Pahare ko salla, kharani ko dalla

Look again at that dot. That's here. That's home. 

-Carl Sagan

For once, Murphy should forget me.....

I have never been a great planner. I live concentrating fully on the next step. There are exceptions when I do plan well ahead, and for me this came in the form of another travel.

On brushing across the advertisement for my research related conference in Istanbul (COSPAR 2016), eighteen months back, I knew I had to be there. When the time for submission of abstract came forward, I diligently submitted (two) my abstracts (20 min before the deadline passed!), applied for financial support, which was a big deal since I had, for this phase, exhausted all my channels for international travel support from funding agencies. And I waited..

Of course soon, things worked as planned. Both my abstracts were accepted and I was granted a full paid trip to Turkey. I got my visa on time, booked tickets (and hotel) at great prices, slogged day in and out for completion of the research work(s) that I was supposed to present there and waited for the day when I would leave...on my birthday. There was no better way to gift myself, I knew it and I chuckled. Things were going pretty smoothly for me. More often than not, it was too suspicious to be so smooth but I cast those thoughts aside. After all, for once it was quite possible that Murphy forgets me..Alas he didn't!

“If you perceive that there are four possible ways in which something can go wrong, and circumvent these, then a fifth way, unprepared for, will promptly develop”. This fifth way came to me just ten days before the date of my travel. I woke up at 5 am that day, looked at the time and thought to myself “ten days to travel, can you finish your work? get that haircut? lose some weight? buy a trolley?...I dozed off. Two hours later, when I was back from my morning workout and sipping a cup of brilliant tea, my dad comes to me. Hinged with him, are his best efforts of trying not to look agitated “Things are getting pretty bad in Turkey – all those firings..” I looked at him and said “Yeah, but are you talking about France?” “No, you should come and see this”.. There I was in front of a screen looking at my sleepless work-filled nights, cancelled dinners, missed movies, my eighteen months of wait, (not to mention so much of financial investments) evaporate away. “Mmmmmm, where is my cookie”?, I asked mom. On the background was heard, “Turkey on the brink of civil war, thousands of people....”

The next few hours went away frantically, writing emails to the organizers, sending messages to my friends, calling my travel agent and undoing all that I had taken so much trouble to get done in the first place. Everyone, except me (and my travel agent) seem silently relieved by my cancellation.  Amid every unfortunate happenings in Turkey, this morning, it was not a choice. I was just left with no option to go ahead. That morning I felt something that I do not remember feeling anytime earlier – demented.

Obviously, the current state of affairs today are not limited to the heartache of a long-awaited but cancelled trip. People everywhere are demented perhaps. Unfortunately, as much as I try, I fail to understand the necessity of much violence. Perhaps I am too simple-minded and what is obvious, are not so to me. I don't obviously understand the importance of religion, colour, caste or any adjectives put in front of a person. And along with it, I don't understand the prejudice that these adjectives hold. I am ignorant and I am glad that I am. 

I try to think of where we – as a human race - have failed what resonates deeply in my mind are these words by Carl Sagan on the photograph of Earth taken from Voyager 1 spacecraft:

“Look again at that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar," every "supreme leader," every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there--on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that, in glory and triumph, they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot. Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of this pixel on the scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner, how frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds.

Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the Universe, are challenged by this point of pale light. Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves.

The Earth is the only world known so far to harbor life. There is nowhere else, at least in the near future, to which our species could migrate. Visit, yes. Settle, not yet. Like it or not, for the moment the Earth is where we make our stand.

It has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character-building experience. There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we've ever known.”

I hope we all become ignorants too.

Image Courtesy: NASA/JPL

Do you believe in Santa?

"Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence"

-- Carl Sagan

Do you believe in Santa? The question is rather rhetorical. It is the belief in anything supernatural that has the power to 'reward' those who have been 'good' and 'punish' the 'bad' ones. This judge, who is widely called God. It is the question of his existence or none and the judgements associated with it. How someone answers this brings along with it a lot of opinions. Between Yes, I do and No, I don't, our judgements cross the bridge of orthodoxicty to rationality. Then there is a third type - like me - who are a welcome grey in the world of black and white - agnostics.

