The Song of Babel - A story in Verse

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(For best reading effect: Grab your headfones and play the attached music)




In a far away time, at a far away place
Long before the great son had arrived
There was a king with great ambitions
Whose people he had let well thrive

Before the great son was placed at the altar
The same one that walked on water
This king had a place in the hearts
Of the people who lived near and afar

As a mark of his great reign
And to leave a legacy for his bloodline
He wished to build a tower so tall
That rose to the skies to house one and all

He sought the greatest minds and toughest hands
From across the seas, the mountains and neverland
To help his dream come true
And prove his blood was blue

Men from all corners indeed came
Supreme minds of creative names
They planned and plotted the tower so high
To build it needed godly will and might

But as they pushed the tower’s height
It came crashing down left and right
The greatest minds and the strongest hands
Was as puzzled as the King himself, who wondered,
What is lacking in their plans and plots
Its not the lack of stones or marbles or gold ingots
The brilliance of the east and the west did meet
With the elephants of strength and yet this defeat?

The King sent word for a mind with answer
for a clue or a hint or a sign or a pointer
Men on horse back rode with the winds
Carrying the will of reward from their king
They reached the ends of the plains and sailed the deep oceans
Cut through great forests and crossed mighty mountains

Until they reached a hamlet called Gaya
Whose people had a heart as warm as fire
The Kings men froze at the beauty and splendor
And the soft, soothing melody that peaked their wonder
The music they heard was from a divine fiddle
Whose notes felt like a gentle breeze twiddle

They went in search of the soul that played
The sheep that grazed and the peacocks that swayed
The land was rich said the rainbow in the sky
And the people who had a smile that never went dry
At a beautiful corner, by the lush green meadow
They saw the man with a fiddle, named Cleo

Oh great one, would you help our King
He that seeks his trouble’s meaning
The tower he wishes for the sky to touch
Is befallen with a curse he knows not much
Will you help our King’s dream come true
For he is truly the one with the blood so blue

I know not a king whose blood is blue
But I accept for your loyalty that’s so true
I am but a simple fiddler with a simple tune
And I belong to a people who pays me fortune
Not with their gold or silver or copper
But as a son to a father and a brother to a sister
A father to a son, I am
And a husband to Miriam
How can I leave my family and come
For I will carry their sorrow to your kingdom

The kings men agreed to take one and all
His family, his friends, his birds and animal
And they galloped to the far out sunset
To the King whose dreams with misfortune beset

The King sat in shock and wonderment
Of how this simple fiddler will finish his beloved monument
Oh Fiddler my men say you are great
Do you have the answer to my tower’s fate?

Yes, my lord, you have summoned the greatest minds
And the strength of a thousand elephants
But there is something that your gold cannot buy
It is the love you have for the tower where the secret lie
Which no great mind nor great hand can fake
With the plans they make and the actions they take

The king ran down from his altar
His cheeks wet with joyful tear
Oh great fiddler, your words have touched my heart
And answered my question like the last brick on the rampart
I will shower you with Gold and Diamonds and lasting riches
If you complete my tower before my end reaches
Blow your fiddle and spread your magic
Spread the love and heal the sick

And so the fiddler played his fiddle
With the breeze once again a twiddle
His notes were heard far and wide
Young and old now joined his tribe
The greatest minds and the powerful hands
Now joined in love with their egos behind
Quickly began the great tower’s rise
Far beyond the point of usual demise

As the days became months and months years
The fiddler’s tune gave strength to those longing ears
His tune spread magic and his notes were divine
For it was an example of love so deep and benign
Even the great Mother of the planet and the Father in the heavens
Lay suspended in deep adoration

His sons grew big, his wife grew old and his parents twice
But he stopped ageing with the strength of his purity
He played his fiddle and the tower grew tall
The love he put on the hearts of one and all

It was time for the final dome on the floor sky high
It wouldn’t sit right for a gap fiddle wide
Greatest minds and the greatest hands
Counseled the King for the fiddler’s mind
As he was asked, so did he give
The love of his heart torn from its hinge

The music stopped and the dome sat atop
From the ground the tower ran to the clouds
But into the height of the skies and taller than the rainbows
The word of the tower ran shy to the word of the fiddler’s sacrifice
The king’s dream came true
But he had yet to prove his blood so blue

