So many times upon a time

Time as an absolute, with an immutable past, a fleeting instant of present and a potentially unknown future is something that is not totally tenable with various modern aspects of science. Physics in particular. In Einstein’s special relativity, for example, time becomes completely dependent on the frame of reference of the observer. Thus the passage of 10 minutes for a person at rest is not the same as that for a person travelling at speeds close to that of light. And, indeed, this discrepancy can actually be measured by accurate atomic clocks. Also, in some relativistic equations, the “arrow of time” which we automatically assume to be travelling from the past to the future, is reversible — that is, it can go backwards. Accordingly, a lot of western philosophers have begun to develop a completely different concept of time which they call “Block Time”. Here the so-called flow of time is perceived to be no more than a convenient illusion in which we find ourselves immersed, whereas in reality, they say, no such construct exists. As argument to support this contention, they hold that clocks are nothing more than instruments that measure the distance between two events, just as a metre rule is an instrument to measure the distance between two places. The obvious inference here is that just like there is no progression of places going from one end to another, there is no progression of time having a beginning or an end either. This leaves us with a description of time as an unchanging block, studded with events, and having in it all tenses as one. Most eastern philosophies, on the other hand, never believed in a linear nature of time to begin with. In the Bhagavad Gita, for instance, when Arjuna vacillates on the battle field and develops butterflies in his stomach about killing his kinfolk, Krishna has to remind him that the killing he talks about which he is going to do, has already been done and accomplished by himself and Arjuna is merely the instrument to carry it out now. This effortless use of a full-tense, incorporating both the past and future in it, ultimately convinces Arjuna about the convenience of his prior temporal conditioning and the reality of his ultimate quest. But it’s only a little later when Krishna grants Arjuna the boon of temporary cosmic vision and allows him to see his Limitless Form as the supreme omnipotent majestic universal Being, that Arjuna completely comprehends. I behold you in all directions, he says, I see you without beginning, middle or end

The 3 Most Popular Words

Imagine KBC-3 host Shahrukh Khan asking a PYT (Pretty Young Thing) in the hot seat, “What are the three most popular words uttered at this time of the year?” And the PYT looks soulfully into the Badshah-turned-Devdas-turned Don’s eyes and says, “I love you!”. We smarter types know that the most popular three-word greeting in the first week of January is “Happy New Year”! Those of us who haven’t made it to the KBC-3 hot seat could even wonder how much we could have raked in for getting “Happy New Year” right. We could then speculate on whether the query addressed to the PYT is for starters or aimed to lull her into complacency so that she lets down her guard for the more difficult question to follow. And imagine the response of the arm-chair TV audience if the PYT gets swept away by the charisma of the King Khan and actually says, “I love you” instead of “Happy New Year”! Which may be why Perry Como sang “Don’t let the stars get in your eyes”! There are, of course, other possible responses to the query of what is the most popular three-word greeting at this time of the year, going by Shahrukh’s own comment to a news magazine that “Mr Bachchan thinks in English and does in Hindi. I think in English and do in English.” What if the PYT comes up with the response that the most popular three-word greeting is Naya Saal Mubarak? Would Shahrukh in his capacity as the think-and-do-in-English KBC-3 host rule that as technically incorrect? Or would Quiz Master Shahrukh go by the spirit and not the linguistic letter of the law? Can Shahrukh ignore the precedent of the filmi dialogue uttered by India’s most highly-paid movie star Rajinikanth: “I can talk English, walk English, laugh English.” George Bernard Shaw, of course, put it more simply when he said, “England and America are two countries divided by a common language.”