My mom, dad and my homework

I came across this post on TechCrunch. A kickstarter project, building a “perfect” moon for living room. The making of “this” moon is intriguing. The makers had contacted NASA for topographical data to make the moon map. It has the closest-to-true scale of craters, mountains and valleys of the moon.

The team had used a circular frame with LED bulbs to cast shadows of the craters and mountains on the moon. I imagined how it wold be in my living room. Of course, awesome! And this dark room having moon reminded me of one of my dearest childhood memories.

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I was in 3rd or 4th standard. One day I had a homework about Lunar and Solar eclipses. I came home with my sister from school. My mom fed us some snacks, had us bathed, groomed us, got us ready with evening clothes after “pouring” talcum powder on our bodies :) and made us sit for homework. She went back to her house chores. Time passed. My elder sister was already into homework finishing things one by one. And I was not into homework yet. I guess, I was busy dissecting my pen or something. Definitely I did not even start anything. Time passed. At the corner of my brain I knew that mom would come to check us after finishing her evening pooja and deeparadhan (lighting diya).

I copied solar eclipse drawing from textbook onto homework book. My mom came and checked our homework. My sister almost finished her homework. Mom ordered :) me to finish everything before she comes again and went to prepare dinner. I copied lunar eclipse too. Very well. Leaving the books and stuff on floor, my sister and I went to play. After some time mom called us for dinner.

For the last time before going to dinner, mom checked our homework. My sister was “let go” :) as she finished her home work properly. My turn! My homework looked neat I thought. Mom asked me to explain about lunar eclipse. I mumbled something. Sure, I spoke something. My mom asked me to speak clearly. I mumbled again. She understood that I did not understand eclipses at all. She explained what eclipse was, verbally. I did not get it. She explained again. I did not get it. I clearly remember my mom was wearing a pale sandal powder colored cotton sari. She put my book down. She explained by moving her hands in “space” asking me to imagine Sun here, Earth there and the Moon somewhere. :) I was lost in space-dinner-time continuum :). I did not understand it.

I feel dumb to say this. When I was a kid, my idea of nine planets was like, standing where you are on “land”, we could point finger into the sky and say Sun, Mercury, Venus, “Earth”, Mars and so on. :/ For me, Earth was one more planet up above the sky in the outer space along with these other planets.

I was in my own thoughts and confusion in the space my mom created. I think, the celestial bodies my mom made must have created so much gravity, so time ran slower. I could hear my mom was still explaining things to me. Nothing was going into my mind. I came out of my dreams when my mom asked me “Did you understand it yet?”. :)

My dad had been observing us. He was pursuing his M.Phil in those days (Like I said in my previous post, my dad was master of many things). He kept all his papers, rough drafts and books aside and came to us. My mom looked at him with a hope. I looked at him with a big note on my head, “అమ్మ ఏం చెప్తోంది నాన్నా? (English: What mom has been trying to say?)”

My dad asked me to bring the ball that I play with. I came back with in a second with a big enthusiastic smile on my face. My dad had his small paperweight wrapped in paper. He took us into his reading room, switched off light, turned on a torch light.

Dad became “Sun”. Mom became “The Earth”. And Chandra became Chandra! :)

Mom and dad moved the objects in certain fashion while explaining! I heard, “… people who are earth under the shadow…” Boom! I understood what eclipse is :). And most importantly I understood what exactly “Earth” is, where we are. :) I know it’s kind of embarrassing. But that was the idea I had about Earth.

My mom had a sigh of relief, kissed me and left the room to arrange things for dinner. My dad just walked away to continue his thesis writing. I just sat there unlearning the things and learning new things. I spent so much time there in that dark room. I was no more afraid of dark rooms after that (another post is coming about this).

My mom called me for dinner. I was still exploring and making patterns with that torch light casting shadows on objects. My mom called me again for dinner. I assumed my mom and dad’s positions as Sun and Earth forming eclipses. My mom called me another time for dinner. I was learning stuff. I ignored unintentionally.

That dark space, celestial objects and shadows continued lingering on my mind while I was finishing my dinner. I went on winning a Physics Olympiad award in my 10th standard.

Mom, dad — I love you so much!