Summary of The Adventure
The Adventure is a short story written by Indian writer Jayant Narlikar. He talks about the theory of existence of parallel worlds through storytelling. The main character Professor Gaitonde is an academician in the field of history. He is supposed to present a presidential address on how the history of India would have changed if the Marathas had won the Battle of Panipat. He immerses himself in thoughts – trying to assess the probabilities of an alternative course of history and meets with an accident. He wakes up to find himself subject to a new reality where he finds that the Marathas had really won the battle and the British were unsuccessful in enslaving the Indians. He relates his experience to his friend Rajendra Despande who looks at it as a possible execution of psychological trickery in Gaitonde’s mind. But upon giving a proof of his visit to another world, Professor Gaitonde puts Rajendra in doubt. Rajendra analyses and speculates every detail of the event to conclude that Gaitonde might have made a transition into another parallel world, and then returned to his original world, and that the Battle of Panipat was the point of bifurcation in the worlds. Students can go through the Summary of The Adventure Class 11 English given below to understand the chapter better. They can also visit CBSE Summary and CBSE Notes to access more information and learning material on the CBSE Class 11 English syllabus.
CBSE Class 11 English The Adventure Summary
The story starts with Gangadharpant Gaitonde – a history professor exploring a different world, searching for answers to some questions that had altered his understanding of the past and present. He was travelling to Bombay on the Jijamata Express. He had made a plan – researching by studying some books at a library and returning to Pune to talk to Rajendra Deshpande about his findings. He knew Rajendra Deshpande would help him solve his queries. However, Professor Gaitonde was also uncertain about the existence of his friend Rajendra Deshpande in this world. As he came out of the station in Bombay, he was shocked to find the headquarters of The East India Company alive and flourishing – which according to historical records, was supposed to be wound up after the events of 1857. He reasoned that the time period could be one of those before 1857. He decided to find out. Meanwhile, when he went to see his son at the Forbes building, the English receptionist informed him that there was no employee named Vinay Gaitonde in the building. Gangadgarpant was further shocked. He guessed that there was no reason for his son to be alive if he himself was dead in this world. Maybe his son was not born at all.
Professor Gaitonde found a library at the Town Hall and asked the librarian to provide him with a list of History books, including the ones he had written. As he went through the books, he looked for the point where history had taken a different turn. Contrary to common knowledge, the contents of this book presented the outcome of the Battle of Panipat as the Marathas winning over the army of Abdali. As he read on, Professor Gaitonde noticed that the writing style was unmistakably his, but the content was completely new to him. The victory established the supremacy of the Marathas in Northern India, and the East India Company decided to put a halt to its expansionist agendas.
His book in the new world talked about Vishwarao, the new Maratha ruler, and his brother Madhavrao using their political acumen and valour to expand their control all over India. They had made developments in the fields of Science and Technology with the help of the East India Company. India had become a democracy by the twentieth century, and the position of the Shahenshah at Delhi was diminished to a figurehead to rubber-stamp the recommendations made by the central parliament. He went through another book by Bhausahebanchi Bakhar that talked about the Battle of Panipat in a graphic manner. It talked about how a bullet had missed Vishwarao, hence, changing the original course of history as we know it. The librarian reminded Professor Gaitonde that it was time to leave the library. Gaitonde put the book of Bakhar into his left pocket absent-mindedly when he was putting some notes into his right pocket.
Gaitonde found a guest house to stay in, and after having a frugal meal, went out for a stroll towards the Azad Maidan. In the maidan, he found that a pandal was organised for a speaker. He noticed that the presidential chair was unoccupied. He went to occupy the seat, and the audience revolted against his action. When he went to reason with them by talking about the importance of a speaker on a presidential chair, the audience grew furious and removed him from the stage by themselves.
The next scene shows Gangadharpant talking to his friend Rajendra Deshpande. The latter asked Gaitonde what he was doing before he hit the truck and had an accident. Gaitonde replied that he was thinking about the catastrophe theory and its implications on history. Rajendra smiled, and Gaitonde explained that it was not his mind playing tricks on him. To prove it, Gaitonde took out a piece of paper from his pocket. It was a page torn from the book of Bakhar that he had accidentally slipped into his left pocket. It talked about how a bullet had missed Vishwarao and how this event was interpreted as a good omen by the Martha army that led to their victory. Gaitonde then took out his own copy of Bakhar, which showed Vishwarao getting hit by a bullet.
He went into a deep state of thought and finally told Gaitonde that he would try to solve this catastrophic experience of the latter using two scientific theories. Rajendra pointed out that the page that talked about Vishwarao’s victory presented a crucial event gone the other way. He now started connecting the events to a scientific theory. Reality is not only about things that we can perceive through our senses. It could have other manifestations as well. It is not easy to predict the nature of systems comprising atoms and their constituent particles, even if all the governing principles are known. In different world pictures, an electron might be present at different positions. Once we find the position of the electron, we can easily determine which world it is. At the same time, interestingly, alternative worlds with the electron in different positions can also exist.
Moreover, transitions happen in systems with electrons and their constituents. An electron may cause radiation while transiting from a higher state of energy to a lower state of energy. Rajendra speculated that this kind of behaviour could also happen at a macroscopic level. An astonished Gangadharpant asked Rajendra if it was possible that he had travelled to one world and returned to his original one. Rajendra explained that catastrophic situations offer radically different alternatives for the world to proceed, but the observer can experience only one at a time. Gaitonde had made a transition to another world where he stayed for two days and was able to experience two worlds at one time. In both the worlds, the bifurcation took place at a certain point – the Battle of Panipat. Gaitonde had travelled neither to the past nor the future, but he was in the present, experiencing a different world. There could be many more different worlds formed by bifurcations at certain points in the timeline.
Professor Gaitonde was curious to know why he had gone through such an experience. Rajendra explained that interaction was necessary to cause a transition. Gaitonde was thinking about the catastrophe theory and its implications for war. Maybe he was thinking about the Battle of Panipat, and it probably triggered the neurons in his brain. Gaitonde conveyed to Rajendra that the topic for his thousandth presidential address was going to be about the consequences of the reverse outcome of the Battle of Panipat itself.
Conclusion of The Adventure
Summary of The Adventure Class 11 English presents an interesting scientific theory through the lenses of a history professor. The experience experienced by Professor Gaitonde is bizarre and seems like wild imagination to someone who has never heard of this theory before. This chapter is a beautiful combination of literature and science to propagate the theory of parallel worlds to the layman reader. A person who does not have much scientific acumen can also understand this theory through the story. Rajendra Deshpande’s explanation of the theory through step-by-step analysis of the event to compare it with the features of electrons in microscopic worlds demonstrates the basics of quantum physics behind the foundation of this theory.
A detailed understanding of the chapter can help students critically analyse and appreciate it. Students can refer to our website for further information and content related to the Class 11 English subject for better understanding and preparation for CBSE board exams. They can also access topics like grammar and writing in English.
