A Piece of Universe

 

The first time ever my son boarded a flight – he was three then – the first ever words he spoke were, “dad, how come this big an equipment goes up on the air, would it not fall down?” Respected toastmaster, fellow toastmasters and honored guests, I am here today, standing in front of you, after three years, reminded of my son’s question.

 

My first reaction to my son was, as the surroundings dictated, to shrug him off with a startled smile. In India, where this incident took place, it is considered inauspicious to ask such questions while starting something on. What with an increased incidence of air mishaps during that time, it sure was to the discomfiture of my fellow-passengers not to mention my religious wife – it was her first flight too! However, once we settled in our seats, I tried to explain him how an aircraft could go up in the air without falling down.

 

What my son asked was, in essence, a simple question and was a natural one at that. Friends, in our lives too, we have lots of such simple and natural questions. But the answers are not that simple always. At times, for a single question, we may have different answers at different levels. For instance, if I set out to explain Bernoulli’s principle to my son in order to make him understand how is it possible for an airplane to fly, that certainly would not have quenched his curiosity. So, before attempting to find an answer, we must also try to know at what level we seek an answer. And, ladies and gentlemen, it is easier said than done. As a consequence, we stop asking such questions, take in whatever we see as they are, and take our lives, among other things, for granted. This was true, at least for me, till my son, later joined by my daughter, started bombarding me with multitude of questions on anything and everything.

 

After coming to Canada from India in 1996, we lived for about eighteen months in Winnipeg before moving to Toronto. It was during the winter of 97 that my son triggered me off in another stream of thoughts when he pointed to some squirrels that were playing in front of our High Park apartment complex. These squirrels, in multiple colors such as white, black and gray as they were, to our surprise didn’t have any visible lines on their backs. The common squirrels that we find in India would have three distinct streaks of grayish lines on their backs which, as the legend goes, are a symbol of blessings by Lord Ram when the squirrels helped him in His war against the demon Ravan. Lack of prejudice was one laudable trait that I always thought I possessed.  But the very first thought that occurred on seeing these squirrels sans the so-called divine lines was, “well, I am an Indian and this is, after all, Canada.” To be frank, all those first two years in Canada I have been complaining about this and that I disliked here – for example the Winnipeg weather – conveniently forgetting the fact that only because of certain positive points I chose to come to Canada in the first place. To my credit, the same evening, I searched for an answer why Canadian squirrels didn’t have those lines, browsing the Internet. Surprise! I found, in a matter of minutes, that Canada does house a certain class of squirrels, which have – not three, but thirteen lines on their backs. In fact their name itself is thirteen-line ground squirrels, and their habitat is none other than the Canadian prairies. Ladies and gentlemen, I don’t have to remind you, Winnipeg – the place where I spent two full summers - is in the prairies. Ashamed as much surprised that I was, that day my son helped me ask myself a question that I was never mindful of.

 

So, here is that another seemingly simple and natural question. It is a question for me as much as it is for all of you. You might have arrived at your answer that I happen to be associated with you for almost a couple of months now. Maybe whatever I said today helped you close in a step further. Maybe you will find more as the days go by. My dear friends, let me assure you, even I am on a such a course trying to find the answer, or, if you will, the set of answers. The question of course is, my fellow toastmasters, tell me, who am I? Your stage, Mr. Toastmaster…

 

Govardhanan Ramachandran

Toronto, June 30, 1999.