resting gracefully on her shoulders. In her company my time moved faster, perhaps her’s too. I was getting feel of some other nature of time. This nature of time was particular to me, different from the time read and measured on clocks and watches. I spent my eight formative years in  this school. In these eight years teachers taught me painstakingly. They turned me, from a chattering  little boy who liked hoop rolling and spinning of top into a confident and inquisitive young adolescent. It was here, in this school I learned that earth is neither flat nor it is stationary as it appears to us. It is round in shape like a ball and revolves round the sun. It takes 365 days to complete one revolution and these many days make one year. It also rotates like a top and takes 24 hours to complete one rotation. It was a humbling experience to know what I see, feel, and perceive may not be true in reality. Diurnal rhythm is result of spinning of earth. Time we talk about and see in the watches and clocks has all to do with this rotation of earth. It was demonstrated to us in the class using globe atlas and torch light how days and nights are caused, why there is different time at different places on the earth.  It was also demonstrated to us that when we have day in Kashmir more than half the world has night. Time as I understood then was outcome of unceasing rotation of earth. Clocks and watches measure it as relative position of a place on earth vi’s a vi’s the sun. The most important and striking thing about time that we feel is that it flows in one direction only, like water flows in a river. It flows from the past to the future. A person can recollect his past and he is certain about it. But future remains unknown and uncertain to him. He can make choices that can affect the future but not the past. The past is immutable. This feature of time makes it enigmatic. But without this attribute  of time I can’t imagine that humans could have survived and advanced to the level as they have. These are my childhood reminiscences of knowing of time. 

I was admitted to class nine in new school. This school had five storied white building with wide facade. Unlike my old school , this school had two playgrounds, a number of laboratories , a big library, many class rooms and lot many students. It was whole new environment for me and my friends from my old school who like me were admitted in this school. We were awe stricken  by vastness of this place. We were happy from inside but some unknown fear kept us from expressing it openly. In a month’s time we got accustomed to new place and its grandeur. I was feeling proud to have become student and future alumni of a reputed school. I chose science stream for studies. I was keen to know what makes heavenly bodies move in the way they do. I was also keen to know how the things we see around us work. One day a tall handsome man with grey streaks of hair near his temples entered into our classroom and said that he was science teacher and would teach us Physics for the next two years. He started his lecture with an anecdote that  ‘Sir Issac Newton was sitting under an apple tree in a garden and an apple fell on his head. He asked himself many questions. Why did it fall downwards? Why didn’t it go upwards towards the sky? What attracted it towards earth? He got himself fully immersed into it to get the answer. He finally came with answer that the force which attracted apple towards earth is the same force which makes earth to revolve round the sun’. It  meant  that the same set of natural laws that govern the motion of celestial bodies also govern the motion of bodies on the earth. It was a radical assertion considering the times in which it was said. Newton’s laws of motion and law of gravitation are precise and give theoretical background of motion of bodies in space and time. Newton’s equations containing the letter ‘t’ for time to deduce how things move in time. This time ‘t’ is different from the time I knew before. It is absolute , true and mathematical, assumed to run independently of things that change or things that move. Aristotle one of the greatest philosophers of all times  has said that time is measurement of change. Things change continually and we call time measurement of counting of this change. This is what I was taught in my first school.  This concept of time is  different from what Newton has proposed. It is not Newton disregarded  time as measurement of change but he added that there is another kind of time , what he called, a true time , which passes regardless, independently of things and their changes. This kind of time is not directly accessible. It is deduced through mathematical calculations and observations. Aristotle and Newton, two profound investigators of nature, world ever has seen have proposed two opposite ways of thinking about time. Newton’s laws of motions and law of gravitation satisfied my curiosity. They solved for me the mystery behind the motion of celestial bodies. His laws laid the foundation of modern physics and his equations work incredibly well in explaining the macro world around us. This concept of time which is independent of things and their movement seems to me simple and natural. This concept of time as an independent entity didn’t erase from my mind time as measurement of change. I find meaning and value in seeing time also as measurement of change. I am comfortable in carrying simultaneously two opposite concepts of time. After finishing my high school I joined college for further studies. I wanted to become a doctor and ended up a banker after doing post graduation in Physics. What is in store for future no one knows. Physics, I must admit made me admire nature and its laws that I am sure no other discipline could have done. I must also admit that it was through my profession as banker I had opportunity to work  in different parts of the country, came in contact with thousands of people, gained knowledge about the country- its people, its diverse culture , nature of its economy - which I am sure couldn’t have been possible had I joined some other profession. Under the influence of nostalgia I forgot I am trying to find answer to a question. What is time? More than two centuries after Newton’s death, another giant of a physicist Einstein, then a young man of 26 years working in a lowly position of a clerk in the patent office in Bern, came  out with a radical theory, he called it  ‘Special Theory Of Relativity’. This theory transformed the conception of light, time and mass. Time as an absolute and independent entity which Newton proposed and had become common way of understanding of time was no longer holding true. Special theory of relativity proposed that time is not absolute and independent of other things but it is a relative entity. Space and time are interwoven, and space is also a relative entity. The speed of light is constant and nothing can move faster than it. This theory inferred  that time passes slowly for a body in motion.’Twin Paradox-Einstein’s thought experiment illustrates , in the best way, this transformed  concept of time. One of the identical twins who sets off for a journey into space at high speed nearing speed of light and on his return many years after he finds his twin brother who was on the earth has grown much older than him’. Time didn’t pass uniformly for the twins. The motion made difference. Ten years later Einstein came out with another radical theory ‘General Theory Of Relativity’. The theory says that gravity is due to folds of space time. This curvature or folds of spacetime  is gravitational field by itself and conveys gravity though gravitational waves as electromagnetic fields convey force through electromagnetic waves. It inferred that time dilates in the vicinity of heavier bodies of mass. It is to say that time moves faster at mountains than near the seas. It practically means clocks will run slowly near higher gravitational fields and in high speed rockets . These theories were  treated by people then as crazy ideas irrelevant to the reality of nature. Many among the scientific community were also skeptical about these theories. All doubts and skepticism were laid to rest after it was proved experimentally that clocks slow down in the vicinity of stronger gravitational field and also when in motion. Einstein theory of relativity gave deeper insight into time and space which Newton had proposed as absolute entities. Time and space are relative, not absolute, entities. They have no special and exclusive place in the nature. Now we have three different, diverse and also contradictory concepts of time; one, as measurement of change; second, as an absolute entity independent of change of things and not accessible directly and third, as a relative entity which doesn’t pass uniformly for all. Which of the three is true? All the three seems true in their own way

