The Adventure QnAs-

Short answer type

1.Who was Professor Gaitonde? What was his plan in Bombay?

Ans. ProfessorGaitondewasahistorian.HehadwrittenfivevolumesonHistory.Hewas on his way to

Bombay. He planned to go to a library and consult the history books there to find out how
present state of affairs was reached.

2 What were the things that Professor Gaitonde noticed as the train entered the British Raj
territory?

As the train touched Sarhad, From where the British Raj began, an Anglo- Indian in uniform
went through the train checking permits. The blue carriages of the train carried the letters GBMR
on the side an acronym for ‘Greater Bombay Metropolitan Railway’. There was the tiny Union
Jack painted on each carriage as a. reminder that they were in British territory. As the train
stopped at its destination, Victoria Terminus, the station looked remarkably neat and clean. The
staff was mostly made up of Anglo-Indians and Parsees with a handful of British officers.

3. Where was Khan Sahib going? How did he intend to reach there?

Khan Sahib was going to Peshawar. After the train reached Victoria Terminus he would take the
Frontier Mail out of Central, -the same night. From Bombay he would go to Delhi, then to Lahore
and then Peshawar. It would be a long journey and he would reach Peshawar two days later.

4. What was the strange reality that Professor Gaitonde saw as he stepped out of the station?

As Professor Gaitonde came out of the staton, he saw an impressive building. The letters on it
revealed that it was the East India headquarters of the East India Company. He was shocked as
it was supposed to have had stopped operation soon after the events of 1857 but here it was
flourishing.

5.Why did professor Gaitonde enter the Forbes building? What was his experience there?

The professor went to Forbes building to meet Vinaya Gaitonde his own son. The receptionist
searched through the directory of employees. But there was no person bearing that name. It
was a big blow. He felt that so far everything had been shocking so the below of non-existence
of his son was not totally unexpected.

6.What did the professor do in the Town Hall Library?

The professor consulted the history books that he himself had written. There was no change in
the events upto death of Aurangezeb. The change had occurred in last volume. He read the
description of the battle of Panipat. Abdali was defeated by Maratha army led by Sadashivrao
Bhau and his nephew. Vishwasrao. It established the supremacy of the Marathas. They set up
their science research centres. They accepted the help of English experts.

7.Why did Gangadharpant go to the Town Hall Library? What books did he browse? What did
he discover?

Gangadhar was witnessing a changed India. He wanted to know the reason. So he went to the
town Hall Library. There he asked for a list of history book including his own. When he got the
five volumes, he started looking through them from the beginning. The four volumes seemed to
be same as he had written them. However in the last (fifth) volume, history had taken a different
turn during the Battle of Panipat. The book mentioned that the Marathas won it handsomely and
Abdali was chased back to Kabul by the triumphant Maratha a rmy led by Sadashivrao Bhau
and his nephew, the young vishwasrao.

Q.8. What did the professor wish to find out in history books?

Ans. HewishedtofindtheanswertohisquestionhowMarathaswontheBattleofPanipat. He found a

clue in a magazine titled Bakhars. Vishwasrao had a narrow escape from being killed by the
bullet that brushed past his ear. This boosted the morale of Maratha army and they won the
battle.

Q9 ‘Victories change future’. How did the victory of the Peshwas in the Battle of Panipat help
them?

Ans The victory in the battle was not only successful in building their confidence tremendously
but it also established the supremacy of the Marathas in northern India. The East India
Company, watching these events temporarily deferred its plan to spread out further. For the
Peshwas the immediate result was that the influence of Bhausaheb and Vishwasrao had to
retire from state politics.

Q10. Did the victory of the Peshwas cause any effect on the alternate reality which Gangadhar
visited?

Ans: Yes, it completely changed the chain of events. The East India Company was alarmed
when the new Maratha ruler, Vishwasrao, and his brother, Madhavrao, expanded their influence
all over India. The Company was limited to pockets of influence near Bombay, Calcutta and
Madras. However, in the nineteenth century the Marathas were aware of the importance of the
technological age starting in Europe. Hence when they set up their own centres for science and
technology. The East India Company saw another chance to extend its influence. It offered
support and experts. But they were accepted only to make the local centres self- sufficient.

