The Sunday Tribune

Nature as teacher
Shalini Rawat

Curiouser & Curiouser
by Neeraja Raghavan. Full Circle. Pages 78. Rs 295.

"IN the Beginning, there was Nothing, there was no Truth, no Untruth either; What was Hidden? Where? No one knows the Answer`85" Man began musing on the origin of the universe and of the self during the Vedic Age, or perhaps earlier, and has never stopped since. This fable tries to unlock the primeval mysteries. What came before: the seed or the tree? What stays constant, what changes? The river merges into the oceans and the clouds drink up the oceans, which again pour their hearts into the river. So does the river really contain all the oceans and the clouds? Questions asked by a child, or rather the child in us, but conveniently brushed away by adults. Questions for which we have no time but which have existed beyond time and would undoubtedly help us come to terms with ourselves and with nature if only we had even a hint of an answer.

It is difficult to answer questions that hinge on philosophy and yet maintain the simplicity required of a book. Curiouser & Curiouser tries to do both with some success. There is an honest attempt to grapple with some fundamental questions concerning existence in each of its little textbook-like chapters.

We seem to have reached a point where humanity, whose curiosity is the cornerstone of science, is threatened by its own achievements. Doomsayers abound, but whether the end comes by bomb, pollution, automated loneliness or whether it comes at all, there can be no doubt that a fundamental error is being committed in thinking that humanity alone has all the answers. Lessons can be learnt from all quarters of nature.

The book also seems to illustrate the fact that nature has more answers than those found in books, even though we doubt the inferences drawn by reflecting on nature. The universe behaves in a more organised manner than we care to believe. Whatever goes on in clockwork precision around us, like the beating of our hearts, has a greater rhythm behind it. To quote the author, "All the universe must be dancing in step with itself." The metamorphosis of the caterpillar into a butterfly is what the book is all about. As the butterfly looks for answers, a lot more changes ‘inside’ it.

The book is for the curious child in us who needs to be reassured that beyond the scientific theories of our times, a greater truth exists. Moral of the story, "`85only on the surface, there is creation and destruction. Beneath it all, there is Stillness and Constancy."