All  these concepts have not said anything on order of time. Order of time is held sacred, true and real by all of us. It is pivotal to our sense of existence and consciousness. What exactly is that which flows? The basic laws of physics don’t distinguish between the past and the future. Is it an illusion, then?  It can’t be. It is too evident to ignore. I can’t say who I am without having a past. I felt uncomfortable that basic laws of physics in which I have rested complete faith can’t make difference between the past and the future. I was relieved when I found that order of time is not an illusion. It is real in particular perspective which is scientifically validated. The flow of heat explains scientifically the flow of time. All of us have experienced that heat passes only from hot bodies to cold bodies and never the other way round. This unique property of heat is foundation of Law of Entropy which says that in an isolated system things move from order to disorder and the change is irreversible. A broken egg can’t be made whole again from the pieces of its shell, white and yoke however hard one may try. It is an irreversible change. We have two distinctly  distinguishable states of the egg, a whole egg -an ordered state and pieces  of its shell scattered around  and its  contents spread in a bowl - a disordered state. Ordered state of the egg was its past and disordered state is its present. My tryst with time didn’t end here. The quantum theory has something more and profound to say about it. In Quantum Mechanics nothing is concrete. Everything in quantum world of sub-atomic particles melts into cloud of probability. Particles don’t always exist. They exist only when someone watches them. It is a world of happenings and interactions, not of objects and things. It a world generated by a swarm of quantum events, where time and space do not exist. Reality thus gets reduced to an interaction. Quantum mechanics tells us that world is continuous and restless interaction of events creating and annihilating ephemeral entities. It is like, what is symbolised  in Hindu philosophy by ‘Nataraja’ - Shiva’s cosmic dance of creation and destruction. All this sounds like a mystical story.  But it is not. Quantum theory is experimentally validated. So, ‘Time’ doesn’t exist in reality. Did I get answer to the question Kishore had asked ? Yes, I have got it. Should I now tell Kishore, with all seriousness it demands that time doesn’t exist at fundamental level, therefore, his question what I am doing with time after my retirement and what I was doing with it before that, is meaningless. No, I can’t say  that to him. I am not certain that time we feel is an illusion. It is established beyond doubt that time is a non-existent entity for interactions and events that happen in the universe at the elemental level. But I haven’t read or heard from any source that founding fathers of quantum mechanics have  said that the time, as we know it, has become irrelevant for the world in which we operate. There is principle of causality which has both philosophical and scientific significance in our world. But at the elemental  level this principle also loses its relevance as time does. Can we ignore principle of causality in our daily lives? Obliviously not. Someone has rightly said that at elementary level there are no cats either, but we do not for this reason cease to bother with cats. We have come to a situation where we find that time has relevance for us but it is irrelevant for the working of the world at the elementary level. This sounds paradoxical. But it is not so. Quantum theory says that universe at the elementary is statistical in nature. All possible states of an happening co-exist simultaneously. But all these states on interaction can’t get manifested to an observer. Human brain is big but not big enough to see through the universe in its all states. A particular state getting manifested  on interaction is governed by rules of probability. Heisenberg’s principle of uncertainty says that nature has placed restrictions on itself to reveal all its facets in an interaction. Therefore, what we  get from the interactions that physical system has with the rest of the world is a particular perspective of a thing and we remain  blissfully oblivious of its all other perspectives.  Flow of time is one such particular perspective we get on our interactions with the physical system. It is our blurring that makes sense for us in our interactions with outside world. Flow of time, exists and is real in that particular perspective. I may say that it is our sweet ignorance that makes time real for us. What we do with time is thus a relevant question? I need to give a cogent answer to this question to Kishore. At this stage I can  tell him that I am not wasting it. 

