It was just another astro-club-meeting, where I sat insignificant and irrelevant, while the rest of the people bombarded each other with some out-of-this-world facts (literally and figuratively). My knowledge that (I felt) once shone like a Sun was now totally eclipsed. There were string-theory, relativity, space- time distortions, inflation, cosmological constants (and whatever) and what not…..I could almost visualize myself in a scene of Men-In-Black where every seemingly-human around Will Smith turns out to be an alien. I could feel my mind suffocate as it drowned into an ocean of ignorance. I wanted to adjust myself to ‘I don’t give a damn’ mode but all my senses screamed, ‘Damn you fool.’ I had to take some urgent action, perhaps, go fish for some astronomy-books in the library. Finally, after half an hour, I was standing in front of a book-shelf which had mainly two kinds of books- ‘thick and simple-titled’ and ‘thin and only-NASA-can-figure-out-titled’.
After much research, a book that fulfilled my criteria (short and less bitter if not sweet) landed up in my hand. But, alas, the book issuing time was up. I cursed the cosmos for conspiring against me and kept the product of my research back, reluctantly, in the shelf.
My course-books welcomed me into the room. It was amazing, how these books which always felt irritating soothed me that day. My inner conflicts gradually settled down. My alter-ego faded away from the mirror (yeah, I have one, though a bit Bollywoodish). Back I was, to being a sweet terrestrial, no longer feeling guilty to roam around on Earth without knowing what’s going around it. Once again, I threw a glimpse at the sky and checked out the stars, not caring about the intricacies or the complexities, but just enjoying the simple beauty of the celestial roof hanging above me.
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