It is very easy to justify a No. He is a figment of our imagination and obviously there is no evidence to prove that he exists. Impossible to justify is a Yes. Does this issue then boil down to mere subjectivity? If one can neither prove nor disprove his presence, shouldn't the correct answer be I don't know? There are plenty of articles and books on theism, atheism, pantheism etc and it is not in my ability to discuss them here. Rather, I will plainly put across my views in this subject – something that only I am capable of doing.

I would like to narrate a particular incident here. A few months back, I was returning home from dinner with a group of friends when the discussion about theism erupted. It went along the lines of one friend mocking the concept of God and the other trying to defend the idea of God. The second friend looked at the first and told him that he should be afraid of mocking God lest His anger befall on him. The first friend was amused and he instantly looked up at the sky and challenged “Come on, hit me with your best”. Almost involuntarily, I silently prayed “No, don't do that to him” to that fictitious something out there in the universe. Later on contemplation, it simply demonstrated a sense of fear in me that I have internalized. Definitely, there is nobody in space who would listen to such challenges and act upon them. My absurd reaction was simply for the fear of any untoward occurrence to my loved one, however well I know that this will not happen. This brings us to the natural question: Perhaps it is the fear that drives people to pray, isn't it? Again, whatever way it originates, as long as it limited to constructing an arena in our minds where we can take shelter when in trouble – a reassurance – I would still call it a positive effect.

The history of unconventional discoveries in physics itself have time and again shown to us that we are in a constant process of learning and unlearning. In fact, the way science and God are segregated, it is paradoxical that I should use the example of the discoveries in science to accentuate the idea of God, but in my mind, the idea of God is simply one elegant theory. Definitely, for me, God is not someone deep seated in heaven who created Earth and now keeps an account of the sins committed by mere mortals or who can bend the laws of nature. (An expanding universe does not preclude a creator, but it does place limits on when he might have carried out his job - Stephen Hawking). I do not also mean the common (mis)conception about God who has to be pleased and sacrificed for, or any other man-made representations of Him. Rather, I am simply keeping an open mind that perhaps – just perhaps - there is something that our mind is not capable of comprehending currently (maybe an idea, Nature, our unused part of minds or something else), and that probable incomprehensibality for me is God.

Also, while I strongly oppose the propaganda meted out by the fundamentalists who forcefully impose their belief in the presence of their Almighty. For me, it is also equally not correct to mock the IDEA as well. After all, Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence. How will but one, prove the unprovable?

Having said all this, we should understand why such a discussion is necessary. God is often simply (read wrongly) portrayed as a representative of a particular religion. A few days across, I came across forwards in my Facebook newsfeed. It read something like this: “There are N religions in the world, some say N are wrong and some N-1”. This satire has indeed put across a strong statement. It amuses and at the same time irritates me to see how people (actually!) believe that the religion they are born with is true and ultimate while the rest are not. Needless to say, many opportunists cash on this very aspect of division with ulterior motives and while their wrong doing is obvious, it is mandatory that we also look into ourselves and check if we are contributing. In that, I also consider silence as a vice, with adverse effects.

In the end, I believe, if religion is already doing us more harm than good, shouldn't we perhaps do away with the divide and simply accept the idea of humanity? As John Lenon has beautifully lyricised:

Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion, too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace

You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will be as one

-- John Lenon

The wrongs that make up right

“To a woman nothing seems quite impossible to the powers of the man she worships”

--O' Henry

Beautiful day! he remarked, taking his dog out for a walk. The crimson sun rose lazily and the dew drops tossed in their cradles. The silence was interrupted by the chirping of birds and hymns from a distant temple. In no time, would the same place be replaced by hurried people jostling for work. Right now, as it always did, would be pathetically lost, even before he could complete his one short breath.

Maya and Sid had met some months ago on the same road. She was wearing a blue scarf tied around her head. Sid had come here with his wife to take their ritualistic evening stroll. He couldn't help notice how Maya was struggling to neat her otherwise unkempt hair in the wind. While his wife was away to grab some tea, he froze when the young woman came up to him to ask for directions to reach a library nearby. Their eyes met and he thought that it had stayed a second longer. Did it? For days together, he re-lived the moment till fantasy and reality turned intangible.

