Chamundi, Einstein and Eddington

RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE

Oddara Paallya is a small hamlet at the foothills of the picturesque Chamundi hills in Mysore. In 1959, we held a state-wide NCC camp, with participants from schools across the spectrum: elite English medium, modest vernacular, and humble corporation schools. We lived in tents, paraded, exercised, played, entertained, and ate together. The quality of the food was passable, and we had very little pocket money to go and eat goodies from the only canteen populated by the richer boys. Going from a mediocre school, we almost developed the impression that we were lesser equals; each school had an NCC master who felt the same way. It was a tough community life, and we were looking forward to going back to the comfort of our homes.

The day before our return, we all went up the Chamundi Hills in a bus just to have a good time; the Goddess Chamundeshwari was the least of our priorities as teenagers. But the hairpin bends on the way up and down posed profound questions. Whenever the bus took a sharp turn, say towards the left, we swayed to the right. The loose bags on top of the bus also fell on the right side. While this elicited howls of laughter and joy, there was this serious “kill joy” guy we called Kudumi, who posed a general question: “Why are we falling on the right side when the bus turns left? We should be falling left.” None cared for an answer.

But when we came down the hill, the question had reached every schoolboy who had gathered for the farewell. But none had a convincing answer, other than the general hint on centrifugal force. Even teachers from the elite schools had no definite answer. Our own NCC master, Sunderraj sir, said, “When you get back to Bangalore, ask your Physics teacher Lakshman.”

So we asked Lakshman sir first thing in class on Monday morning. He thought for a minute and said, “When the bus takes a left turn, your feet go along with the floorboard because of frictional attachment, but your body goes straight as per Newton’s first law, which says a body in straight motion continues the same way. So you have the impression that you are falling right, but you are actually going straight except for your feet and legs, which are in sync with the turning bus.” He demonstrated with a simple sketch on the board.

“The gravitational force of the sun pulls the light rays the fastest of all,” he added. They bend slightly but adjust and move in a straight line. Albert Einstein predicted this bending of light, and Sir Arthur Eddington demonstrated it on a total solar eclipse day by observing distant stars that appeared to be close to the rim of the eclipsed sun, and discovering that the image of the star had only been shifted, he explained.

Finally, Lakshman sir quipped, “When light can bend, why not you boys?”