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The Adventure Summary
The Adventure Summary
The Adventure by Jayant Narlikar is a unique story in which the author has tried to concoct a new
blend of history and physics. In this story he writes about Professor Gaitonde’s unique experience.
He time-travels into the past and experiences something that never ever existed. He finds himself in
a Bombay that never ever existed. The Bombay Gangadharpant saw in different world was quite
different. As the train stopped at Victoria Terminus, he found the station to be extremely neat and
clean; the blue coaches of the train carried GBMR, “Greater Bombay Metropolitan Railway”. The
working staff consisted of Anglo-Indians and a few British officers. As he came out of the station he
saw the Headquarters of East India Company; while walking on Hornby Road, he saw buildings of
British brands, such as Boots and Woolworth departmental stores, imposing offices of Lloyds,
Barclays and other British banks. The most startling thing was at the Forbes building where his son
worked, he did not find him there.Then he went to the Library of Asiatic Society to solve the riddle of
the history. As a historian it was his duty to find the truth and the reality related to the battle of
Panipat. He wanted to know the details of battle of Panipat. And as he read the book he was amazed
to find the details totally contrary to what had actually happened. In the book he read the Marathas’
morale was very high because their leader, Vishwasrao successfully pierced the enemy defense line
without being hit by the so many bullets that were fired at him. Thus they succeeded in defeating
Abdali’s troops. Not only the Marthas had defeated the troops of Abdali, but they had also kept the
British at bay. They had successfully established their kingdom in North India and through political
acumen steered India to a state of prosperity and power. They had managed and administered India
efficiently in all spheres such as finances, defense, and international trade. He was wonderstruck at
this phenomenon.After leaving the library he went to a guest house and took a light meal. Professor
Gaitonde went to Azad Maidan where he found a lecture going on; on the stage he noticed the
presidential chair unoccupied. There he had an argument with the audience regarding the unchaired
lecture, which turned out to be violent. The audience got on the stage and threw Professor Gaitonde
off the stage.The throw had an effect on the professor as it was after this experience he came out of
the other world experience. He had been found unconscious in Azad Maidan.In order to solve the
mystery of this unique experience, Professor Gaitonde went to Professor Deshpande. The latter tried
to give scientific explanation to the former. According to professor Deshpande, reality is something
we experience through our senses which are kind of instruments. These senses or instruments have
limitations. What we call reality may have other manifestations or dimensions. Physicists have found
there are many worlds existing besides the world we see through our senses. They have also found
something startling during experiments on small systems of atoms and their particles. The behavior
of these systems is unpredictable. This is called lack of determinism. Keeping this law in mind it can
be said what we call reality may be different in another world. According to Deshpande, Gaitonde
made transition from one world into another during his unique experience about battle of Panipat.
The reality is he was visiting Bombay in coma. He met with an accident and went into a coma; at the
time of accident, Professor Gaitonde was thinking about Battle of Panipat and the possible
consequences of theory of catastrophe on it. He also found history to be changed in which India had
never ever become slave to the British. He also found that Marathas had defeated the troops of
Abdali at Panipat. During the time he was in coma, his consciousness experienced an experience of
British India in which he always wanted to see; but that India had never existed in reality; it existed
in Gaitonde’s mind only.
Introduction- THE GHAT OF THE ONLY WORLD
The write-up by Amitav Ghosh is a glowing tribute to his Kashmiri friend Shahid who died of
cancer in America. Shahid was a poet. He also taught at various colleges and universities in the
US. His brother and two sisters were also settled there. He was adored by his students, loved
and admired by his friends. He himself had a broad and secular outlook. He condemned
fanaticism and violence in Kashmir. But he did not allow politics to overshadow his literary skill. It
was in February 2000 that he had a sudden but short blackout and loss of eyesight. The tests
revealed that he had a brain tumour. He struggled against this disease for some 14 months and
died in his sleep on 8 December. Before his death, he had requested Amitav to write something
about him. The writer highlights Shahid’s love of old film music, of Kashmiri dishes, of the lively
company of his friends, of his sharp sense of repartee and appreciation of art.
