Explain the metaphor in the line: ‘Poets are ... the mirrors of gigantic shadows that futurity casts on the present’.

Shelly in his ‘A Defense of Poetry’ praises the art of poetry. He says that poets are the hierophants of

an apprehended inspiration, the mirrors of gigantic shadows which futurity casts

upon the present and the unacknowledged legislators of the world.

→Read and enjoy the excerpts from an interview given by S. Chandrasekhar to Deccan Herald (23 January 1994 issue).

QUESTION: You came to America in 1936. Do you think you would have achieved what you did had you stayed back in India?

CHANDRASEKHAR: In a narrow sense, the answer is NO. There were better facilities for work here. I was also disconcerted with science politics in India. I was very sensitive and I desired the mental peace to do science the way I wanted.

Secondly, how can one evaluate scientific achievement? It is not a personal accomplishment. I had many students and collaborators. Science has to be an integrated effort. Otherwise, it would be too narrow.

Q: Who was your earliest mentor? And who influenced you most in your career?

A: I had no mentor. And nobody influenced me. I wrote my thesis on my own. I have always been alone. This is not criticism. It is the character of my work.

Q: Do you recall your mother and her attitudes which may have shaped yours?

A: Yes, I recall a particular incident which revealed my mother’s extraordinary awareness. I was hardly ten years old, when she woke me up one morning and said, “Do you know Ramanujam is dead? It has come in the newspaper.”

The very fact that she realised that Ramanujam’s death was an important event showed her enlightenment in these matters. Her attitudes did influence me a great deal.

Q: Has your wife been a great support to you in your scientific career?

A: I have mentioned Lalitha in my book, Truth, and Beauty. My biographer, Kameswar Wali, has also written a whole chapter on my wife. [Suddenly, with a smile] Do you know the American press called that the best chapter?

Q: Have you, at any point in time, regretted your decision to leave the country of your birth?

A: There is no point in regretting or being happy over decisions you have made. I think it’s irrational to regret the past anyway. You must reconcile yourself to the life you have chosen and lived.

Q: Do you enjoy teaching?

A: I always integrated teaching with research. They support each other.

Q: What is it that makes Indians achieve more in this country (America) than in India? Do you think it could be the academic climate?

A: I wouldn’t judge achievement by awards. The quality of science in India is good too. But I remember in the 1930s the great scientists of that country were in the universities. But today it is not so. And, that is a loss. Q: Has your personal life been complete and happy?

A: That you should ask Lalitha—maybe I could have given more. [Pause] I don’t believe that a scientist—a true scientist—can ever have a complete personal life. [Pause again] I sometimes wonder whether all that I did and accomplished in my lifetime—was it really worth it?

. . .

Kameswar Wali later interpreted this comment as: “When Chandra asks—Was it worth it? — he is not being negative. It is just an awareness, another dimension of realisation which dawns as one get older.