THE WEEK Archives: When Jayant Narlikar told THE WEEK that ‘young Indians have become more superstitious’
Jayant Vishnu Narlikar is known all over the world for his work in cosmology. He shares with his mentor, Sir Fred Hoyle, the honour of developing the conformal gravity theory. Narlikar, 75, has been honoured with the Padma Vibhushan and Padma Bhushan and UNESCO's Kalinga award for popularisation of science. In an exclusive interview with THE WEEK, he said his generation was less superstitious than the present one. He said even people from cities were not immune to superstitions, although they had exposure to the latest technologies. He also talked about his friendship with the famous writer E.M. Forster. Excerpts:
Q/ Last December marked 50 years of you seeing the sun rise in the west for the first time. How does it feel?
A/ I did not realise it had been that long ago [smiles]. It was an unexpected observation back then. Quite rare, too, given that all the conditions needed for that were not easily contrived. You had to have the sun near the horizon, your speed [of the plane] had to be greater than the speed of the rotation of the earth in the opposite direction, and the time of the day had to match. I was travelling with David, my astronomer companion, and we both enjoyed the experience.
Q/ How has the Indian attitude towards science changed in the past few decades?
A/ It is important to make a distinction when we talk of science. One, research in science and two, the growth of scientific temper. Jawaharlal Nehru said in his Discovery of India, which was written before Independence, that he expected the people of India to learn to be more rational, rather than getting carried away by traditions and superstitions. He hoped this would happen after Independence. But it has not happened, even after 66 years.
Rather, the superstitious element has grown. My generation was less superstitious than the present one. This applies to people from cities who have the advantage of technology. They proudly display their mobile phones with various contraptions, but their belief in astrology and holy men has increased. I feel they could have been made to think more rationally by the way they are taught in schools. Learning by rote takes away the power of the desire to find a solution that is rational.
Our generation had to memorise less. We had time to play games and read books. The habit of reading has gone now. There is no time to play, given the overburdened syllabus and TV shows and computer games. The way science and maths are taught, too, is different. My teachers spoke about things that were not part of the syllabus. We had access to the physics lab to do our experiments. Given the sheer number of students today, teachers barely have time.
C.N.R. Rao [chairman of the science advisory council to the Prime Minister] said government support for R&D in science is just 0.8 per cent of the total GDP of the country. When I was a member of the science advisory council, I was promised that it would be raised to 2 per cent from the prevailing 1 per cent. Instead, it has slipped to 0.8 per cent over the years. I have also started hearing this dangerous phrase among scientists that 'money is not a problem'. If there is an impression that the government will give money for research, money should not be a problem. No one is enquiring how it is being spent. If the amount is limited, the claimants will be conscious of how they choose to spend it.
Coming to the media, take the example of a solar eclipse. A TV channel will call a scientist to the studio as well as an astrologer, and give more time to the astrologer. Most channels have their in-house astrologers. In the 1980s, a survey was done on the print media in which they looked at how much space was being given to science and technology news. It came up to 5 per cent. The English newspapers had a worse record than the Hindi ones, which means that people at the grassroots are more interested in science than the ones who read English papers, who are only a few and are a more superstitious lot.
After elections, politicians approach astrologers to fix the timing of their swearing-in ceremony. However, no one predicted Rajiv Gandhi's death, how he would die or when. It is the lack of self-confidence and the lure of the easy way that make people believe in superstitions. India has 'space-age' superstitions. Even now, children ask me about the Bermuda Triangle and flying saucers, which have long been debunked.
Q/ Apart from your mentor, Fred Hoyle, who else has inspired you?
A/ My father was a big influence in my early days. Fred was my PhD supervisor, from whom I learnt a lot. I was lucky enough to spend time with E.M. Forster [author of the famous book A Passage to India]. He was my neighbour when I was at King's College, Cambridge. I was 28 and he was in his 80s. He was an easy person to talk to. His interests were modern. He used to have attacks of fits for which there was a bell in his room that rang in mine. So, if anything were to happen to him, I could get help. Once, when he had an attack and was admitted [to a hospital], I went to see him. He said, 'Oh, it was nothing as grand as a stroke, it was just a fit'. Old people complain about ill health all the time. He never did, and I admired him for that. He taught us how to become old in a happy way.
Q/ You said the comet Swift-Tuttle may strike the Earth in 2126. Is it going to be the end of the world?
A/ [The matter of] comets hitting the Earth has been addressed by astronomers who study meteors to see if they can predict collisions up to 500 years, issue warnings, and look at things we can do. I wrote a science fiction story about a comet on its way to the Earth, and looked at how superstitious people looked at it and how science looked at it. Science suggested a solution where you exploded a nuclear device near the approaching comet to deflect it so that it would miss the Earth. But, it was done in a confidential manner so as not to cause panic among people.
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