Books referred 

1. The Order of Time by Carlo Rovelli

2. Origin Story-A big history Of Everything by David Christian 

   Acknowledgement

   Got the idea from a Facebook post of Dr.Sushil Fotedar 

Time-A Sweet Ignorance

I retired from the service of a bank two months ago. Some days back,I received a phone call from an old friend,Kishore. He asked me a benign and simple question. How was I spending my time after retirement? It was a genuine and courteous question from a well meaning friend. But I couldn’t give him a convincing reply. While replying to him I felt something strange happening inside me. I felt lost. I was trying to understand what was I doing with time when I was in service. Our conversation ended as usual on a good note of cracking some non- vegetarian jokes and having a hearty laugh. What held me back to give answer to a straight forward question kept on lurking in my mind. The reason could be that meaning of time inside me is undergoing change or it could be that I hadn’t in the past thought over it. Whatever may the reason, time suddenly has become a strange entity for me. My thoughts on time are vague and amorphous. They are wandering  aimlessly in all direction. I decided to collect all my thoughts and make an effort to find why time has suddenly become a strange entity for me. I am not a philosopher nor a scientist to get the answer methodically to this question. I need to relook into my idea of time from the beginning. I trust my childhood experiences of knowing of time will be a good position to start with. I can’t say how and when an infant gets idea of time. I can’t also say how old I was when I noticed that day passes into night and that light of the day goes away and darkness of night falls, with regularity. I believe I got  elementary idea of time from this diurnal rhythm of night follows day and day follows night. I also noticed that diurnal rhythm broadly regulates the daily chores of our large joint family, day for working and night for sleeping. The other noticeable thing was that specific activities of the family were regulated by instruments called clocks and watches. These instruments  elders told me show time and I was taught how to read it from them. Time for me got thus objectified as continuously changing set of number shown by clocks and watches. At the age of six I was admitted to a neighbourhood school. The school was housed in a small building. There was no play ground, no laboratory and no library. But this school had wonderful teachers. I liked to go to school. I liked to chatter with class mates and make friends. Jatinder, who was admitted to the school on the same day as I was, became my best friend. We used to sit beside each other in the class room and share our tiffins and toffees. I also made my first female friend, Pinki. She was a little chubby girl with fair complexion and rosy cheeks, having thick black hair parted in the middle with two neatly done plaits resting gracefully on her shoulders. In her company my time moved faster, perhaps her’s too. I was getting feel of some other nature of time. This nature of time was particular to me, different from the time read and measured on clocks and watches. I spent my eight formative years in  this school. In these eight years teachers taught me painstakingly. They turned me, from a chattering  little boy who liked hoop rolling and spinning of top into a confident and inquisitive young adolescent. It was here, in this school I learned that earth is neither flat nor it is stationary as it appears to us. It is round in shape like a ball and revolves round the sun. It takes 365 days to complete one revolution and these many days make one year. It also rotates like a top and takes 24 hours to complete one rotation. It was a humbling experience to know what I see, feel, and perceive may not be true in reality. Diurnal rhythm is result of spinning of earth. Time we talk about and see in the watches and clocks has all to do with this rotation of earth. It was demonstrated to us in the class using globe atlas and torch light how days and nights are caused, why there is different time at different places on the earth.  It was also demonstrated to us that when we have day in Kashmir more than half the world has night. Time as I understood then was outcome of unceasing rotation of earth. Clocks and watches measure it as relative position of a place on earth vi’s a vi’s the sun. The most important and striking thing about time that we feel is that it flows in one direction only, like water flows in a river. It flows from the past to the future. A person can recollect his past and he is certain about it. But future remains unknown and uncertain to him. He can make choices that can affect the future but not the past. The past is immutable. This feature of time makes it enigmatic. But without this attribute  of time I can’t imagine that humans could have survived and advanced to the level as they have. These are my childhood reminiscences of knowing of time. 

