THE ADVENTURE
Professor Gaitonde being an eminent historian was much in demand for presiding over public functions. He was so popular that he decided that his 1000th speech would be on history and he would speak on the Battle of Panipat. However, for his 999th he was invited to speak on the ‘Catastrophe Theory’ in the Dept. of Mathematics in Poona University. Gangadharpanth had readily agreed to preside over the function but wanted to know about the Catastrophe Theory. He was enlightened by Rajendra Deshpande who explained to him that history could take a different turn if the tide turned during a battle. This interested Gangadharpanth who enjoyed the seminar and was thinking about chairing the 1000th seminar on Panipath. That is when the truck driver’s helper cried – ‘Baju Hato!’ followed by the truck’s horn. However, the truck gave a glancing blow to Gangadharpanth. When the truck driver and the helper jumped out to looked for him, they could not find him. He had simply vanished. Sixty hours after the event he re-emerged in Bombay’s Azad Maidan in torn clothes and empty pockets. He could not remember how he reached there. At the police station he remembered that his son Vinay worked in a Bombay firm. His son came and took him home. The psychiatrist found that his mind was blank for 60 hours. Despite his sharp memory for historical dates, he could not remember anything for those 60 hours. However, he remembered that he needed to go to Pune for his 1000th seminar on Battle of Panipat. On his way back while buying batata vara he found a bit of paper in his pocket which brought back his memory for those 60 hours. He made two resolutions – first: he would visit Ragendra Deshpande; Second: he would never ever chair over any function ever. He recalled that he had woken up in a Hospital in Pune, which was totally different from the Pune he knew. Dr Modak who looked after him told him ‘Today is Ashadh shukla chaturdashi, Shaka 1908. If you need the date in Bombay, it is July 20, 1986. When Professor Gaitonde told him that his son lived in Bombay, Dr Modak took him to the station and made a permit for Bombay with his money. He laughed at the Professor’s money and kept it for playing monopoly. The extract begins after Professor Gaitonde boards the train.
Let us find out what happened during those three days in the summary of the extract-
A Brief Sketch of The Text
Professor Gaitonde had boarded the Jijamata Express which ran faster than the Deccan Queen. He did not see the industrial township outside Pune. The first stop was after 40 minutes in Lonavala. The ghat area was the same as he had seen before next it stopped at Kajarhat before rushing through Kalyan. Gaitonde decided that he would go to a big library and find out the reason behind the world that he was currently in. Then he would return to Pune and meet Rajendra Deshpandey, if he existed in his present world. When the train stopped at Sarhad, an Anglo-Indian in uniform came to check their permits. His fellow passenger Khan Shahib informed him that it was from there that the British Raj began. He asked Gaitonde whether he was going to Bombay for the first time and Gaitonde answered in the affirmative. Gaitonde asked him what route he would follow for going to Peshawar. Khan Sahib told him that he would take a train from Victoria Terminus and go to Peshawar via Delhi and Lahore. He also told him about his business.
The suburban trains were blue and GBMR (Greater Bombay Metropolitan Railway) was written at the side along with small British flag (Union Jack) painted on the sides to remind people that they were in British Territory.
Outside the station, Gaitonde saw a huge building in which it was written – ‘EAST INDIA HOUSE HEADQUATERS OF EAST INDIA COMPANY.’ Professor Gaitonde was shocked as the East India Company had wound up after 1857. It clearly showed that History took a different path before 1857, he had to find out why?
As Professor Gaitonde walked down Hornby Road he saw that it looked like a street in England with Lloyds, Barclays and other British banks. The Handloom House was missing. When at the Forbes building, he asked for Mr. Vinay Gaitonde his son, he was informed by the English receptionist that there was no employee with that name. Professor Gaitonde understood that due to the change in history it was doubtful whether his son was even born in that world.
