THE ADVENTURE

PLS COMPLETE EXTRACT BASED Q AND SAQ IN FAIR REGISTER

Introduction

The story ‘The Adventure’ belongs to a science fiction. Professor

Gangadhar Pant Gaitonde finds himself in a strange world. No doubt he is
in Pune, but the facts do not agree with history.

He decides to go to Bombay and consult history books. Bombay is not what

he expected to find it. East India Company is still ruling there. According
to the history known to him, the East India Company was wound up just
after the events of 1857. He goes to the library and finds the answer. The
events took a different course after the battle of Panipat. The Marathas
had won the battle, not lost it.

Short Answer Questions:

1. How was Bakhar‟s account of the Battle of Panipat different from what
was written in other history books?

Ans: In all historical texts, the Maratha army was said to have lost the
battle because Vishwasrao was injured by a bullet, which destroyed the
army's spirit. However, the professor's copy of the Bakhar had something
different written on it. It was mentioned that Vishwasrao nearly escaped
the bullet as it brushed by his ear.

2. Why did professor Gangadhar go inside the Forbes building?

Ans: The professor entered the Forbes building to meet with his son
Vinaya. He was astounded to see that his son's name was neither on the
phone list or in the personnel directory. He had not expected his son's
existence to be so hazy.

3. What points did Rajendra make while explaining the mystery of reality?

Ans: The phrase "absence of determination in quantum theory" translates

as "we generally experience reality directly with our senses." However,
what we see is not the complete picture. Using an electron as an example,
we may demonstrate this. When fired from a source, it can go in any
direction, defying all physical laws.” Rajendra states that the professor has
transitioned from one universe he is familiar with to another that may or
may not exist. One can make observations, but one can also assume that
alternate realities exist.

4.What was the strange reality that Professor Gaitonde saw as he stepped
out of the station?

Ans; As Professor Gaitonde came out of the station, he saw an impressive

building. The letters on it revealed that it was the East India headquarters
of the East India Company. He was shocked as it was supposed to have had
stopped operating soon after the events of 1857 but here it was flourishing.

5.What was the effect of the victory of the Peshwas on the East India
Company?

Ans:The East India Company was alarmed when the new Maratha ruler,
Vishwasrao, and his brother, Madhavrao, expanded their influence all over
India. The Company was limited to pockets of influence near Bombay,
Calcutta and Madras. However, in the nineteenth century the Marathas
were aware of the importance of the technological age starting in Europe.
Hence when they set up their own centres for science and technology, the
East India Company saw another chance to extend its influence, it offered
support and experts. But they were accepted only to make the local centres
self-sufficient.

Long Answer Questions:

1. How did Rajendra explain Professor Gaitonde’s experience by linking it

to ‘the lack of determinism in quantum theory’?

Answer:

Rajendra felt that reality might not be unique as has been found from
experiments on atoms and their constituent particles. The behaviour of
these systems cannot be predicted definitively even if all the physical. laws
governing those systems are known. The course taken by an electron fired
from a source cannot be asserted. This is the theory of the lack of
determinism in the quantum theory. Similarly, in one world the electron is
found here, in another it is over there.

In yet another world it could be in a completely different location. Once the

observer finds where it is, we know which world we are talking about. But
all those alternative worlds could exist just the same. The electron could be
orbiting in any of a large number of specified states. These states may be
used to identify the world. In state no. 1 we have the electron in a state of
higher energy.

Instate no. 2 it is in a state of lower energy. It could make a jump from high
to low energy and send out a pulse of radiation. Or a pulse of radiation
could knock it out of state no. 2 into state no. 1. Such transitions are
common in microscopic systems. If it happened on a macroscopic level
people could make a transition from one world to another and back again.

2. How Rajendra Deshpande applied the theory of catastrophic experience

concerning the Battle of Panipat?

Ans: Gangadhar told Rajendra about his experience at the Azad Maidan
meeting, which left him in a coma for two days due to an accident. As he
returned to the world he was used to. He inquired of Rajendra as to where
he had spent those days. He admitted that he was thinking about the
catastrophic theory and how it might have altered the path of history
immediately before the crash. Rajendra generated a page from his Bakhar
to demonstrate that his mind was functioning normally. The page in
question indicated that Vishwasrao did not avoid the bullet; rather, he was
struck and killed by it. It was just different from what he had read in his
history book. And he wanted to be well-versed in the details.

3. Facts can be stranger than fantasies, as I am beginning to realise.’ Why

did Rajendra say this?

Ans: Rajendra had thought that Professor’s mind was playing tricks on
him till Gangadharpant produced his own copy of ‘Bhausahebanchi
Bakhar’, where the account of the war stated that Vishwasrao was hit by
the bullet. He then produced the other evidence in the form of a document
that he had inadvertently picked up from the Professor Gaitonde’s library.
Rajendra was confused when he saw this material evidence. He then
admitted that his experience had not been just a fantasy. He realized that
facts could be stranger than fiction.

Q4“You neither travelled to the past nor the future. You were in the
present experiencing a different world.”

