The
Light!
Light - A respected element
in Science, Mythology and many more fields which are again a mixture of Science
and Mythology.
A light can be
scientifically defined as electromagnetic radiation
that has a wavelength in the range from about 4,000 (violet) to about 7,700
(red) angstroms and may be perceived by the normal unaided human eye.
To talk in
simple terms, light can be described in as many words and thoughts with as many
incidents as the amount of light we daily see. It can be anything like a simple
Sunlight to Daylight to a mobile’s torch light. It even can be The Light – an inspiration,
an awakening, an inner conscience. If you go and ask a kid to show light, I bet
he/she will just plainly point his/her finger everywhere and exclaim in
happiness, “Here is light. There is light. It’s everywhere!” A naughty kid might even frown at you asking,
“Why? Don’t you see it?”
The responses
and reactions differ as widely as the light itself has spread out. Let’s spend
few minutes of this Sunday in walking over some of these responses with a few
incidents…
Talking of Light
how can we forget Sun - the major source of natural light. Sun has been
spending all its life in burning its own heart and lightning up the Earth. “Surya Devata – riding the Chariot harnessed by seven Horses” is one of the most
sacred Gods for every Hindu. Mostly worshipped at Dawn, even today Sun is a much
respected God. There are Havans and Poojas performed for him. Millions of
people give him their first salute as they start their day. Or even as people
open their eyes in dawn, they first see the sunlight and pray him. How can any Indian
forget the most famous and the healthiest Surya
Namaskara? The Sun Temple, Konark is still one of the most beautifully
built temples with the one of the most attractive Idol of Sun. All this shows
the Mythological place held by the powerful Sun Lord. In a sense that is right.
He starts life, he drives the day, lights up the world, enlighten people.
I even remember
my Dad inspiring me one day back in my childhood, “You have to as honest and as
regular as the Sun, You have to shine like the Sun!”
As I write this,
I still feel that inspiration is the highest honor we give to the Sun and his
Light, which is the major supporter of our life.
This
mythological power of Sun not only brings in respect for Sun and his light
within us but also brings together two words – Light and Enlighten. Both come
together tangentially leaving behind no space for confusion. A light fights the
darkness around us and lightens up opening our sight, similarly we get
enlightened from within which kicks away the darkness within us and opens up
our eyes.
The same Sun who
is prayed daily, may sometime get angry shouting from many people (sometimes it’s
even me) for just being an early raiser. “How can one be so regular with his
timetable? Moreover how can one wake up so early and poke others to wake up?” I
sometimes keep wondering. Not only the sunlight be it any light. The same light
that supported the whole day, becomes a nuisance if it intervenes a peaceful
night. We always love sleeping cozily during the long nights of the winter.
I bet all
children, except few bookworms, love a powercut for giving them a break from
their homework. I myself used to pray for powercuts when my Mom used to sit beside
me asking to revise for the tests. Children love waking up late on Sundays and
even cover their face from thick blankets to fight away the light trying to
wake them up. Why just children? Its even adults who love waking up late once a
while and then comes instance when they end up thinking, “Only if Sunrise would
get delayed every day”
Imagine you
slipped into your sleep after a tiring long day and just as when you entered
the dreamland along with the next door girl whom you have been day dreaming
since months. She is sitting in the balcony beside yours in her dark blue Kurti with cute small red flowers neatly
printed all over it. As you enter your balcony you turn to your right and there
she is sitting with a book in her hand. You get drowned in her thoughts all
jumbled up in between those cute red flowers. As you are lost in adoring her, she
raises her left hand and turns the page of the book and then raises the same
hand and slowly lifts the group of few naughty hairs that have come forward and
have fallen freely covering her face and blocking your view of her left eye. She
then slowly puts them behind her left ear and then again combs her hair till
shoulder. The more you look at her the more you are falling in love with her. As
you are thinking what to do, she suddenly raises her head and looks in front at
the small garden, where three cute little kids are playing the slide. The slope
of the slide is shining as brightly as each of the red flower on her blue Kurti. She smiles and you are lost more.
You keep looking at her smile, when she suddenly turns left towards you and
catches you noticing her idiotically. You suddenly get alarmed and try to bend
down your head but your urge to see her reaction forces you to look up at her again
and you do so. As you look at her, she is still staring at you, a bit
surprised. Her cheeks, glowing in the sunlight, arrest your eyes and you
sheepishly surrender to her beauty. She is still surprised and you are more.
Finally being a
hero (atleast for yourself) you gather up all the courage you have and smile
blankly at her with thousands of thoughts running in your head and thousands of
beats coming in from your stupid heart. You are more terrified thinking what if
she runs in and brings her Dad than you are happy thinking what if she smiles
back. Every millisecond passing by is building up more and more tension within
your heart forcing it to beat faster. You are growing more and more desperate
for her response. Suddenly she blinks and her eyes twinkle in that bright
sunlight sends in a light wave to your eyes that travel within body giving you Goosebumps.
Then she is about to… You open up your eyes as someone has switched on the
lights in your room. You feel so terrorized by that light; you just curse it
from breaking your sleep and that romantic dream. Then even after the lights
are switched off, you take so much time to slip back to sleep that you end up losing
that peace and staring the rusty fan rotating which can never look like the
cute small red flowers on her Kurti.
Light is not
just an inspiration and a nuisance maker. It is the best playmate for everyone
from a baby to a kid to a science student to a professional photographer to a
scientist to an adult. I believe everyone has played with the light atleast
once in his/her lifetime.
