"When we are travelling in our car or walking on the road, we think that the trees, sun or the moon outside are moving, " Miss Z.I., my teacher from Class One read aloud, "but they are not moving."
I looked up from the Nature Study book (science was called Nature Study in classes one and two). Those words struck a chord with me since observing the view from the car was something I held deep fascination for. Clearly, for me, the book lacked some explanation.
"Ma'am, but-" I began my argument and was interrupted.
"Raise your hand and then you can stand and speak." she corrected me.
I did as was instructed
"Ma'am, when I look outside the car-window the trees are moving. The moon follows my car for sometime before it's gone. The trees move and then they are gone behind!" my six-year old self tried to explain my point of view with whatever limited vocabulary and grammar she had.
The class laughed unanimously!
"Trees don't move, " A.T jeered and continued to laugh with the others.
"Be quiet, A.T. Hafsa we only think that trees are moving," she politely tried to explain. "But they don't. Actually, we are moving."
"Ma'am, I know trees can't move! They are different living things that can't move," I explained myself adamantly. "I know that my car has wheels. It can move when the wheels move. But in my car, I am sitting. I am not moving. And my window is just there. And I look at things from that window. In that window they move and then they are behind when the car keeps going. But if I stand on the tree-side I will see that the car is moving and the tree is not moving."
More laughter followed.
"I'm right! You have to see..," I spoke again and Miss.Z.I raised her voice higher than mine
"Class! Quiet! Just sit down. They don't move. Let's move to the next line."
The argument wasn't over for me. Did I ever believe the trees could move? No. I just did not have enough words to express my opinion. In the year that followed I learnt the word 'fixed' and realised it might have helped me explain that my window was fixed in my car but the view outside was not. Class Two Nature Study lessons explained that the earth was moving on it's axis to bring day and night , and it moved around the sun for a whole year and that gave us the four seasons- rotation and revolution. As I read through these, I couldn't help but hate the fact that they shouldn't have said "they don't move" a year ago when in truth everything in the world was always in motion. There was a different movement in my car's window, though.
Fast forward eleven more years that followed. An eighteen-year old me sat at her desk at night for her daily study hours in pre-medical, struggling with physics. More specifically, the mathematics in physics. It had been a tiring day like many others trying to make peace with my choice to go with the Intermediate track instead of A'levels after completing my O'levels.
"Do Chapter 17 and try doing the theory of relativity. Memorize its postulates." was the text I received from a friend when I told them I was no in the mood to "eat" derivations.
I opened my book to Chapter 17 "The Advent of Modern Physics" and began casually reading. As I read through, I discovered then, that my car window was called a Frame of Reference and the movement of trees on the roadside was Relative Motion. A six-year old inside me was doing a victory dance to "Raqs mein hai sara jahan". I could see that there were actual names assigned to what I had observed as a child and the notions I held were not non-existent as my Class I teacher had endorsed.
I stayed Einstein-obsessed for quite some time, happy to discover relativity and the fact that it worth never "moving" from my stance. Yet, I extremely disappointed in myself to have come across this this late in life.I had never truly looked into his contributions before as I restricted myself to "course" education. My lateral-reading was dominated by fiction.
Then again, I did believe that our current systems cannot accomodate, understand and encourage a child's awe and curiosity. The world is beautiful and wondrous and children, in everything seemingly boring and pointless that they do, know that far more than us.
"The only thing that interferes with my learning is my education." said Albert Einstein himself and rightly so.
Needless to say, I read the rest of the chapter with delight and discovered the types of frames of reference. I filled my diary with all the mnemonics my head churned (it does so at a greater pace during exams) and some analogous philosophies as the over-thinking mode took over. I romanticized the theory and wrote the following lines.
"We are a consequence of the Special Theory of Relativity
Distance contracts when we are far..
Time dilates when we are together..
Yours Truly,
Lorentz Factor"
- H.M.
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