I was admitted to class nine in new school. This school had five storied white building with wide facade. Unlike my old school , this school had two playgrounds, a number of laboratories , a big library, many class rooms and lot many students. It was whole new environment for me and my friends from my old school who like me were admitted in this school. We were awe stricken  by vastness of this place. We were happy from inside but some unknown fear kept us from expressing it openly. In a month’s time we got accustomed to new place and its grandeur. I was feeling proud to have become student and future alumni of a reputed school. I chose science stream for studies. I was keen to know what makes heavenly bodies move in the way they do. I was also keen to know how the things we see around us work. One day a tall handsome man with grey streaks of hair near his temples entered into our classroom and said that he was science teacher and would teach us Physics for the next two years. He started his lecture with an anecdote that  ‘Sir Isaac Newton was sitting under an apple tree in a garden and an apple fell on his head. He asked himself many questions. Why did it fall downwards? Why didn’t it go upwards towards the sky? What attracted it towards earth? He got himself fully immersed into it to get the answer. He finally came with answer that the force which attracted apple towards earth is the same force which makes earth to revolve round the sun’. It  meant  that the same set of natural laws that govern the motion of celestial bodies also govern the motion of bodies on the earth. It was a radical assertion considering the times in which it was said. Newton’s laws of motion and law of gravitation are precise and give theoretical background of motion of bodies in space and time. Newton’s equations containing the letter ‘t’ for time to deduce how things move in time. This time ‘t’ is different from the time I knew before. It is absolute , true and mathematical, assumed to run independently of things that change or things that move. Aristotle one of the greatest philosophers of all times  has said that time is measurement of change. Things change continually and we call time measurement of counting of this change. This is what I was taught in my first school.  This concept of time is  different from what Newton has proposed. It is not Newton disregarded  time as measurement of change but he added that there is another kind of time , what he called, a true time , which passes regardless, independently of things and their changes. This kind of time is not directly accessible. It is deduced through mathematical calculations and observations. Aristotle and Newton, two profound investigators of nature, world ever has seen have proposed two opposite ways of thinking about time. Newton’s laws of motions and law of gravitation satisfied my curiosity. They solved for me the mystery behind the motion of celestial bodies. His laws laid the foundation of modern physics and his equations work incredibly well in explaining the macro world around us. This concept of time which is independent of things and their movement seems to me simple and natural. This concept of time as an independent entity didn’t erase from my mind time as measurement of change. I find meaning and value in seeing time also as measurement of change. I am comfortable in carrying simultaneously two opposite concepts of time. After finishing my high school I joined college for further studies. I wanted to become a doctor and ended up a banker after doing post graduation in Physics. What is in store for future no one knows. Physics, I must admit made me admire nature and its laws that I am sure no other discipline could have done. I must also admit that it was through my profession as banker I had opportunity to work  in different parts of the country, came in contact with thousands of people, gained knowledge about the country- its people, its diverse culture , nature of its economy - which I am sure couldn’t have been possible had I joined some other profession. Under the influence of nostalgia I forgot I am trying to find answer to a question. What is time? More than two centuries after Newton’s death, another giant of a physicist Einstein, then a young man of 26 years working in a lowly position of a clerk in the patent office in Bern, came  out with a radical theory, he called it  ‘Special Theory Of Relativity’. This theory transformed the conception of light, time and mass. Time as an absolute and independent entity which Newton proposed and had become common way of understanding of time was no longer holding true. Special theory of relativity proposed that time is not absolute and independent of other things but it is a relative entity. Space and time are interwoven, and space is also a relative entity. The speed of light is constant and nothing can move faster than it. This theory inferred  that time passes slowly for a body in motion.’Twin Paradox-Einstein’s thought experiment illustrates , in the best way, this transformed  concept of time. One of the identical twins who sets off for a journey into space at high speed nearing speed of light and on his return many years after he finds his twin brother who was on the earth has grown much older than him’. Time didn’t pass uniformly for the twins. The motion made difference. Ten years later Einstein came out with another radical theory ‘General Theory Of Relativity’. The theory says that gravity is due to folds of space time. This curvature or folds of spacetime  is gravitational field by itself and conveys gravity though gravitational waves as electromagnetic fields convey force through electromagnetic waves. It inferred that time dilates in the vicinity of heavier bodies of mass. It is to say that time moves faster at mountains than near the seas. It practically means clocks will run slowly near higher gravitational fields and in high speed rockets . These theories were  treated by people then as crazy ideas irrelevant to the reality of nature. Many among the scientific community were also skeptical about these theories. All doubts and skepticism were laid to rest after it was proved experimentally that clocks slow down in the vicinity of stronger gravitational field and also when in motion. Einstein theory of relativity gave deeper insight into time and space which Newton had proposed as absolute entities. Time and space are relative, not absolute, entities. They have no special and exclusive place in the nature. Now we have three different, diverse and also contradictory concepts of time; one, as measurement of change; second, as an absolute entity independent of change of things and not accessible directly and third, as a relative entity which doesn’t pass uniformly for all. Which of the three is true? All the three seems true in their own way