Q11. What was the final outcome of the Peshwas?

Ans: During the twentieth century, inspired by the West, India moved towards a
democracy. By then, the Peshwas had lost their enterprise and democratically elected bodies
replaced them. The Sultanate at Delhi survived even
this change because it exerted no real influence. The Shahenshah of Delhi was only a nominal
head made by the central parliament.

Q12. What happened when Professor Gaitonede went ahead to occupy the chair on the dais?

Ans: When Professor Gaitonde went ahead to occupy the chair on the dais, the audience
protested vehemently. Professor Gaitonde went to the mike to give his views but the audience
was in no mood to listen. However, he kept on talking and soon became a target for a shower of
tomatoes, eggs and other objects. Finally, the audience rushed to throw him out bodily but he
was nowhere to be seen.

Q.13. 'But why did I make the transition? What explanation did Rajendra give to the professor?

Ans. Rajendra guessed that the transition must have been caused by some interaction. Perhaps
the professor had been thinking at the time of collision about Catastrophic theory and its role in
wars. The professor admitted that he had been wondering at that time what course history
would have taken if the Marathas have won the Battle of Panipat.

Q14 Gangadharpant began to appreciate the India he had seen. Why was it so?

Ans: After reading this new history, Gangadharpant was pleased at the India he had seen, it was
a country that had not been subjected to slavery of the white man; it had leamt to stand on its
feet and knew what self-respect was. From a position of strength and for purely commercial
reasons, it had allowed the British to retain Bombay as the sole outpost on the subcontinent.

LONG ANSWERS TYPE QUESTIONS

Q.1. How did Rajendra Deshpande apply his theory of Catastrophic experience regarding the
Battle of Panipat?

Ans. GangadherpantnarratedtoRajendrahisexperienceattheAzadMaidanmeeting.For two days

he was in coma. He had met with an accident. He asked Rajendra Prasad to explain where he
had spent those days.

He admitted that he had been thinking of the catastrophic theory before the collision and how it
could charge the history course. He produced a page from the Bakhar to prove that his mind
was working normally. The page described that Vishwasrao had not escaped the bullet, rather
he had been killed. If was just contrary to what his own history book said, and he wanted to
known the facts.

Q.2. How did Rajendra explain the concept of reality with the example of movement of an
electron?
Ans. Rajendra Deshpande tried to rationalise the professor's experience on the basis of two
scientific theories. Gangadharpant had passed through a strange catastrophic experience. The
juncture at which Vishwasrao was killed in the battle proved to be turning point. The Marathas
lost their morale and lost the battle.

Rajendra then moved to his second explanation. Reality is not exactly what we experience
directly with our senses. It can have other manifestations also e.g., the electron does not follow
the laws of science. It is called lack of determinism in quantum theory. It can be found in
different places and each is real. It happens by transition. Professor also experienced two world,
one that was present, in other that might have been.

3. ‘ ...facts can be stranger than fantasies, as I am beginning to realize.’ Why did Rajendra say
this?

Rajendra had thought that Professor’s mind was playing tricks on him till Gangadharpant
produced his own Copy of ‘BhausahebanchBakhar’, Where the account of the war stated that
Vishwasrao was hit by the bullet. He then produced the other evidence in the form of a
document that he had inadvertently picked up from the Professor Gaitonde’ library.

4.How did Professor Gaitonde make the transition from one reality to the other?

Rajendra Deshpande admitted that there are many unexplainable events in science and this
Professor Gaitonde’s transition, was one of them. But he guessed that since one needs some
interaction to cause a transition, at the time of the collision he must have been thinking about
the catastrophe theory and its role in wars. Perhaps he was wondering about the Battle of
Panipat and the neurons in his brain acted as a trigger and transformed him into the alternate
universe.

5.What was the difference in the actual events of the Battle of Panipat and the ones reported in
the alternative universe?

Ans: Professor Gaitonde wanted to look for accounts of the battle itself, so he went to Town Hall
to look into the books and journals before him. After going through many books of history, he
finally found ‘BhausahebanchiBakhar, reported that Vishwasrao had died fighting. He was hit by
the bullet’. The entire history seemed to have changed radically