Perhaps it did not, he thought now. The following days soon witnessed courtship-consent and clandestine meetings. What he felt was magical and he was convinced that he had at last met his soulmate. She even completes my sentence, he confessed to his wife – Rachi - one day. She listened to the entire story teary-eyed and with quiet dismay. She had heard about infidelties but all of them to her were only distant happenings. She had to make a decision and finally after endless tossing and remaining awake the whole night, she decided to stay with him for a month more before she moved out. It is difficult to get a place in a short time, I am only staying that long for logistics...she convinced herself.

Natalie will be staying with us, she told him the next day. By the end of the month, we both will find a separate place to stay.

The first few days in the house was awkward for the trio. Soon, as it happens, they started getting used to the rhythm of the other person's daily habits. The days of emotional distress now lingered in the background and all adapted to the new normal. This is the beauty about human race – adaptation. Natalie was a good listener, those few people whose aura compells one to open up. In no time Sid poured in her with the innocence of a child. They spoke of music, movies and when alone, even about Maya. In the meanwhile, his meetings with Maya got less frequent. The newness disappeared and with the breeding of familiarity, their priorities changed. Maya did not show up for a few lunch dates on the pretext of attending meetings. Sid went home a little early each day though Rachi never placed such a demand anymore. He wanted to optimize the few days left for them together. Perhaps it is the thought of losing something dear that makes the clutch tighter. This clutch that encompasses one's entirerity in that instant.

I need to tell Maya the truth, his thoughts paced with the temple hymns that morning. She had been out of reach for quite a long time. He missed her, but clearly, he had not put in much effort to trace her too. Deep inside, he also felt a little relieved on her effortless disappearance since the sudden flame of romance had exhaustively burnt him down steadily. He longed for the quiet times with Rachi. She had overstayed her time at home and would be leaving in a few days. All the while, she had been hunting for apartments to suit her needs. She has always been very particular, that silly idealist, he found himself smiling as he was reminded of the times when they were looking for this one. He remembered the mole on her right ear and how her lips quivered when she ate anything cold. All of a sudden, he felt a strong rage inside himself. She cannot leave! he told himself almost aloud.

That evening, Rachi and Natalie went for a walk.

So, you were right, said Natalie. Rachi's satisfaction was evident in her rosy cheeks.

Yes, your medication and therapy worked. Would he still be needing them? she cheerfully asked.

There are lapses in such cases, but I would not worry too much about that. Tell me though, how did you first guess that Maya was only his imagination? Natalie interrogated.

What Maya was wearing when they met. That was what “I” was wearing in our first meeting, chuckled Rachi. Besides, Sid is not like any other man.

Both smiled and the rest of the walk was quiet with each lost in their own thoughts.

The next day, as Natalie flew off to her native land, she noticed a little girl wearing a blue scarf seated next to her. The coincidence that saved a marriage, she smirked.

Soon her thoughts shifted to the first time Rachi had come to meet her agitated and sad at the same time. She had convinced herself that Sid was a schezophrenic and dating a fictitious woman called Maya. To get to the bottom of this, she had to analyze the patient herself. On the first few encounters itself, Natalie had known that Sid had showed no primary symptoms of such a condition. Natalie was in a fix. Rachi being a purist that she was, would be shattered. Lies people tell themselves to save the hurt! Natalie felt obliged to save their relationship. Secretly, she stole Maya's phone number and fixed up a meeting with her. Maya seemed a proud and reasonable woman who agreed to vanish in oblivion on learning about Rachi. She appeared to be calm, but Natalie knew better. When a woman speaks, one should more importantly look at what her eyes are saying. She was heartbroken and angry, yet she had one last hope in her new found love. On one condition, Maya stated, only if Sid himself chooses Rachi over me. Natalie had agreed, quite sure that Sid would do it. Yet, she completely understood Maya's expectation from him, after all, “to a woman nothing seems quite impossible to the powers of the man she worships”. This being done, the rest was then easy. Replacing Maya's number by an old defunct number, playing Cupid between the lovers, and vouching secrecy among the ladies individually were enough to fix an otherwise broken marriage. She now dozed off debating in her mind about who exactly among all of them was a delusionist. Rachi, whose mind was not yet accepting her husband's fallacy and had covered it with an imaginative story, Maya, who on learning about Sid's infidelty still hoped that he would choose her over his long stable relationship, or herself, who hoped to save their relation by lies. We will see, she thought, if two wrongs make a right.

