A happy window

One of the main reasons I am passionate about science (specifically physics) is because it brings me closer to the objective truth (or I think it does). Science is my obsessive curiosity, be it geeking out on "Physics girl" on YouTube or constantly trying to drill down on Einstein's relativity during my shower, I'm usually science-ing and asking questions when I get a little time to myself. If I'm being honest, I get very little time to myself nowadays, but whenever I do, I spend it trying to understand the world around me through science. Although, I'm not a science graduate, I am a passionate student of science. My love for science was something I only discovered about myself in my early/mid 20s. I was reading a philosophy book which talked about science and proof. Next thing I knew, there I was watching Neil DeGrasse Tyson on Netflix. So clearly I'm not the real deal PhD in physics nerd (wish I was though), but I'm curious. I was mindlessly ...

Today, I did something I never thought I would get to do in my lifetime. I walked on the moon and saw what the earth and sun looked like from there.  To be clear, I wasn't technically walking on the moon (and it wasn't a dream).  Virtual reality (via Google Cardboard) gave me a walking on the moon experience today. My mind was blown. The earth looked like a big beautiful blue spherical jewel in the sky. The sight of our big blue planet triggered introspection in my mind on how human beings live (and fight), but maybe we'll get to those thoughts in another blog post. Thanks to the progress of virtual reality, I was able to visualize what our planet looks like from another perspective. For the first five minutes, As I "stood" on a crater of the moon, I couldn't stop looking at the blue ocean filled sphere in the sky and the stars around it. Apart from walking on the moon, I also rode on a rollercoaster, saw the Eiffel tower, went into an i...

Astrophysics mixed with philosophy, these were the two lenses through which I ended up interpreting Einstein’s theories. A few months ago, I stumbled upon Einstein's theory of relativity. I read a blog online about how Einstein’s theories are deeply connected with philosophy and spiritualism that got me hooked. After spending a lot of time trying to understand the theory, watching videos, reading blogs, reaching out to people who I thought were experts, I thought I could at least to an extent understand the broad concept of the theory.  Now this piece really isn't about astronomy or Einstein, I'm not even going to try to explain the theory here as I feel like I don't understand the nuances of the theory. Just the broad concept was enough for me, and that's what I'll live with for now. I have to give a lot of credit here to Neil DeGrasse Tyson’s documentary on Netflix called ‘Cosmos – A spacetime odyssey’. That series left me in pure wonder, gave me perspec...

Maybe, I'm linking variables that shouldn't be linked. Maybe, I'm seeing patterns where I shouldn't. But I am convinced that Van Gogh's starry night has had a tremendous impact on how I perceive the sky. Here's a little story. This painting allowed me to see the sky from Van Gogh's perspective or opened my imagination to another world. As humans, when we look up at the sky, all we see is- 1) Blue 2) Stars 3) Sun 4) Moon 5) Clouds 6) Darkness But our minds and imagination can truly move through different intersections of space and time to look beyond the obvious. We are currently overdependent on our eyesight. When we look at the sky, all we are 'capable' of seeing is the 5 things I mentioned above. But why don't we have the 'natural' ability to understand that we are rotating along with the Earth and revolving around the sun in a Universe where we cannot see the edge, nor the end or beginning. We are part of something that...

I have been trying to break my head to understand Einstein's theory of relativity purely through imagination and not mathematics or science. I know that sounds crazy and stupid, but trying to imagine yourself traveling in a rocket at the speed of light because of which time slows down for you is a fun thought experiment while in the shower. I'm sorry if this sounds like a wrong thought experiment for Einstein's theory, but at least I'm trying. I am nowhere close to cracking the theory or understanding it. I do a lot of thinking in the shower. Although, I don't quite get it yet, these thought experiments lead to other AHA moments for me which might be completely illogical or logical or truthful or wrong. I'm not quite sure if these thoughts are scientific. They're just things I think. So here's a little peek into one of those moments: AHA moment #1: Truth can be relative. On this planet that we live, there is no right or wrong answer. Let's say I ...

I couldn't quite estimate the apparent happiness spring had the potential to bring, I thought of it as just a season. But it all changed when I moved here to the mid-west. But think of this. Imagine being covered in layers, with your eyes firmly on the ground for a few months, as the cold wind didn't allow you to look up and look at your surroundings. All you could really see was the indoors, everything white. At first snow charms you, it makes you feel like you're living in magic, where everything is white.  However, after a while, it gets to you. You realize that your surroundings have lost color.  Until spring enters, you start to see little flower buds pop up at every nook and corner. And more importantly when spring arrived, I had the luxury to move around, without being bundled up all the time, without any angry cold wind gushing in my face, and I felt like something was changing. The problem is now, that my mind still thinks its winter. I th...

This is a song of the self that beautifully puts forth the idea of a soul, without explicitly saying so. It was written by an Indian philosopher and gives me goosebumps every time I read it :) I am Thought, I am Joy, I am He, I am He. Without hate, without infatuation, without craving, without greed; Neither arrogance, nor conceit, never jealous I am; Neither dharma, nor artha, neither kama, nor moksha am I; I am Thought, I am Joy, I am He, I am He. Without sins, without merits, without elation, without sorrow; Neither mantra, nor rituals, neither pilgrimage, nor Vedas; Neither the experiencer, nor experienced, nor the experience am I, I am Thought, I am Joy, I am He, I am He. Without fear, without death, without schism, without jati; Neither father, nor mother, never born I am; Neither kith, nor kin, neither teacher, nor student am I; I am Thought, I am Joy, I am He, I am He. Without form, without figure, without resemblance am I; Vitality of...