I was
finally at Harvard. There was the huge welcome party for the new international
students, in which a man moved around innocuously shaking hands from one
student to another. He would say, humbly : "I am Pusey."
He was the President of
He was the President of
Harvard.
Such humility astonished me. I recalled how the Vice Chancellors of Indian Universities would stand aloof and apart from students, like totem poles with stuffed shirts, and how it was impossible for any student to even get near them.
When I went to Harvard from India, I had all the usual cliche images of a sleek American University which I had picked up from Hollywood movies.
Imagine my shock when I entered the dark and musty bulldings of Harvard, like entering some antiquated buildings in England.
Jefferson Hall was where the Physics Department was located, and I must admit I was in low spirits as I entered the office of the Chairman of the Physics Department, Dr. Preston.
Imagine my surprise when Dr. Preston got up from his chair to shake hands and then brought a chair for me to sit upon. No Head of the Department in an Indian or British College would have done as much.They would have kept the students standing before their desks.
This was not just a chance event.I found this abject humility present in all the eminent scientists and professors I met at Harvard. There was not even a trace of pride or ego in any of them. I could not have imagined greater guileless, sinless folk than these anywhere in the world.
One could not imagine them causing wrong to anyone, being revengeful or hate-filled or arrogant or bigoted. They were righteous without even being aware of it, or without even being remotely religious. I did not hear the word "God" or "religion" even mentioned or discussed for the four years I was there.
Far from thinking of these scientists as agnostics, I wondered whether these were not men of God themselves. I wondered whether God would not be pleased with them for following His laws of Love and peace without even being aware that such laws existed.
Prof Bainbridge was one of the nuclear physicists associated with the making of the first atomic bomb. When he was interviewed on television as to how he felt when he saw the first test explosion, he said: "I felt, now we are all sons of bitches!"
When I look back at all those years I spent at Harvard studying nuclear physics there, what I still cherish are the memories of those great men of science who had not a trace of ego or guile within them.
As a scientist I do not believe in angels with wings, but when I see such people I would know for whom this word was invented.
Such humility astonished me. I recalled how the Vice Chancellors of Indian Universities would stand aloof and apart from students, like totem poles with stuffed shirts, and how it was impossible for any student to even get near them.
When I went to Harvard from India, I had all the usual cliche images of a sleek American University which I had picked up from Hollywood movies.
Imagine my shock when I entered the dark and musty bulldings of Harvard, like entering some antiquated buildings in England.
Jefferson Hall was where the Physics Department was located, and I must admit I was in low spirits as I entered the office of the Chairman of the Physics Department, Dr. Preston.
Imagine my surprise when Dr. Preston got up from his chair to shake hands and then brought a chair for me to sit upon. No Head of the Department in an Indian or British College would have done as much.They would have kept the students standing before their desks.
This was not just a chance event.I found this abject humility present in all the eminent scientists and professors I met at Harvard. There was not even a trace of pride or ego in any of them. I could not have imagined greater guileless, sinless folk than these anywhere in the world.
One could not imagine them causing wrong to anyone, being revengeful or hate-filled or arrogant or bigoted. They were righteous without even being aware of it, or without even being remotely religious. I did not hear the word "God" or "religion" even mentioned or discussed for the four years I was there.
Far from thinking of these scientists as agnostics, I wondered whether these were not men of God themselves. I wondered whether God would not be pleased with them for following His laws of Love and peace without even being aware that such laws existed.
Prof Bainbridge was one of the nuclear physicists associated with the making of the first atomic bomb. When he was interviewed on television as to how he felt when he saw the first test explosion, he said: "I felt, now we are all sons of bitches!"
When I look back at all those years I spent at Harvard studying nuclear physics there, what I still cherish are the memories of those great men of science who had not a trace of ego or guile within them.
As a scientist I do not believe in angels with wings, but when I see such people I would know for whom this word was invented.
No comments:
Post a Comment