Apologies for not writing about music
Suresh, First of all congrats on yet another master piece review and prompting me to write about Bharathi. This is for the benefit of the non-tamils here. Bharathi is the tamil version of Albert einstein. Infact Einstein is the english version of Bharathi. Surprised!!well , Bharathi is the first and completely scientific and logical poet. This may seem to be a paradox, as poets are always known as dreamers, but let me explain one poem in this album. ’’Nirpadhuvae nadapadhuvae’’ .. This song if seen from a metaphysics angle describes the concept of ’’maya’’ and explains that the world is not what we perceive it to be. If seen from a pure physics angle, this song is the ’’Special theory of relativity’’.
Reference
Space
Space is the three dimensional representation of everything we observe and everything that occurs. Space allows objects to have lengths in the left/right, up/down, and forward/backward directions.
Time
Time is a fourth dimension. In normal life, time is a tool we use to measure the procession of events of space. But time is something more. Yes, we use time as a ’’tool’’, but time is essential for our physical existence. Space and time when used to describe events can’t be clearly separated. Therefore, space and time are woven together in a symbiotic manner. Having one without the other has no meaning in our physical world. To be redundant, without space, time would be useless to us and without time, space would be useless to us. This mutual dependence is known as the Spacetime Continuum. It means that any occurrence in our universe is an event of Space and Time. In Special Relativity, spacetime does not require the notion of a universal time component. The time component for events that are viewed by people in motion with respect to each other will be different. This spacetime continum is the death of the concept of simultaneity.
Einstein’s special theory of relativity is based on the idea of reference frames. A reference frame is simply ’’where a person (or other observer) happens to be standing’’. You, at this moment, are probably sitting at your computer. That is your current reference frame. You feel like you are stationary, even though you know the earth is revolving on its axis and orbiting around the sun. Here is an important fact about reference frames: There is no such thing as an absolute frame of reference in our universe
Now having read this fundamentals about relativity, let us see how This Bharathi poem deals with it.
Here I will be attempting a translation of the poem. My sincere apologies for destroying the beauty but I will try my best to restrict the negative impact.
The poem starts with some intriguing questions.
All ye things that stay, move or fly; art thou mere dreams and hallucinations of vision?
Knowledge as learnt, heard and conceived; are you mere transitory illusions? Don’t you have any deep significance?
Oh skies, sunlight, forest slopes; are you a mirage? Are you mere aberrations of perception?
And then proceeds to the most significant part.
Kaalam endrae oru ninaivum , kaatchi entre pala ninaivum
kolamum poykalo antha gunangalum poykalo
Translated as:
The singleton memory of time and the fused memories of events; Are these forms a mere lie, are their behaviors a lie too?
Reminder : Time is a fourth dimension. In normal life, time is a tool we use to measure the procession of events of space. But time is something more. Yes, we use time as a ’’tool’’, but time is essential for our physical existence. Space and time when used to describe events can’t be clearly separated. Therefore, space and time are woven together in a symbiotic manner.
Kaanpathellam maraiyum entral , Maraivathellam kaanpathundo
naanum oar kanavo , intha nyalam poythaano
Translated as: If seen things can disappear, can disappeared things be relived again? Is my existence a delusion too, is this cosmos a mere lie too? ?
Reminder: Here is an important fact about reference frames: There is no such thing as an absolute frame of reference in our universe
Einstein, through his equations and with the help of Lorentz transformations, has theoretically proved the existence of wormholes, rotating black holes. These aid in time travel and Einstein’s equations prove the existence of a parallel world.
It is exactly the same concept that Bharathi has discussed. It is a great wonder that two persons living in almost the same era could think about things that no human could possibly conceive (There are still research papers pouring out of Einstein’s theories and no one has fully understood or proven his theories). Even more astonishing is that we have managed to totally neglect our own remarkable work in this field through our ignorance and affiliation to western ideas.
Friends this is just the tip of the iceberg as far as Bharathi’s poems are concerned. His use of words and the power they carry are way beyond the time that he lived.
If this can serve a purpose to make at least one person rethink about Bharathi, then I would consider it to be my tribute to the God of poetry.
PS: The first para of the poem, is the plot behind the movie matrix.