Old Lanes Revisited

Today, I went to my uncle's home in Ranchi. He is not alive anymore. It has been three years. Since then, it is my first visit to the home where only my aunt lives now.

Let me clarify. He was not a blood relation. He was my father's friend. But anyway, he has been very close since the day I came to Ranchi for IIT-JEE preparation. A lot of things happened in between. I have a job now and will be graduating soon.

One thing that moved me was how the place has changed after my uncle's death. He has been a small businessman. After his untimely passing, his wife and son(who is in college) has been left with no income source. Therefore, his home has been transformed to provide accommodation for girls. The income source is humbly modest.

My aunt has to live alone now. She was telling how hard it is for her to do all the chores like shopping, paying taxes etc. She has no one to talk to. She passes her time by going to relatives, watching TV or reading religious books.

My uncle has been a jolly person. Extremely friendly and easy-going. The house was full of energy when he was there. Now, it seems dark and cold.

After the visit, I roamed through streets which I used as a senior high school student. It was nostalgic. Shops which were frequently visited by me and my friends still functioned the same way. But today, I was alone in a vast sea of people.

How time makes so little and yet so large a difference?

Feelings

People ask me to tell things about her. Tell how she is. How could one describe a person? I think I know her. But words don't make much sense as I begin to speak. It seems as if she is a experience. Bounded to a time and a place. And to a memory.

I was in a barren land. Frigid. Nothing grew there. And then. One day. It was a surprise. I felt a touch on my shoulder. A warm one. I looked up after a decade. There she was.

Her smile. Her scent. Things that I can never forget. The other details, I have long forgotten. As I looked around, my world was not barren anymore. Flowers were blooming. Birds were chirping. Streams flowed.

My life has never been the same anymore.

Suppressing Ego

I have been a fortunate person all through my life. I have had decent education, didn't face financial problems and have great parents. I am at a better position than lot many.

But, it has a side-effect. I have felt my ego increase with every step I took in my life. I get offended easily and judge people too often(I judge myself too).

Therefore, I have thought of a plan to control my sense of self-importance - learn things outside of my comfort zone. So that I feel humbled. Often.

The first step I took was to complete an online course on Cosmology. It is actually the last of four courses being offered by Australian National University on our Universe. It is being taught by Brian Schmidt, a Nobel laureate and Paul Francis, a distinguished educator.

Reasons for choosing cosmology are straightforward:

• The CS courses I took had very little to do with physics. So how I think is not in sync with how physicists think. Therefore I would be pushed a lot harder. And I was. It was one of the hardest courses I have been through. It was unbelievably fun too.
• Universe is beautiful. Period. As much is out there, astrophysicists and observational astronomers use "indirect" techniques to learn about things. I was curious about what these techniques were.
• You don't get many chances to learn from distinguished people.

That was it. I am still to complete the final exam(but have faired quite well on the Homework problems). It is much work and I can't spare my time as I would like to. But I will do so soon.

Next step? Learn another thing! I have procrastinated a lot on learning Neuroscience. Hopefully, now I will. Wish me luck!