Ans:

The statement is from the text The Adventure written by Jayant Vishnu
Narlikar. These words were said by Rajendra to Professor Gaitonde in the
context of his entering into a different state of consciousness, which
revealed a different version of the outcome of the Battle of Panipat.
According to this version as revealed to Prof. Gaitonde, the Marathas
emerged victorious in the battle, which is contrary to the facts as presented
in the History books. The statement reveals that one can experience an
altogether different world without travelling to the past or the future. Prof.
Gaitonde was witnessing a different set of events remaining in the present.
It was not a matter of fantasy or imagination on the part of Prof. Gaitonde
but a different reality as revealed to him. Such alternative realities occur
due to bifurcation leading to different course of events simultaneously. In
the present context, the bifurcation took place in the Battle of Panipat so
that in one course of event the Marathas emerged victorious and in another
they lost the battle. The History books mention that the Marathas lost the
battle of Panipat, which is also true and the other version as revealed to
Prof. Gaitonde is also true.

Question:5 “You have passed through a fantastic experience: or more

correctly, a catastrophic experience.”

Ans:

This statement was made by Rajendra to Prof. Gaitonde in the text The
Adventure by Jayant Vishnu Narlikar. Rajendra made this statement in
the context of Prof. Gaitonde experiencing a different version of the
outcome of the Battle of Panipat. Prof Gaitonde was a historian and he was
invited in a seminar to speak on the Battle of Panipat. He was to make a
point that if in the battle of Panipat the Marathas emerged victorious then
what would have happened. Interestingly, Prof. Gaitonde happened to
experience the very hypothesis as reality. He entered a different level of
consciousness and was witnessing events like the Battle of Panipat in an
altogether different version. In the History books, the Marathas are
mentioned as being loser in the battle but in his experience the Marathas
emerged victorious. Prof. Gaitonde was unable to understand this
phenomenon. It is in this context, Rajendra tried to offer a scientific
explanation to rationalise Prof. Gaitonde's experience. He meant to say that
what Prof. Gaitonde experienced was not imaginative or fantastic but was
also real. He tried to explain this in the light of the catastrophic theory.
According to this theory, there can be many alternative realities
simultaneously existing. An observer sees only one of the alternatives. By
applying this theory, Rajendra tried to explain the outcome of the Battle of
Panipat as revealed to Prof. Gaitonde. The catastrophic theory has been
developed by observing the outcome of experiments on small systems like
atom and their constituent particles. The behaviour of these systems cannot
be predicted definitely even if all the physical laws governing those systems
are known.

Extract based question :-

1. As he walked along Hornby Road, as it was called, he found a different

set of shops and office buildings. There was no Handloom House building.
Instead, there were Boots and Woolworth departmental stores, imposing
offices of Lloyds, Barclays and other British banks, as in a typical high
street of a town in England.

1. Where had professor Gaitonde travelled to?

a) present
b) past
c) Future
d) None of the above
2. What strange thing did Gaitonde notice there?
a) Ancient things
b) Futuristic things
c) Modern things
d) All of the above
3. How had he met with an accident?
a) His truck collided with a car
b) His car collided with another car
c) His car collided with a truck
d) His truck collided with another truck

2. Reading volume five from both ends inwards, Gangadharpant finally

converged on the precise moment where history had taken a different turn.
That page in the book described the Battle of Panipat, and it mentioned
that the Marathas won it handsomely. Abdali was routed and he was
chased back to Kabul by the triumphant Maratha army led by Sadashivrao
Bhau and his nephew, the young Vishwasrao.

1. What happened after the Battle of Panipat in India?

a). India merged with neighbouring nations
b). India moved to the path of democracy
c). New ruler
d). British rule ended

2. What did Professor find in the fifth volume of ‘Bhausahebanchi

Bakhar’ ?

a). Marathas had won the Battle of Panipat

b). India has never been under British Raj
c). Marathas had won battle of Plassey
d). None of the above

3. What did Professor start investigating at Town Hall?

a). American History
b). Battle of Plassey
c). The third battle of Panipat.
d). About East India Company
3. The presidential chair unoccupied! The sight stirred him to the depths.
Like a piece of iron attracted to a magnet, he swiftly moved towards the
chair. The speaker stopped in mid-sentence, too shocked to continue. But
the audience soon found voice. “Vacate the chair!” “This lecture series has
no chairperson...” “Away from the platform, mister!”

“The chair is symbolic, don’t you know?”

1.What did the professor do when he noticed the empty chair?

a). he sat on the chair

b) he went away

c) he stood in the crowd

d) he went back to his guest house

2. How did the crowd react when he sat on the empty presidential chair?

a) threw several objects at him and pushed him away

b) asked him to leave politely

c) heard his speech

d) did nothing but ignored him

3. What happened after the empty chair incident?

a) he was in the hospital

b) he went to his room

c) he went to meet his friend

d) he decided to go back

4.“Like planets around the sun...” Gangadharpant interjected. “Not quite.

We know the precise trajectory of the planet. The electron could be
orbiting in any of a large number of specified states. These states may be
used to identify the world. In state no.1 we have the electron in a state of
higher energy. In state no. 2 it is in a state of lower energy. It can make a
jump from high to low energy and send out a pulse of radiation. Or a pulse
of radiation can knock it out of state no. 2 into state no.1. Such transitions
are common in microscopic systems. What if it happened on a macroscopic

level?” Rajendra said.

1. What happens in the case of electrons in lack of determinism in

Quantum theory?
a). electrons don't move from their path
b) electrons merge with other atoms
c) one cannot predict which path the electron takes at a point of time
d) None of the above

2. What happens once the observer knows about the correct placing of the
electrons in every world?
a). alternative worlds can exist at a same time
b).black hole can be created
c) a new compound can be observed
d) a new substance can be created

3. What did you notice about both the worlds?

a) both were same
b) both were in different universe
c) different people
d) different histories and different sets of events