All  these concepts have not said anything on order of time. Order of time is held sacred, true and real by all of us. It is pivotal to our sense of existence and consciousness. What exactly is that which flows? The basic laws of physics do not distinguish between the past and the future. Is it an illusion, then?  It can’t be. It is too evident to ignore. I can’t say who I am without having a past. I felt uncomfortable that basic laws of physics in which I have rested complete faith can’t make difference between the past and the future. I was relieved when I found that order of time is not an illusion. It is real in particular perspective which is scientifically validated. The flow of heat explains scientifically the flow of time. All of us have experienced that heat passes only from hot bodies to cold bodies and never the other way round. This unique property of heat is foundation of Law of Entropy which says that in an isolated system things move from order to disorder and the change is irreversible. A broken egg can’t be made whole again from the pieces of its shell, white and yoke however hard one may try. It is an irreversible change. We have two distinctly  distinguishable states of the egg, a whole egg -an ordered state and pieces  of its shell scattered around  and its  contents spread in a bowl - a disordered state. Ordered state of the egg was its past and disordered state is its present. My tryst with time didn’t end here. The quantum theory has something more and profound to say about it. In Quantum Mechanics nothing is concrete. Everything in quantum world of sub-atomic particles melts into cloud of probability. Particles don’t always exist. They exist only when someone watches them. It is a world of happenings and interactions, not of objects and things. It a world generated by a swarm of quantum events, where time and space do not exist. Reality thus gets reduced to an interaction. Quantum mechanics tells us that world is continuous and restless interaction of events creating and annihilating ephemeral entities. It is like, what is symbolised  in Hindu philosophy by ‘Nataraja’ - Shiva’s cosmic dance of creation and destruction. All this sounds like a mystical story.  But it is not. Quantum theory is experimentally validated. So, ‘Time’ doesn’t exist in reality. Did I get answer to the question Kishore had asked ? Yes, I have got it. Should I now tell Kishore, with all seriousness it demands that time doesn’t exist at fundamental level, therefore, his question what I am doing with time after my retirement and what I was doing with it before that, is meaningless. No, I can’t say  that to him. I am not certain that time we feel is an illusion. It is established beyond doubt that time is a non-existent entity for interactions and events that happen in the universe at the elemental level. But I haven’t read or heard from any source that founding fathers of quantum mechanics have  said that the time, as we know it, has become irrelevant for the world in which we operate. There is principle of causality which has both philosophical and scientific significance in our world. But at the elemental  level this principle also loses its relevance as time does. Can we ignore principle of causality in our daily lives? Obliviously not. Someone has rightly said that at elementary level there are no cats either, but we do not for this reason cease to bother with cats. We have come to a situation where we find that time has relevance for us but it is irrelevant for the working of the world at the elementary level. This sounds paradoxical. But it is not so. Quantum theory says that universe at the elementary is statistical in nature. All possible states of an happening co-exist simultaneously. But all these states on interaction can’t get manifested to an observer. Human brain is big but not big enough to see through the universe in its all states. A particular state getting manifested  on interaction is governed by rules of probability. Heisenberg’s principle of uncertainty says that nature has placed restrictions on itself to reveal all its facets in an interaction. Therefore, what we  get from the interactions that physical system has with the rest of the world is a particular perspective of a thing and we remain  blissfully oblivious of its all other perspectives.  Flow of time is one such particular perspective we get on our interactions with the physical system. It is our blurring that makes sense for us in our interactions with physical world. Flow of time, exists and is real in that particular perspective. I may say that it is our sweet ignorance that makes time real for us. What we do with time is thus a relevant question? I need to give a cogent answer to this question to Kishore. At this stage I can  tell him that I am not wasting it. 

Books referred 

1. The Order of Time by Carlo Rovelli

2. Origin Story-A big history Of Everything by David Christian 

   Acknowledgement

   Got the idea from a Facebook post of Dr.Sushil Fotedar 

Bankers are not demons nor are they demigods, they are humans

I am a banker. I work for a Public Sector Bank (PSB) . PSBs aren’t in good health for last 4-5 years. They  are struggling with mounting Non Performing Assets ( NPAs) and tepid business growth. They are losing market share, though loss is gradual but portends what Mr Uday Kotak has prophesied.  Nirav Modi episode, a dreadful event, that occurred in PNB has damaged badly the reputation of PSBs among the common people. And bankers in their eyes  have become eccentric species just a shade below from being called as demons. What has happened in PNB hurt me as badly as it does anyone else who is not a banker.  Media, especially electronic media , has successfully created a damaging perception in the public about Banks and Bankers trying to stereotype bankers as demons and PSBs as blood sucking, inefficient and callous institutions mired in corruption and sycophancy. What has happened in PNB is a fraud, not banking, and all those involved deserve severest punishment. 

