As mentioned in the previous post, language subjects were a problem in school, especially grammar and certain spellings. Currently, I only know a bit of nouns and adjectives, whatever I learned by brute force somehow then have forgotten all.
Spellings like Sweat/Sweet confused me and thought both to be the same, always felt ‘hight’ was the correct one for ‘height’; recieve, percieve, and such were other ones which involved ‘ie’-‘ei’ inversion.
I hated reading aloud when asked to do so in class, I used to be afraid so I adapted to somehow read in a slow monotonous style; that still continues. Some teachers had made negative remark but it didn’t affect me as very few in the class read well. At home Pappa used to say reading aloud helps in remembering, which I never followed.
Like, reading, writing was bad, I mean not just handwriting, but essay writing - I simply couldn’t write page after page of “what if I were PM” and similar things by imagining. When I tried to improvise by writing something funny it was discouraged / non-appreciated by teachers (the writing style that I have today).
Until 5th standard, I before semester exams I used to invariably fall ill and miss a few papers, many times I was made to write those papers, during the holidays. I think I had fear for exams then, though it (falling ill) subsided afterwards. Then I started getting light fever after last paper of important exams.
Later, in my career, I developed my own style of writing, especially professional documents and mails. My (foreign) bosses/clients appreciated that several times, explicitly saying how my mails convey precise message in the least amount of words, or how the documents are crystal clear in explaining things. Computes, word processors have been the best thing in my life - now I don’t have to worry about spelling and handwriting.
I got to know much later that I probably have Dyslexia (reading difficulty), Dysgraphia (writing difficulty) as well as Dyscalculia (maths difficulty) of mild nature though.
While struggling with these subjects, others in which visualization was possible (science, geography, etc.) was bit easy, saying ‘a bit easy’ because our general academic structure is focused towards remembering things (definitions, names, places, etc.) and not ‘doing/trying’ hands-on.
After learning about the basic structure of atoms, as well as knowing about light being comprised of different colours. I clearly remember sitting under a mango tree in our plot, and pondering what might be happening at the level of atoms when light strikes them and is reflected - what exactly is a colour of a material as all the atoms and molecules are comprised of the same particles. Didn’t get an answer though, not a genius ;)
I mentioned about an astronomy book in earlier posts, it had talked about Black Holes and how it bends light. One of the drawings to explain light was similar to what the lens diagrams in 6-7th standard. It showed one star appearing as two due to a black hole in front of it. In the 90s, there was no internet and Hubble Telescope was just launched but had its own lens problems being corrected. I too was focusing on engineering and career/job while still having that diagram in the back of my mind and wondered something different should be visible instead of two stars. So after one such ‘intense’ thought experiment session I scribbled (in my Palm Pilot in 1998 or so) something I thought should be observed.
Attached is the screen-shot of that note I have in Computer-Outlook synced to Phone, it says ‘the star should look like a ring or with a dim center’ - I was a bit wrong, such perfect alignments or Star - Black Hole - Earth’ are difficult/near impossible, but they actually happen on a larger scale - my understanding was limited then.
The effect is called as Einstein's Ring - first was observed only in 1988. I was very excited when I came across the photos over the internet after I revived my cosmology/astro-physics interest. (PS: That date in the note of 7 Feb 2011 was due to a data migration error when I switch to a new phone!)
Attached is the screen-shot of that note I have in Computer-Outlook synced to Phone, it says ‘the star should look like a ring or with a dim center’ - I was a bit wrong, such perfect alignments or Star - Black Hole - Earth’ are difficult/near impossible, but they actually happen on a larger scale - my understanding was limited then.The effect is called as Einstein's Ring - first was observed only in 1988. I was very excited when I came across the photos over the internet after I revived my cosmology/astro-physics interest. (PS: That date in the note of 7 Feb 2011 was due to a data migration error when I switch to a new phone!)
Gravitationally lensed galaxy SDP.81
taken by ALMA By ALMA, CC BY 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=39499557
The dark center is due to a foreground massive galaxy which is NOT visible in this wavelength.
Similarly, the images below show other such rings with central foreground galaxies (having same gravitational effect as black holes).
Some observed Einstein rings by SLACS:
By NASA - https://hubblesite.org/contents/news-releases/2005/news-2005-32.html,
Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=34045368
Solutions used to (even now do) play like a video in my mind, it is sometimes difficult to understand except for people who have such learning/thinking styles. Another instance I remember was from my Sr. Kg/1st std time (I remember the age because I know where I lived then, hence can deduce the approx years). Pappa had brought a salt shaker (probably novelty then), the salt was not used to be refined then, and during monsoon lumps used to form inside. Parents used to open and break them. I suggested them to empty half of the shaker and put a marble inside, so whenever it is shaken the marble would break the lumps and it worked.
To be continued...
Viru
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