Complete Summary
Agha Shahid Ali was a Kashmiri, settled in the US. He was a cancer patient. He had been under
treatment for 14 months. But he was still on his feet and cheerful. Only sometimes he became
unconscious, lost his memory and his eyesight for a short while. On 25 April 2001, he spoke to
the writer about his approaching death. The writer tried to console him, but he was cut short.
Shahid, however, made a request. He wanted the writer to write something about him after his
death.
Shahid and the author had studied together at Delhi University. But they had never met. In 1998
and 1999 they had several conversations on the phone and also met a couple of times. But the
acquaintance could not grow until both moved to Brooklyn, US. They were in the same
neighbourhood. Shahid lived in a building some eight blocks away. He had his sudden blackout
in February 2000. He had a malignant brain tumour. So from Manhattan, he moved to Brooklyn,
where his youngest sister Sameetah lived. When Shahid spoke about his approaching death, he
laughed but he was dead serious. He entrusted a great responsibility to the author. ‘You must
write about me,’ he said. And the author promised to grant his wish. Since that day he started
noting down all his conversations with Shahid. And that record helped him keep his word.
Shahid was a poet who wrote in English. The author had read his 1997 collection The Country
without a Post Office. He was greatly impressed also. Once they became neighbours at
Brooklyn, they began to meet very often for meals. Shahid’s condition was serious but that illness
did not depress him. The author and Shahid had many common friends. They also had a shared
love of rogan josh and liking for Kishor Kumar’s songs. Both disliked cricket and loved old
Mumbai films. They began to meet regularly.
One day the author went along with Shahid’s brother and sister—lqbal and Hena – to fetch him
home from the hospital. It was on 21 May. Shahid had already been through several operations
that failed. A hospital orderly arrived with a wheelchair. But Shahid sent him back. He thought he
was strong enough to walk out of the hospital on his own. But his knees buckled after only a few
steps. The hospital orderly was summoned again with the wheelchair.
Shahid loved company, partying and shared meals. He didn’t have time to be depressed. His
apartment was on the seventh floor. But it was worth going all the way up. There was the
fragrance of rogan josh and songs to welcome the visitor. Shahid would open the door and clap
his hands joyously. There were poets, students, writers and relatives in the house. Even though
his health was failing, he loved to talk, laugh, eat and, of course, enjoy poetry. His deep interest
in kitchen matched with his skill as a poet. James Merrill had great influence on his poetry. He
dreamt that he was at the ghat of the only world.
Shahid was not a fanatic. He regretted that Pandits had left Kashmir, and he expressed that
feeling in his poetry. He loved Bengali food also. He loved the poetry of Begum Akhtar. His
repartees were equally sharp. Once at Barcelona airport, the security guard, a woman, asked
him what he did. His answer was he was a poet and his vocation was to write poetry. Finally, that
woman asked if he was carrying anything that could be dangerous to the other passengers,
Shahid cried ‘only my heart.’
He was very popular as a teacher. He taught at several colleges and universities. He was
appointed a professor in 1999, and he had his first blackout in Feb. 2000. After 1975, Shahid
lived mainly in America where he joined his brother and two sisters. His parents continued to live
in Srinagar. The political violence in Kashmir had a great effect on him. But he was not a political
poet. He was true to his art form of language. His vision was all-embracing. He had a secular
outlook. In his childhood, he once created a small Hindu temple in his room in Srinagar. His
parents never stood in his way.
On 4th May, he had gone to the hospital for a test to discover whether the course of
chemotherapy had the desired effect or not. The next day he told the author that the doctors
were going to stop all his medicines and there was not much hope. He wanted to go back to
Kashmir to die, to be with his father. But for certain reasons, he changed his mind. He died in the
US and he was laid to rest in Northampton. He died peacefully in his sleep at 2 p.m. on 8th
December.