I request to all my friends, who are not bankers and banker friends, as well, not to get carried away by rhetoric of media persons and by some so called experts, who have no skin in the game, before you understand what banks do. Banks you usually understand is a place where you put your deposits, take loan to buy a house , buy a car, start a business or expand business and send  moneys  to other cities and countries for your children, parents or friends and sellers. Banks not only do all this but much much more. What is that much more I am talking of and how is that relevant for you to know? I will try to explain in simple language what much more banks do that lands them most of times in trouble. Banks, in any economy, are drivers of economic growth. Economy of a country  never stays on growth path continuously. Historical economic data shows that phases of recessions , depressions and high growth are usual courses in  country’s economic journey. Banks are caught in a knot when Governments and Central Bank of the country portends vaguely that economic growth is about to slowdown and may likely go  into recession and,  if that turns true, will cause many job loses, big reduction in consumer spendings and substantial revenue loss to the Government. No government would like to see that situation to happen. Government and Central Bank , with genuine concern, employ various fiscal & monetary tools which are in their possession to stop economy from falling into recession.  One of tools Central Bank employs under such conditions is, it enables commercial banks through policy prescriptions  to increase their lending to businesses and also increase consumer lending. This is a usual prescription adopted by nations across the globe. It is done with noble intention to tide over the bad phase in economy with expectation that benefits will outweigh damages, and damages caused can be managed well once economy come back on growth path. Economics is not a discipline of science in the sense as physics is.  So, how the prescription plays on the ground will be different in each phase for the same country. A big damage is caused to commercial banks if the prescription does not play on the ground as was envisaged. The longer duration of economic slowdown than expected causes a big damage to commercial banks. 

 

There are many instances of banking crisis that occurred around the globe. The more recent one which was beamed into our drawing rooms - “Sub Prime Banking Crisis”in USA. Something similar what I said above lead to the crisis there. And something similar has lead to the present crisis in PSBs in the country. 

 The economic turn down in USA of 2008 has a lot of things to do with  Banking Crisis, big or small, in different countries around the world including India. The present situation in PSBs in some manner is fall out of economic turn down of US and later global economy from 2008. You may remember that India was one of the country which tide over the crisis of 2008-09 , fairly well. The role of commercial banks in India, especially of PSBs, to stop impending economic slowdown, was laudable. But banks were taking higher risk exposures however within the rules. With  slow down in economy, 2G scam, Coal Scam etc, the projects that banks  had lend got delayed or halted their operations which had deleterious impact on banks. The situation worsened with the passage of time and PSBs stand today on mountain of NPAs. I believe you have understood what I meant to say by ‘banks do much more’. It may be of some help for you to know how banking crisis gets germinated. It is very difficult to foresee banking crisis. There were perhaps only two persons in the world, Raghuram Rajan and Friedman, who had raised doubts about increasing real estate  prices and they believed that higher prices were artificial, supported by active mortgage lending by the Banks and fall out of which could be disastrous, before sub prime crisis broke out. I hope my little effort will make you a bit more informed about banks and bankers to frame your opinion about them.

Journey to Success ; Failure - An inspiration

Last week , while browsing through tweets, I hit a strange tweet , a resume' of Mr Johannes Haushofer, an assistant professor of Psychology  and Public Affairs at Princeton University . He had published on twitter handle his CV listing career failures. It was an unusual CV. This document of his contained sections titled  , "Degree programmes I didn't get in, Research funding I didn't get ,  Paper rejections from academic journals , Academic positions and fellowships I didn't get, and awards and scholarships I didn't get". He also wrote that he created this document to  give some perspective that most of what he tried he failed but these failures were often invisible while successes were visible.  

This tweet of Mr Johannes  Haushofer became darling of twitterati . At the time when I saw the tweet, it was retweeted 700  times  and had received about the same number of likes. The comments on his tweet were many , describing his CV of failures as beautiful, brilliant and inspiring. People showed extraordinary interest in this tweet which perhaps prompted the professor  to quip that CV of his failures has received way more attention than   his entire body of academic work.

 

I  got attracted  to this tweet of professor, I don't know , why of it . I read his CV of failures twice and tried to understand why people and I too, embraced it. I tried to figure out , what is there in someone's list of failures that is seen by many as inspiring and brilliant. There are  many questions and doubts lurking in my mind

1. What is there in list of failures that is inspiring? 

2. Who are the people that found CV of failures of the professor as brilliant, beautiful and inspiring ?

3. Are these the people who have achieved in their profession something of which they are proud of? Or 

4. Are these the people who are struggling to achieve their goals? Or 

5. Are these the people who have withered under series of failures?  Or

6. Do these people see something intrinsically attractive and innovative  in CV of failures independent of their own failures and successes?  

