What's your story?
Weekly Epiphanies: erratic March, finding a story in everything, the story of two brothers-gold and silver, writing a book at the age of 100
Hello Dear Readers,
While researching the origin of the phrase ‘March Madness,’ I learnt that the phrase itself is licensed to a college basketball tournament in Chicago. The licensing dictates that no one can use it for branding, e.g., T-shirts, banners, etc.
This is a pity because if I had to wear a T-shirt this month, it would read ‘March Madness’ in caps.
But the term’s origin is not from basketball. The Oxford English Dictionary points to its roots in the 1900s, referring to the erratic weather in March. Singapore has had an extended monsoon surge this month. It’s been pouring like nobody’s business. The good thing is that air conditioners are more frequently off than on. The bad thing is that outside activities are restricted.
With one more week to go before this month ends, I am loathe to see any more erratic happenings, whether from afar (read: news) or at close quarters (read: life).
However, did you notice that even a two-word phrase has a story behind it?
The Story behind Anything
I marvel at how almost anything can be turned into a story. Of course, I am a fiction writer. It’s my job to weave a story. But if I were to encourage someone who has never written fiction and feels that they are not creative enough, I would ask them to look back at how they communicated with their friends and families in their childhood.
We have all told stories at some point in our lives and continue to do that as long as we live.
Hark back to your school days— your mathematics class— when you started solving word problems. Simple problems that talked about how Tom and Harry found a bag of toffees and wanted to divide them equally. You might have focused on solving the problem, but have you ever wondered how Arun and Varun found the bag of toffees? Did they find it lying by the roadside, or steal it from a shop, or did someone gift it to them?
Of course, you don’t need to know how they found the bag to solve the problem, but the back story is vital in real life. If they found it lying by the road, was it discarded? If yes, are the toffees of good quality? If not, why divide equally? They should be thrown away.
On the other hand, if they stole the bag, it’s a crime. They do not have the right to divide the chocolates equally then.
This is called context. If given enough context, a problem to be solved can evolve into a meaningful and sometimes adventurous story, and the solutions become more relevant.
A Story of Gold and Silver
My daughter burst out with excitement as soon as she woke up yesterday because she wanted to tell me the story of gold and silver from her physics textbook.
Gold and silver are metals with similar electronic configurations, which dictate their similar properties, such as electrical and thermal conductivity, ductility, and malleability. However, they look very different.
People who covet ornaments made with these two metals perceive them both differently. While both are considered auspicious in Indian culture, gold has driven people to madness, but silver has not.
Anyone who wants to understand how valuable gold is should visit the southern part of India, especially my native state, Kerala, during the wedding season. In a traditional wedding ceremony, the brides become akin to a gold-decked Christmas tree. Further, I suggest watching a recent Malayalam movie, Ponman, to get the context. The film focuses on a specific community, but the craze for gold during weddings is similar across religions and communities in Kerala.
Okay, back to the science. My daughter explained to me how the speed at which (wait, I need to check her textbook) the outer electrons move dictates their Lorentz factor (I wish I had the expertise to explain this!), which in turn changes the wavelengths of light absorbed and reflected by both gold and silver. So, it’s all a play of special relativity (remember Einstein?), or in my words, perception.
Now imagine if you were to attend a Kerala wedding where a bride was adorned with gold ornaments from the top of her head to the tips of her toes. Walk up to the bride’s family and say that all this glitter is really just a matter of special relativity and the Lorentz factor and that if you keep it aside, they are similar, as silver has the same electronic configuration as gold. They would think you are either envious of the bride, delusional, or both.
Gold being considered more precious and auspicious because of its colour, gets a whole new twist because of relativity, doesn’t it? It’s a story of two brothers, gold and silver, one rarer and shinier than the other. (A third brother, copper, is not even considered for comparison. Poor fellow!)
Reading Life
Eddie Jaku’s story in The Happiest Man on Earth overwhelmed me from the first chapter. I would highly recommend the book to anyone who feels burdened by life. While narrating his ordeal at German prisoner camps and at the hands of the Gestapo, he occasionally reminds us of how fortunate many of us are. He shares his concern about how some people abuse their bodies through bad habits and vices. His observation makes a significant impact when seen in the context of the physical and mental torture that prisoners went through in the camps.
At the end of the book, he stresses the futility of anger and how it leads to fear and hate—much-needed advice for the world today. However, the most wonderful part of his story is that he wrote the book at the ripe old age of 100. For a life well-lived, age is no bar to telling a story.
Eddie Jaku, the holocaust survivor, passed away in 2021 in Sydney at the ripe old age of 101.
Everyone has a story. What’s yours?
Stories are what keep us alive. The hope of finding a listener is what keeps us going.
Keep sharing, keep reading, and stay happy.
Sudeepa
I love the story you build around the metals and weave in the Indian/Kerala context. I too feel there's a story in every moment. But you have to be perceptive enough to notice it.