Science and Not Science

Science is nothing but life.
For one who observes the self, things around, there are questions and more questions begging for an answer.
Right from the first man, everyone went on asking these questions and also found answers.
Else, the world would not have been like this.

On the way, we thought that there is something called science.
Then, we started thinking that we do not have anything to do with science at all!
We stopped asking questions.
Don't even talk about the answers clearly visible before the eyes.

If you analyse creative writing through the ages, it is easy to find the instances of scientific inquiry in it's myriad forms.

I was reading a story written by Sri Chinta Deekshitulu.
He raises and leaves an interesting question, without pursuing it!

I wish he took it further!

Read the beginning of the story.
Yes, the matter of moon appearing to be moving along with us has nothing to do with the story.
But, one has noticed it!

Thus starts the story!

The rainy season is coming to an end. Clouds are moving in the sky with the weight of water in them. On the earth children are playing. Moon is immersing the garlands of clouds and the children below in his light equally.

Sand dunes in one place are like the moonlight is poured in heaps. Suri, Siti and venki are sitting there. Right before, their house is seen. They have put Chamanti and damanam in their plaits. Meanwhile their brother came and joined.

“Brother, What is this, the moon comes wherever I go” said Suri

“He comes wherever I go too” said Siti.

“Really!” said brother.

“Yes! Really!”

“Then you stay here – I shall go that way. Does he come with me?’

“Then Go!”

“Brother, he is coming with me. Is the moon there with you also?”

‘Look, he is here without moving. See for yourself if you want”

“All lies, when he is coming with me, how he can be there with you!”

‘When he is with me without moving a bit, how is he coming with you!”

“Then you go that way and see if he comes with you”

“Here, he is coming with me too”

Leave it. We shall ask father how he is coming with you and me also”

“Brother, father tells the story of moon isn’t it” said Siti.

“What story?” said Venki.

“It looks sometime someone was going after eating bellyful and moon laughed at him. Then the belly broke just like that!” said Suri.

Oh, that. That is Vinayaka story. 

I wish he took it further!

If you’re riding in a car at night, it may look like the Moon is following you or chasing you, zooming behind the treetops to keep up with your car. The Moon isn’t actually following you, though. It’s just an optical illusion!    

There are a couple reasons for the illusion. The first is that the Moon is huge! It’s smaller than the Earth. About 50 Moons could fit inside the Earth, but it’s still really huge! If a person stood as far away as the Moon is, we wouldn’t be able to see him or her without a really powerful telescope!

The Moon’s distance also helps it seem like it’s following you. Things that are very far away stay in our fields of vision (what we can see) for longer! You can imagine your field of vision like a giant “V” coming out of your eyes. The pointed tip of the “V” is close to your eyes, and from there it expands outward. Nearby things that move across your field of vision, like a tree close to the road as your car drives past it, appear to move very quickly. They only have a short trip across your field of vision, through the thinnest part of the “V”. Things that are far away, in the very widest parts of the “V,” have farther to go across your field of vision. You see them for longer, and they appear to move more slowly. The Moon is so far away that it’s almost always in your field of vision. And it’s so very far away that it seems like it’s always in the same part of your field of vision. Even as you vroom along in a car, the Moon appears to stay with you!