7. Is it right to publish one's list of failures when there is nothing substantial to show of  one's successes? 

8. Had the people who found professor's document inspiring  some knowledge of his  academic successes, too?

9. Has Mr Johannes Haushofer position as Assistant Professor at Princeton University something to do with the type of comments he received on  his CV of failures? 

It is almost impossible to get  answers to these questions. Only way of getting reasonably good conclusion is by conducting some sort of survey thereby collecting responses  from large sections of people on appropriately designed template, which can then be conclusively interpreted by team of experts. But it is a huge exercise which requires lot of investment. No such data based conclusions  are around to come . I, therefore, decided to rest for answers on my own intuition, by doing sort of thought experiment, by putting  these questions , one at a time,  to myself and seek answers to each of them without , as far as possible, getting biased The failures and successes are closely connected to our emotional well being. So while thinking and preparing for answers to these kind of questions my emotions , both good and bad, will come into play. I felt  I should listen to all my emotions and factor them into my answers. Without going into answer of each question separately, I feel the CV of failures is an inspiring, brilliant and beautiful document for me except when I am  a person who has nothing to show for success or I am a person whom failures have withered so much so that sense of disillusionment has set in. While arriving at my conclusions, I have also  assumed that 

a) I know some stories of success of the person whose list of failures is before me. Or 

b) I know about his position in an organisation where he works

With conscious understanding of   exclusions and assumptions made, I believe a large section of people see CV of failures inspiring for a reason. It may be because common people relate to failures more than to successes but they are afraid to own their failure and do not want to talk about them. Here they happen to come across a university professor who proudly published  his long list of failures in public domain. They could discern his perspective of writing about failures as innovative and humble way of describing journey of success. The lines of Thomas Edison, "I have not failed , I have just found 10000 ways that won't work" are the most quoted lines which talk about journey of success. But it seems to me that people don't  relate to it in the manner to get inspired. They would relate better to living  a persons , one like this professor . He is an employee  in a university . He has to manage his boss and cater to his customers, students in his case. He has to look after his family too besides maintaining high level of commitment and motivation to further his career . He has to earn promotions and incentives by show of his achievements. They see in him a person like them, who has multiple demands on him. He is seen as fearless person who  is not afraid of expressing about his failures and at the same time as highly motivated to achieve his career goals .This could be the most compelling reason that people got attracted to his CV of failures .They also found his method of describing failures as invisible components of success, both innovative and inspiring . It shows them a beautiful way out to express their failures courageously without any of fear rejection.

The underlying message of 'CV of failures'' that I could get is that failures are usual occurrences in one's career. These are in a way building blocks of success . Success without failures on the way would be bland. This underlying message is powerful and appealing which can prompt people to share  voluntarily their list of failures. This prompted behavioural change can be utilised  by organisations in their HR practices and interventions. CV of failures in combination  with CV of achievements can be used as one of the tools for selecting right candidates for senior positions. The  CV of failures of probable candidate will give an insight into two most important traits felt required for higher positions, one about the staying power to pursue the goals and other about means employed in the past to achieve successes. It, with some modifications,  can also be used by organisations while considering the promotions for senior positions. At this juncture I am not sure , if world  HR fraternity  has taken note of this unusual CV of Professor Johannes Haushofer and in case they have , what is in their minds about its practical uses. It will be highly debatable proposition whether CV of failures can be used in HR practices in highly structured and hierarchical organisations . Let me leave this part of story to HR practitioners to unravel. 

We are living in very exciting phase  of human civilisation. Artificial intelligence and digitisation are in the process of redefining everything that is around us. Internet , digitisation and artificial intelligence is transforming  the world in a big way. This transformation , in the longer run, would  lift human civilisation to newer heights of development. But on the way it would radically change the definition of work and nature of work that humans would be doing. It seems to me that what large section of people are doing in offices, in factories, in markets and at other workplaces today, all that would cease be there as work or profession for humans  in another few years. On one hand a huge human effort, their collaborations and team work is required to enable  this big and historical transformation but on the other hand workers and employees fear loss of jobs, because of it. The fear of unknown and uncertainty will have its impact on motivation levels of workers and employees which may obliquely act as drag on intended transformation . Thus, it is in the interest of society to keep motivational levels of workers and employees high and prepare them for future challenges. In fast changing work environment innovative thinking, collaborations and re-skilling are  keys to survive and be part of  big transformation. It is admitted fact that psychological safety is sine-qua-non  for better innovation and decision making . The psychological safety is to give people comfort of admitting mistakes, opportunity of learning from failures and let them  openly share their ideas. It is here I believe underlying  message    of " CV of Failures" can be used  for self improvement and inspiring teams for delivering innovations . It will provide a way out for team members to express their failures without fear of rejection and ridicule. This  freedom to express failures and openly exchange ideas will unlock big chunks of dormant energy of a team which  will fuel it to deliver successes and innovations. More successes and innovations of a team in turn will release  more energy  and yet more delivery of innovations,  thus forming a virtuous cycle of energy & innovations . Also each  success and innovation delivered by a team will be more gratifying to it . Most importantly, failures will no longer  be seen as something separate from successes. 

