The Adventure Introduction of the Lesson

The chapter ‘The Adventure’ is a story about Professor Gangadharpant Gaitonde

who is strangely in a different world. He knows it is Pune but the facts are
different from what he believes. He decided to go to Bombay via train ‘Jijamata
Express’. When he reached Bombay, things were different. When he decides to
investigate the history, he finds some surprising facts. The East India Company
was still ruling and the Battle of Panipat had been won by Marathas. It was
different from what he knew and  had studied. The East India Company was
taken aback after events of 1857 and the Battle of Panipat had been won by
Mughals.
 

The Adventure Summary

Professor Gaitonde was travelling from Pune to Bombay via the Jijamata
Express, a train which was faster than the Deccan Queen. As he was crossing
towns and villages, he met a man named ‘Khan Sahib’ who talked about his
business and chatted about several things. They got off at Victoria Terminus
station which was neat and clean. It had British officers, Parsees and Anglo-
Indian staff all around. He was confused as to how the East India Company was
ruling the country as according to his facts, they had fled away after the events of
1857.
He went to the Hornby road and noticed that the shops were different. He
entered the Forbes building and inquired about Mr. Vinay Gaitonde but as
checked by the receptionist, no such man had ever worked there. He went to the
Town Hall and sat in the reading room. He took five books related to the history
and decided to go through them one by one and check how the facts had
changed. He started investigating from the period of Asoka to the third battle of
Panipat.
According to the fifth volume ‘Bhausahebanchi Bakhar’, he found out that
Marathas had won the Battle of Panipat and spread their influence all over India
after that. He was confused as it was different from what he knew so far. After
the victory, India was moved to the path of democracy. There were no longer any
kings ruling and democratic parties had been set up. The professor started liking
India as he kept reading further about it. It was different from the one he believed
he saw. This country knew how to stand on its feet and it was no longer slave
under the white man.
As he was going through the book, the librarian told him to finish since they were
closing the library. It was eight o clock. He asked about carrying the books with
him as he would return the next morning and slipped the Bakhar book into his left
pocket. He checked into a guest house and had his dinner. He decided to walk
towards Azad Maidan. He noticed a large crowd of people going towards a
pandal. A lecture was going on but he noticed something unusual. The
presidential chair was empty. The speaker was talking and the crowd was
continuously moving inside and outside.
He could not control himself and moved towards the stage and sat on the chair.
The crowd was taken aback and started asking him to get up and move away.
He tried to talk to them but they started throwing several objects at him such as
tomatoes, eggs, etc. Soon the crowd moved towards him to push him away and
he was nowhere to be seen.
Next, he woke up in a hospital bed and saw Rajendra in front of him. He narrated
the whole sequence of events that took place and Rajendra listened to him
amazed. The professor was confused as to where he was and if he had been in
a coma for the past two days. What was the experience he just had, was it real or
not.
Rajendra explained to him that it happened because of two theories –
Catastrophe theory and lack of determinism in Quantum theory. Catastrophe
theory states that a small change in any situation can result in a shift in
behaviour. In reality, the Marathas lost their leader – Bhausaheb and Vishwarao
and hence they lost the battle. But Professor saw that the bullet missed and
Vishwarao was not dead.
Professor then showed him the torn page of the Bakhar book that he had in his
pocket. Rajendra read it carefully and told him that realities can be different for
different people. What he thought had happened is a catastrophic experience.
Rajendra told him that in the case of electrons, one cannot predict which path the
electron takes at a point of time. He told him that it is the lack of determinism in
Quantum theory and explained to him what it meant. In one world, the electron
may be found here and in another, it may be found in another place but in the
third world. It may be at different locations. Once the observer knows about the
correct placing of the electrons in every world, it might happen that an alternative
world exists at the same time.
Hence, the professor was in two different worlds at the present time. He had real-
life experience in an alternative reality and he came back from another world.
Both the worlds had different histories and different sets of events. The professor
wanted to know why he was the one to make the transition. Rajendra told him
that at the time of the collision with the truck, the professor was thinking about
the catastrophe theory and its role in the war. He was also thinking about the
Battle of Panipat at that moment, so the neurons in his brain acted as a trigger
and made the transition.
The professor was in that alternative world for the last two days.
 

The Adventure Lesson and Explanation

THE Jijamata Express sped along the Pune-Bombay* route considerably faster
than the Deccan Queen. There were no industrial townships outside Pune. The
first stop, Lonavala, came in 40 minutes.
The ghat section that followed was no different from what he knew. The train
stopped at Karjat only briefly and went on at an even greater speed. It roared
through Kalyan.
Meanwhile, the racing mind of Professor Gaitonde had arrived at a plan of action
in Bombay. Indeed, as a historian, he felt he should have thought of it sooner. He
would go to a big library and browse through history books. That was the surest
way of finding out how the present state of affairs was reached. He also planned
eventually to return to Pune and have a long talk with Rajendra Deshpande, who
would surely help him understand what had happened.
That is, assuming that in this world there existed someone called Rajendra
Deshpande!
The train stopped beyond the long tunnel. It was a small station called Sarhad.
An Anglo-Indian in uniform went through the train checking permits.
 
Townships – Towns or villages
Roared – to move at a high speed while making a loud noise
Permits – authorize to do something
 
Professor Gaitonde was travelling by the Jijamata Express train which was
running along Pune-Bombay Route and was faster than the Deccan Queen. The
first stop of the train was Lonavala which came in 40 minutes. The professor
noticed that there were no industrial towns outside Pune city. The next stop was
the ghat section which was similar to what the professor already knew. The train
followed to the next city – Karjat and started speeding at  a greater pace than
before. When the train was in Kalyan, it moved at high speed.
The professor came up with a plan to be followed when he would arrive at
Bombay city. He was a historian who thought he should have come up with a
plan sooner to go to the big library and glance at the history books there. He
wanted to know how the current situation of India by studying various events. He
further planned to move back to Pune after his work finished and meet with
Rajendra Deshpande to have a discussion over the current events.
He was thinking about it and assumed if a person named Rajendra Deshpande
existed in this world. As he was into his thoughts when the train stopped beyond
a long tunnel in a place called ‘Sarhad’. He saw an Anglo-Indian in a uniform
who was going through the train to check the permit.
 
“This is where the British Raj begins. You are going for the first time, I presume?”
Khan Sahib asked.
“Yes.” The reply was factually correct. Gangadharpant had not been to this
Bombay before. He ventured a question: “And, Khan Sahib, how will you go to
Peshawar?”
“This train goes to the Victoria Terminus*. I will take the Frontier Mail tonight out
of Central.”
“How far does it go? By what route?”
“Bombay to Delhi, then to Lahore and then Peshawar. A long journey. I will reach
Peshawar the day after tomorrow.”
Thereafter, Khan Sahib spoke a lot about his business and Gangadharpant was
a willing listener. For, in that way, he was able to get some flavour of life in this
India that was so different. The train now passed through the suburban rail traffic.
The blue carriages carried the letters, GBMR, on the side.