A Visit to Cambridge

A Visit to Cambridge

                                          By Firdaus Kanga

Analysis: 

·      The chapter ‘A Visit to Cambridge’ is a beautiful opportunity to peep into the life of one of the greatest scientists of our time, Stephen Hawking. It is an extract ‘From Heaven on Wheels’.

·      A Visit to Cambridge is written by Firdaus Kanga, a writer and journalist from Mumbai. He was born with ‘brittle bones’ that tended to break easily when he was a child.

·      The lesson is an account of the meeting between Firdaus Kanga and Stephen Hawking. It was during Firdaus Kanga’s visit to Cambridge when they met each other. Both these men moved around in wheelchairs.

·      Stephen Hawking, one of the greatest scientists of our time suffered from a form of paralysis that confined him to a wheelchair, and allowed him to ‘speak’ only by punching buttons on a computer.

·      The life story of Stephen Hawking is a true example of a beautiful personality with a beautiful mind. His life and achievements are a big motivation to the disabled people and the young inquisitive minds. He died in 2018 at Cambridge, UK. He was not only a scientific genius and but also a beautiful mind and a thoroughly genuine person.

Summary /  Synopsis

§  Stephen Hawking was born on 8 January, 1942 at Oxford, United Kingdom. Stephen Hawking suffered from slow progressing motor neurone disease and became completely disabled in the late 1970s. He is considered to be the successor of Issac Newton and has his Chair at the university. He is a brilliant astrophysicist. He is also the author of ‘A Brief History of Time’. It is the biggest best-seller of his time.

§  Earlier England was important to the author only because there was Cambridge. Now it had a greater appeal for him as he had met Stephen Hawking there during a walking tour.

§  The writer phoned Stephen Hawking’s house. Hawking’s assistant attended the telephone call. He told the assistant that he had come from India and wanted to meet Stephen Hawking as he was writing a book about his travels in Britain. The time for meeting the Professor was fixed. It was from three-thirty to four.

§  The writer felt that the disabled got fed up with people asking them to be brave. They got stronger on seeing somebody like them, achieving something huge.

§  When Kanga asked what had motivated him to be brave, the scientist with the help of the computer voice replied that he hadn’t ever been brave. He had no choice about it.

§  The writer told him that most people think that the disabled people are chronically unhappy. He asked Hawking if he found this amusing. The voice replied that he found it amusing when people patronised him. The writer’s next question was whether he felt annoyed when people like him disturbed him. The answer flashed ‘yes’. Hawking smiled after giving this answer. Prof. Hawking appeared to the writer as one of the most beautiful men in the world. However, the writer was shaken by his first glimpse as he seemed only a skeleton then.

§  The writer asked Hawking’s opinion about the best thing about being disabled. The reply was that there is nothing good about it. The writer’s next question was if this didn’t help him discover great kindness in the world. The voice agreed fully with the writer. Next, he asked whether the thought that he inspires millions of people in the world has helped him in anyway and the reply was negative. The question made the writer feel sorry.

§  The writer asked him to give a piece of advice to the disabled people. He advised the disabled to concentrate on what they are good at. They should try nothing beyond it. According to him, Olympics for the disabled is a waste of time. At this the writer remembered how he broke the strings of Spanish guitar while trying to play it in his early years.

§  Then, Hawking proposed to show his big garden to the writer. They wheeled in the garden but Hawking could not talk further due to the glaring sun on his computer screen.

§  The writer found his journey successful and inspiring. He could see his bravest self in the frame of Stephen hawking as he has given him inspiration to reach out farther and he has made him feel stronger.

 

Important Question Answers

Q1. Guess the first question the writer asked Stephen hawking.

Ans. The writer asked the same question that he used to think quite often and kept asking himself. He asked what has motivated him to be brave and reach out farther than he could have thought.

Q2. Stephen Hawking said, “I’ve had no choice.” Does the writer think there was a choice? What was it?

Ans. Although Stephen Hawking said he had had no other choice but to be brave. The writer thinks there was a choice. He thinks that to live creatively and use his creative mind with the reality of his disintegrated body was certainly his choice.

Q3. “I could feel his anguish.” What could be the anguish?

Ans. The astrophysicist would get exhausted and irritated by tapping at the little switch in his hand to find words on his computer. The author mentions he could feel Hawking’s anguish on how even after having a buoyant mind and fluent thoughts, his answers came out in broken phrases and emotionless sentences without any tone and feeling and that too, after making much effort and taking lot of pain.

Q4. What endeared the scientist to the writer so that he said he was looking at one of the most beautiful men in the world?

Ans. The scientist’s pure and hearty smile made the author feel like he was looking at one of the most beautiful men in the world. His smiling face and beautiful eyes made him one of the most beautiful men in the world.