The concept can also be employed for self improvement in areas of motivation and emotional well being. One way of its use for self improvement is to make journal entries of  failures and successes. After a period of six months or 

 year , go back to the journal and contemplate over these entires leisurely with free mind. We will  come to know that successes  have come to us through series of failures. We have persevered  through career and other lows before we reached where we stand . This awareness about our  own journey of successes or yet to achieve goals will be a big source of  inspiration. It is not to say that there won't be any more failures, failures will be there but would be  recognised differently,  as components of success

Men of History

Arguments and counter arguments put forth about Nehru, as an individual, his beliefs on religion, politics , political economy and world affairs, political leadership and contribution to the nation , suffer from one major fallacy. He is pulled from other world by both his admirers as well as his adversaries, into the present day socio- political space and contemporary world affairs and discussed in  present day context .His beliefs and style of leadership are then repudiated or validated , as the case may be , with equal fervour and angry notes . Adversaries tend to portray  him as a completely idealistic person, a cool aristocratic guy detached from stark realities of nation and its people. And admirers see him as a visionary statesman with deep knowledge about India and architect of modern India. Both of them can't be right and both of them can't be wrong too. There can't be any person living or dead, however great he may be, not having committed mistakes or erred on judgement, notwithstanding the position he or she occupied. Therefore  we can't place men of history in boxes  labelled "BAD"  "GOOD" and "NEUTRAL". Absolutes don't exist at all. Historical personalities of past, in my opinion should be evaluated for their major traits and responsibilities  they had undertaken to discharge. Say major traits of Gandhi were simplicity and commitment to non violence and responsibility undertaken to free India from British rule. He, I presume scored well on these counts - but there were some connected actions of him  which to some may look wrong like  support Khilafat movement, sitting  on fast  to give share of treasure to Pakistan , knowing that they would misuse it against India etc. Some may look at these incidents without critical examination and turn into Gandhi baiters, ignoring his work for liberating country from colonialism, ignoring  his philosophy of non violence which has gained universal appeal and world has acknowledged him as apostle of peace. The things turn ugly not because  admirers and adversaries are holding their respective views but for reasons which are beyond arguments and counter arguments.

Corruption-O Lord! Save My Country

Pt. Nehru in his famous 'tryst with destiny' speech delivered from the precincts of Lal Killa on the August 15, 1947 had said, quote," it is fitting that at this solemn moment,we take the pledge of dedication to the service of India and her people and to the still larger cause of humanity",unquote. Perhaps most of his followers and people of India forgot his words and moved into the realm of their new world, of course not of his dreams. Sixty four years after his famous speech, a simple, not much literate man from a humble background ,Sh. Anna Hazare, from the hole of Tihar Jail, exhorted people to fight for freedom from corruption which he calls second freedom struggle.There was a overwhelming response, people thronged roads and streets across the country challenging the authority of Government , even raised questions on authority of the Parliament and its established process of law making. The Ivy League educated Ministers conceded defeat and released him from Jail on his terms.

Now Anna and his team is among sea of people at Ramlila Ground in Delhi, demanding enactment of strong Lokpal Bill, say bill, as drafted by them.

It is amply understandable that we need to have Anti Corruption Ombudsman with sufficient teeth and might but not without putting simultaneously checks and balances in place. We need an Ombudsman with adequate authority and reasonable accountability. Any institution or person with absolute powers and without any accountability becomes a monster. Secondly, in a democracy the feeblest voice needs to be heard . The claim of Team Anna that they represent all those voices is farfetched.One prominent member of the team has a strong belief that all Government employees are corrupt and collude with each other to rob the common man (who is common man, is government employee not a common man), e- media orchestrated this biased notion of his and ingrained it in the minds of the youth. Thirdly, any law, however strong it may be, cannot be panacea for all ills. Fourthly, we have a well established parliamentary democracy and constitution has granted us fundamental rights which judiciary, parliament etc have ably protected. We are only state in the world, with population of 1.20 billion and low per capita income of US 1219 , having well established and working democratic system of governance.We must be proud of it. Team Anna and opportunistic political leaders should refrain from comparing their fight against corruption with Jasmine revolution , there people are fighting against despots. It may push the youth, who are actively participating, towards political adventurism.

In democracy no party or individual is absolutely wrong or absolutely right. It believes in dialogue to arrive at consensus. Law making, therefore, in democratic set up is time consuming. The stubbornness in democracy is not an acceptable norm.If Team Anna, Government and political parties stick to their respective line of action on the bill, the one law they would certainly enact, that is, LAW-LESSNESS and they may also change form of government to ANARCHY.

OLord !Save My Country.