Banterings of a gibberish mind

“..people have a way of leaking into each other like flavours when you cook..” - Salman Rushdie

It was just another day for her. She got up after snoozing the alarm for the second time and immediately followed: a cup of steaming hot tea. She looked out of the window. There was nothing much to be seen, it was foggy and misty. There was a certain chill in the air, reminisence of the huge downpour last night. Such days reminded her of childhood when this would have meant no school owing to heavy landslide somewhere between her home and school. The rest of the day would follow cuddled inside a blanket and dreamily reading her Sleeping Beauty tactfully covered inside a thick biology book to avoid discovery. A trick she learnt from her brother who hid an Archies comic similarly. She was quick to learn, observe and absorb.

A phone call from work interrupted her thoughts. She pretended not to see it. I could have fever today, she thought or maybe I will just tell them that there is indeed a landslide nearby. Immediately, she felt a pang of guilt. The same guilt she had experienced on feeling relieved that the bike accident she had witnessed the last day was not with her dear friend, but rather with some stranger who had a similar clothing as her friend. The motorist was not injured, but she was surprised at her immediate and involuntary but selfish reaction - as if his well-being mattered any less. Anyway, the monsoon was going to be a long one, she thought, so she should maybe save the excuse for when it actually happened and ceased to be an excuse. She decided to go. Absent-mindedly she turned on the radio and got ready for work.

She had familiarized herself with the drill on her way. On the left side of her gate would be curious neighbours, a little above would be a small white puppy who would enthusiastically bark at any passer-by. On her way, she would meet a cobbler in his shop who would acknowledge her and she would do the same. In between, she sometimes met a few familiar faces who would politely smile and pass by. Sometimes, there were a few who would ask how she has been doing and she had a standard answer for all – irrespective of how she was actually doing. She knew that all other people she would have asked the same question would have answered her likewise and so these days she had decided to try something else. She would small-talk about objective facts like how badly it rained last night or how frequent the power-cuts are. At least these are common experiences between us, she thought. Once in a while, she would go a step ahead and compliment someone for a pretty dress. Complements, she thought will lighten up someone, but she was careful not to do it too often, lest over-doing ruined the charm.

Day after day, we interact with numerous people. On a non-hectic day, my person-to-person interaction will be one, two.. she started mentally counting in her head – fifteen she decided, resolving to make a note of how many people she would interact with today. Most of them are often the ones who go unnoticed and are non-existent until we see them again. Some guy in the canteen, that colleague of another department or maybe the same cobbler she encountered on the way. In a split second we greet and thereafter forget them. Others are mostly our friends or family, near or far. Then finally come the last set of people who are no longer a part of our lives, but who once were, till the parting of ways. They are also the ones who occupy a larger part of our thoughts on a quiet day. Nonetheless, inspite of all the numerous interactions that we have, all of us have individual personalities. How much of one's personality is influenced by the other person's? Is there any way to measure and quantify it? She kept thinking. She had felt similar fascination on learning that 99.99 % of all human genes are the same and yet in all the world, no two people match each other completely. We still retain our individuality inspite of numerous interactions, or do we? Or maybe the sum total of all of that was us. If there were two people who would talk honestly about a third person, would their views match? Whose would be closer to reality and what would this reality actually be? It would be too simplified to think that the ones we are emotionally close to are the ones who know us accurately. This was easily contradicted with some of her experiences where people opened up to strangers uninhibitedly than their dear ones. She was reminded of those lines from Midnight's children that was stuck on her mind: People have a way of leaking into each other like flavours when you cook.

The honking of car horn brought her to the present. Irritatingly, she looked at the driver who was equally irritated on seeing her recklessly cross the road. The fifth one of the day, she thought to herself, also resolving in mind to make a mental note, next day, of the people who make her feel good, bad or indifferent. Perhaps there are a lot of factors that affect this 'leaking' of personalities, she continued thinking. We imitate - consciously or otherwise - the ones we admire. Or we behave a certain way with somebody for reciprocity, because that-is-how-that-somebody-had-behaved-with-us. We are extra-nice to people we very much like. Which one then would be the true me? Or maybe there is nothing like true me. Our interactions are connected, intermingled and maybe we don't individually exist, she concluded. She looked at other people nearby and often wondered what their story would be. She loved to hear if only they would open up to her. If they didn't, she often had a habit of making up small stories in her mind. Today she met an old woman who had hopped onto the same car she had got on. Her expressions were hard, she looked troubled and she noticed that her thin lips quivered a bit as she spoke. She was reminded of the Queen from Alice In Wonderland and couldn't help smiling to herself as she imagined this woman repeating the Queen's refrain: Off with their heads! She had an overtly active imagination. It kept her mind busy and herself quiet - which people often mistook for snobiness.

