Einstein’s bedtime

IF surprises don’t surprise you, this will — you have time-travelled to the age of Einstein’s childhood with a view to finding the secret of his development into a genius… and found that he has been turned out of the school for poor performance in a mathematics test. What do you do now — travel back or stay with him for a while? You take the second option and hit the jackpot… in future, not now.

Now is the time for following this child home, where he will sit with a sad face, in fear that his mother will return and learn of his failure. From the window of his room, with a stopwatch in one hand, he watches trains move at a distance from the house, putting down some readings in his notebook.

So, it was here that the theory of relativity originated. Do not make quick assumptions, take a poll if you may, phone a friend or use 50-50, but make your point only after careful observation. You show faith in him once more… children don’t observe the train the way he does, there is a glint of discovery in his eyes, so, he may indeed be the creative thinker we thought him to be. If a man on the moving train is timing a light beam that travels from the ceiling of the compartment to the floor and back, from his point of view, the light moves straight down and straight up. He thinks that the light bulb and the reflecting mirror on the floor are stationary.

From his trackside house, Einstein sees the man, the bulb and the mirror moving sideways: the light traces a diagonal path. From Einstein’s point of view, the light goes farther, but since the speed of light is always the same, the event must take more time by his clock. He thinks that the light bulb and the mirror are moving. He knew it and you knew it. Yesssss! Who comes in at this hour? It’s Einstein’s mother — to tell him that it’s bedtime.

Einstein is the first son of his parents. His easygoing engineer father, an unsuccessful entrepreneur in the emerging electrochemical industry, who gave him his first toy compass, is not such an influence on him as his mother.

Mother (to her son in bed): "I know that they turned you out, but I also know that they are wrong. I wish they were as fair towards all as your grandmother. Once, she won a prize and gave her winnings to her children in order that the first child received 100 DM and one tenth of the remainder. The second child received 200 DM and one tenth of the remainder. The third child received 300 DM and one tenth of the remainder… and so on.

After sharing her winnings in this way, she found that she had divided the money equally among all her children… are you asleep? Oh, you are." So, was his legendary grandmother the secret and how many children did she have? Write at Mind Games, Windows, The Tribune, or adityarishi99@yahoo.co.in.

— Aditya Rishi