He was relieved to find that the library of Asiatic Society and the Town Hall existed. At the library he asked for several history books including the five volumes that he wrote. His Volume One dealt with history till Ashoka, Volume Two till Samudragupta, Volume Three till Mohammad Ghori, Volume Four till Aurangzeb and Volume Five till British era. It was in Volume Fve that the change took place so he opened the Third Battle of Panipat and he found that instead of losing the battle, the Marathas had won it and chased Abdali back to Kabul. The battle was won by Sadashivrao Bhau and his nephew Vishwasrao. The Peshwas increased their supremacy in north India and curbed the expansion of East India company. Vishwasrao succeeded Sadashivrao and he along with his brother Madhavrao reduced the influence of the Company to small areas around Bombay (Mumbai), Calcutta (Kolkata) and Madras (Chennai). The Peshwas kept the Mughal Emperors as nominal heads in Delhi and used technological help from the Company to set up Science and Technological Centres. In the twentieth century the Peshwas were gradually replaced by democratically elected government. The Delhi Sultanate remained as the titular head without any power.
To find out how the events changed, he took a book by Bhausahebanchi Bakhar, which he only read for entertainment, as the accounts were not always authentic. In that book three lines described the outcome of the Battle of Panipat. It said that-
In the battle Vishwasrao went to the area where the main elite warriors were fighting, and by God’s grace a bullet brushed past his ear. He escaped death narrowly.
As it was eight o’clock the librarian wanted to close the library, so Professor Gaitonde asked him to keep the books on the table for the next day. While putting some notes, he mistakenly put the Bakher in his pocket. After a frugal meal at a guesthouse, he went to the Azad Maidan. There a crowd had gathered around a pandal and a lecture was going on. To his surprise, Professor Gaitonde found that the chair in front of the table was vacant. As he was in the habit of presiding over public functions, he went and sat on the chair. The speaker told him that the chair was symbolic and he should vacate it. When he continued his speech, the audience went to the stage to remove him bodily and Gangadharpant vanished in the crowd.
Professor Gaitonde told Rajendra that he had been found in the Azad Maidan in the morning in his original world. He told Rajendra that wanted to know where he was during his absence. When he told Rajendra that he had been thinking about the catastrophe theory and its impact on history just before his collision with the truck, Rajendra gave an understanding smile. Lest, Rajendra thought that it was his imagination which created the other world, the professor showed him the page from Bakhar which he had found in his pocket.
That page said that Vishwasrao had escaped death which turned the tide of The Third Battle of Panipat which the Marathas won. The other copy of Bakhar, that the professor had, said that Vishwasrao was hit by the bullet, and the Marathas lost the battle. The evidence that Professor Gaitonde gave him made Rajendra see the truth behind the professor’s weird experience.
Rajendra tried to explain the phenomenon on the basis of two scientific theories. He said that in the Battle of Panipat both the armies had equal power, so the outcome depended on leadership and the mindset of the soldiers. When Vishwasrao was killed and Bhausaheb was nowhere to be seen, the Maratha soldiers lost confidence and lost the battle. However, if the bullet missed Vishwasrao it would have boosted the morale of the Army and turned the tide in their favour.
To this Professor Gaitonde said that history cannot be based on ‘if and buts’ and there is only one history.
Rajendra said it was not exactly like that as electrons move around the nucleus in energy shells, and an electron from high energy shell can jump to a low energy shell, giving out pulse radiation and vice-versa. This type of movement is common in microscopic systems and may be possible at macroscopic level. It is possible that Professor Gaitonde made a transition from one world to the other with a different history. The world which bifurcated during the Battle of Panipat.
When Gangadharpanth asked Rajendra the reason behind his transition to the other world, he said that he was unsure, but it was possible that as he had been thinking about the catastrophe theory and the Battle of Panipat, the neurons acted as a trigger and propelled him to world which bifurcated during the Battle.
Professor Gaitonde said that the topic of his 1000th seminar was supposed to be – the course of history that would have ensued if Marathas won the Third Battle of Panipat.
Rajendra said that now he would be able to say exactly what would have happened, as he had actually witnessed it. To this Professor Gaitonde said that he had taken a pledge that he would never ever preside over another Public Function as he had already addressed 1000th public function in the other world where he was interrupted and rudely removed from the stage. He had already conveyed his regret to the organizers of the seminar on the Battle of Panipat about his unavailability.
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