Her work place arrived soon and as she got down from the car, she gave the old woman a smile and did not wait for her reciprocation. She had felt sorry for whatever she was going through - an illness, some trouble at work, uncaring children - her guesses were many but not conclusive, and the least she could do for her was smile. As she had walked a little further, someone seemed to call her name from behind. It was her friend who had forgotten his umbrella and wanted to share the one she had. As he went on chatting about the previous day happenings, the girl counted seven on her head and continued to play the role of a listener with him.

Love and Gravity

Scene: (A gathering of scientific minds of all ages chatting away to glory over nothing, everybody busy speaking about one’s own analysis and nobody even listening to one another.)

Enter Sir Isaac Newton with a half eaten apple in his hand...lost in thought...

VOLTAIRE: What is wrong Monsieur? You look charged out. Is your“cell-f” (self) okay?

NEWTON: In one of the rarest occasions where I was contemplating in my garden over nothing (scratching his temple)..I came up with this. (Showing his half-eaten apple)

VOLTAIRE: (confused)..Forgive my questioning for I have no intention of offending you Lord Newton, but what is so significant about a half eaten apple that has already lost half its mass it originally owned and hence half its charge?

LAVOISIER: I strongly object Sir.. the mass is not lost. It has only converted itself to different form.. that of energy..The half eaten apple is providing Sir Newton the energy to think.

ÉMILIE DU CHÂTELET: All the while, conserving it's energy. Ain't it love? (looking towards VOLTAIRE who is already slightly blushing)

NEWTON: Aye! Have you ever wondered why apples fall only downwards?

BOOLE: Well, all fruits fall downwards.

NEWTON: Yes but why?

BOOLE: A falling apple AND eating it seems logical, while eating a fruit that went upwards would demand us to fly OR give up eating fruits altogether...and personally I have no intention of giving up eating fruits..

ARISTOTLE: Fair Newton, whom do you blame for this phenomenon?...The tree that let go of the fruit, the thrust that pulled the fruit downwards or the fruit that was too tired to hold on..

NEWTON: That’s not the point....

BOOLE: What is it then?

PAULI: Well, the ‘Exclusion Principle’ states that no two apples can occupy the same state (read position) together. Therefore, for another apple to grow, it must make place for a newer apple. Hence, it just fell.

EINSTEIN: ...and throughout the journey, the fallen apple must have experienced a state of weightlessness..

NEWTON: That only the apple could tell.

SCHRODINGER: Quantum mechanically, the apple has some finite probability of being present in the tree. Well a few microseconds after its fall too.

HEISENBERG:.. Surely you are talking about the quantum mechanical probability of the 'apple' waves. Do you know that? The position of the apple could be determined with certainty when it was simply hanging there...but when it detached itself from its parent tree.. during the fall.. neither its momentum nor its position can be determined with certainty..

MADAME CURIE:.. Like a daughter atom detaching itself from the parent in radioactive phenomenon.

NEWTON:.. A beauty with perfect brains..

EINSTEIN: However beauty is only skin deep.. Perhaps a few microns...of the dimension of nuclear radius.

PIERRE CURIE:... thats deep enough.. How deep do you want?” ADORABLE PANCREAS”?

NEWTON (turning towards Madame Curie and flirting): ..At times I feel so empty from within!

EINSTEIN: Yes Yes you are right..We are nothing but a varied composition of atoms, and atoms are nothing but vast emptiness. It is said that if we could squeeze out all the emptiness from the atom, then the entire humanity could fit into the size of a sugar cube..well probably!

NEWTON: (visibly irritated to see Einstein out do him): Surprising to see you talk about probability. According to you God doesn't play dice,does he?

HAWKINGS:.. (his monitor beeping):..God does not only play dice with the Universe, he throws the dice in a place where we cannot see it..If you look out of the window, you will be surprised to realise that the world as we see today exists as it is simply by mere random chance.