A baby even stops
crying when suddenly it sees a torch light moving all over the wall. A baby smiles
as it tries unsuccessfully to catch that light in its small pink hands. It is
amused by the light, which is glowing bright and moving freely everywhere. We
can check with parents who had to scold their kids to stop playing with
torches. When kids play with torches, they are not actually playing with it;
they are in fact playing with the light. Every kid is amused by the way light
just comes out of the torch bulb and goes off with a single touch of a button.
They are on their toes to know the secret behind that light, where is it coming
from, is their really any magic within the torch that suddenly throws out a
bright glowing light. They try to make numerous designs with that light; they
try to calculate their own deductions about that light. A kid is so surprised
when it covers the torch bulb with his/her hand and sees their hand glowing
red.
Imagine a sudden
powercut while you are stressed byhearting the same poem which you hate the
most. Mom comes in suddenly with a lamp and keeps it in front of you. Your
already lost concentration is now strengthened by this interruption. You try to
relieve your stress and start playing in your own world. You play with the
lamp, its light, even your own shadow created by the light emerging from the
lamp. You start playing with the shadow moving your head and checking how the
shadow moves along with you. The shadow growing tall or short as your angle and
positions move with respect to the lamp, mesmerizes you. This will be
definitely one of the favorite pastimes of any kid at one particular age.
Try this
sometime when there is a powercut (which I am sure is nearing as the summer is
walking in) .Light up a small lamp. In front of the lamp, clap your hands with
each palm exactly perpendicular to each other and hold them tightly together.
Then keeping left palm open, close the right palm around your left palm. Let
the two thumbs standup making a shape of “V” Hold it against the lamp such that
the back of your left palm is towards the lamp. Now, watching the shadow on the
opposite wall, move the left little finger up and down like the blade of the
pair of scissor. Watch the shadow on the wall!
I hope this
small pastime will definitely relieve you from your daily routine and you will
end up becoming a kid all again.
Coming onto the scientific
look at the light, even Science walks parallel with Mythology and the Humorous
approach at the light. Science mentions light as the major source of energy. It
is the main source that supports the Photosynthesis process which enables the
green plants to convert light energy into chemical energy which then starts the
whole food chain. This has also played major part in the evolution of life on
earth. What would have been life, if it was not for the light?
Light doesn’t limit
itself to this, but it extends to many other fields in science. A simple camera
works on the basis of capturing the light reflected from its subject. The “photo”
word itself comes from Greek where photo means light! The whole of photography
is a knack of capturing the subject with the right amount of light in the right
angle.
The most basic
experiment of using a glass prism to break white light into seven beautiful
colorful lights is still taught in every school. This not only opens up the
world of light to a student but also tells the student that the study of light
is as fascinating as that colored spectrum. The science digs in further into
the study of light. We can spend the whole day in just summarizing the widely
spread study of light in science, spreading all over the origin of light,
evolution of life, the stars, the universe, the Blackhole, the behavior of the
light, the use of light in different fields and just many more.
Let me remind
you all of the most famous equation in science deduced by none other than Albert
Einstein,
E =mc2 (where c is nothing but the speed of light)
This definitely
proves how important light is for us all. The light with which we have been
growing since we were babies has always been one of our best friends, our
playmate, our teacher and it has been much more than all that, a life
supporter. The Solar energy is being put into much more use these days. The
light giving bulbs and tubelights have evolved into CFC lamps that are much
cooler than their predecessors. The lights much needed on roads have evolved
more powerful. The traffic signals that control the heartbeat of cities are
nothing but lights. The strong light makes sure Day and Night Cricket matches
are possible. Light not only supports
the daily activities during days but also saves accidents at night. A bright
light makes the street more secured and people braver.
How can anyone
forget a bright full moon day’s night? It is as cooler and romantic as bright
the moon glows. The round ball of moon smiles from the dark night with all the numerous
stars twinkling around him making the night as wonderful as it can ever be. The
cool light from the moon not only inspires poets and romances but also helps
soothe a crying baby. How can anyone who has grown up in small towns and villages
forget the moonlight dinner? I still remember how I spent the nights of my
vacations playing with my brother and other cousins in counting the stars,
making designs joining the stars and playing other numerous games.
If our childhood
has been spent by playing with lights and schooldays spent by learning and
experimenting the light, how can we forget our teen days. How can any lover
forget the evening spent with his/her partner besides a cool lake with the moon
glowing brightly over it. The moon’s light twinkling on the water of the lake
and cool breeze couple up together in making the most romantic evening. The
sweet cheeks of a girl glow more in the moonlight than in any other light. Every
girls face is compared to the moon, just because of his cool flawless white
glowing light. How about a sweet romantic candle light dinner? It is again the
light playing major role in creating that special romantic environment ofcourse
with the help from a light music. Nothing can beat the romantic dance in a dim
light.
Moving out from
moon, we still have light playing a major factor in almost anything that we do.
What is a stage without the background light? What is a photo-shoot without the
special light arrangements? What is a car without its headlight? What is a day
without a cup of tea under the bright sunlight? What is food without the ‘photo’synthesis?
What is a torch that cannot emit light? What is a city that doesn’t have streetlights?
What is vision without light? What is mind with enlightenment?
I had always
wished in my life to end up my writings with a conclusion having a proverb and
here I get that golden opportunity. Millions and millions of people all over
this beautifully lighted up world walk through their dark patches of life in
one hope –
“There is Light
at the end of every tunnel!!”
It’s all light and enlightenment…
Courtesy –
4. 4. Your dream (See, I caught you
dreaming about your next door girl)
Vishal…
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