MADAME CURIE: Well, its not surprising.. our very own existence is a random chance too. A random chance of all physiological functions rightly working and interpreting our signals correctly and accurately.

EDWARD NORTON LORENZ: Even if anything is systematic and ordered, a single flapping of wings can disrupt your functioning to levels unimaginable..

ROBERT BROWN: Why are you so agitated like pollen grains placed in a solvent of increasing temperature?

NEWTON: Well....Love is always associated with agitation and restlessness. Have you not heard about my three Universal Laws of Love?

ROBERT BROWN: No!

NEWTON: Let us all settle for a drink first, then I shall explain it to you, my dear friends and their foes!

(Everybody settle for a drink, but at the far end Newton sees C.V Raman holding a glass to the window, and then talk something to others..After noticing him for quite sometime, Newton finally approaches him)

NEWTON: Namaskar!

RAMAN: Namaskaram..(and continues to hold his glass towards the window and observe something).

NEWTON: I have been noticing you for quite some time. Every time you hold a glass to the window and write something but you do not drink it. Is it some kind of a Hindu ritual?

RAMAN:(proudly). Aha!..As you can see when light passes through the alcohol, the light splits itself into three lines each with characteristic wavelength...this is the 'Raman Effect'.

NEWTON(slightly drunk): That is good, but after a few drinks, how do you explain me seeing you three places..here..here and there...

RAMAN: Ha Ha..Well that is the 'Alcohol Effect' in Newton..and the number of me that you see is a function of the amount of drinks you take..they are directly proportional.

NEWTON: How is it that you are not drinking the organic liquid that led to your fame?

RAMAN: See..you can see 'Raman Effect' in Alcohol but not 'Alcohol Effect' in Raman. It is a non-commutative relation.

HOMI BHABA: I am really proud of you..After all the grapes from which this drink is made.. have sensation too..

NEWTON: Yes I can see that (hic!)..that sensation(hic!) is now running in my veins. Now as I had promised to finally reveal my Three Universal Laws of Love.

First Law: A straight boy continues to be in love with a girl unless an external disturbing agent (another girl or in some cases, another creative passion or love for solitude) disturbs his equilibrium.

Second Law: The rate of increase of the boy’s interest towards the newly found is directly proportional to the attention that is reciprocated to him from the cause in mention.

Third Law: To every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. Judging the behaviour of the boy, his present acquaintances too move away from him in the opposite direction, and hence the coupling breaks down. Here the boy’s behaviour acting as the action, and the moving away is the reaction, any questions?

BOOLE: Does this law commute?

NEWTON: Definitely! A girl or anyone else has equal free-will to do the same.

LAVOISIER: Well then my dear friend, where does all the love towards the former lover go then?

NEWTON: Love can neither be created or destroyed..It simply changes its form from the Utopian concept of one person to that of another. This is the law of conservation of love.

LAVOISIER: Well then, is it not true that love makes you fly to the seventh heaven. It makes you levitate unlike the fallen apple in your hand.

At this point Newton is struck with an idea....

NEWTON: True!!Love acts as an abstract force that makes you levitate, so it should be true that there should exist a force that pulls you downwards too. That is why all objects fall downwards.

ARCHIMEDES: EUREKA! EUREKA!.. Love acts as a buoyant force that keeps you from drowning.

NEWTON: Yes, surely, contrary to that, there should exist a downward pull too...

Everybody sits down in a contemplative mood again...Well, to this day we know that the force responsible for bringing us down is nothing but gravity..Since they have already started the comparison, between love and gravity, let us extend it here. Besides the four basic forces in nature, as we all know the strong, weak, electromagnetic and gravitational, there exists a fifth force which of course is abstract in nature. This fifth force responsible for lifting us to a higher energy level as stated earlier and also responsible for the happiness of mankind is nothing but love. Out of the four basic forces in nature, gravitational force is the weakest one but well!..strangely this weakest force is responsible for the creation of the world, by bringing ‘masses’ closer to each other.. so safely love maybe an abstract force, but it too is responsible for bringing ‘mankind’ together., and yes like gravity.. love too is attractive in nature.. Love for an idea, a moment, knowledge or music.. It is unlimited in form and unlike energy, love is not conserved or limited in nature..The more you share.. the more it increases..well...happiness being the by-product...!