Words were spoken and songs were written
Less of the King and his mighty monument
The fiddler who lost his fiddle and his notes
For the King’s tower, people wrote

Greatest minds and greatest hands
Once again counseled the King to act
For after the great tower build so high
The king and his glory lost to the fiddler well-nigh
And so the King rode with his horse men
Into the tower where the fiddler and his family were promised haven
They slayed and slaughtered as they rode higher
All the friends and family and children of the fiddler

They drove their swords into the body of the fiddler
Like animals that raged with merciless anger
The fiddler fell on the floor, with warm blood flowing
In shock and pain, looked aghast at the King
He then looked around and saw his family slain
His wife and children lay limp no more in pain

The fiddler looked up at the King, from an awful slump
Blood flowing out and flesh falling in gruesome lump
Oh mighty one, my lord, what have you done
There is no pain from the blows of your mighty blade
That exceeds the blow from your heart as reward to what I gave
I lay my heart in the fiddle I sacrificed
That I’d have gladly given my life had you asked

What have I done so horribly wrong that I have to witness
The cutting to pieces before my eyes, my family so innocent?
It was your love I saw, my lord, for the tower so high
That I loved as my own to reach the sky
Yet, you didn’t see mine through the notes I played
For if you had, there would never be a use for your blade

The fiddler spoke these words and breathed his last
Of a loving pain in his eyes brought back the past
The king and his benign rule, the noble wish for the mighty tower
For all his kingdom’s men and women, to live and prosper
What have I done, oh God! The King cried
When did I become greater than myself?
Of my tower and its gallant intent?

The king knelt in front of the lifeless fiddler
Held his limp hands and drew himself near
Forgive me, oh great one, for I have fallen
To the lowliest of life when I had a chance
To learn from a soul taller than any tower
The lesson of love and the purity of its power
I now know, my dear brother, what is false and true
It is the acts of kindness and not the blood so blue

The king flung his sword and ordered due respect
For the fiddler and his family who lay lifeless
The king gave away his throne
And walked away to the unknown
To find peace and solace
And perhaps find, the fiddler’s palace!


- Susheel nair
01/04/09

Where is Everybody? - I mean the Aliens!

Where is everybody?" were the immortal words uttered by Enrico Fermi - the famous atomic scientist from the 40s who was asking about extra-terrestrial intelligence. Being a mathematician, his numbers always convinced him about probable alien civilizations, some very advanced, that exist somewhere ‘out there‘. His trouble was, if our galaxy is 10 billion years old, and if there are billions of stars, there has to be billions of planets some of which may support life and some, if not all, will have super advanced technology. Sure his math convinced him., trouble was, if it were indeed true, where is everybody? This is Fermi’s Paradox.

Much later, another famous radio astronomer (obviously a mathematician himself), Frank Drake furthered this quest in a mix of intuitive logic and mathematic formula. Seemingly daunting at first sight, his formula, which is the famous Drake Equation, compelled astronomers around the world by giving a number (approximate) to the possible number of earth-like or much advanced civilization that could exist right here in our own Galaxy - the Milky way. His number is around 10000 such planets and the world, by and large, is in agreement. Here’s the drake equation:

N = R* x fp x ne x fl x fi x fc x L

Terrifying, isn’t it? Well, I thought so too in the beginning, but the barking dog needs a gentle pat of understanding and you’ll see how simple and elegant it turns out to be.

N = The number of communicative civilizations
R* = The rate of formation of suitable stars (stars such as our Sun)
fp = The fraction of those stars with planets. (Current evidence indicates that planetary systems may be common for stars like the Sun.)
ne = The number of Earth-like worlds per planetary system
fl = The fraction of those Earth-like planets where life actually develops
fi = The fraction of life sites where intelligence develops
fc = The fraction of communicative planets (those on which electromagnetic communications technology develops)
L = The "lifetime" of communicating civilizations

Here is a cool link to an interactive Drake Equation where you can learn more about it by actually entering your own numbers!
Link: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/origins/drak-flash.html

Why I like this? For the first time, Mathematics, a chronic, linear, numerical disease proudly owned by some advanced human minds, married the simple non-linear assumptional tendencies of non-mathematical ordinaries; like you and me. Was Drake able to find anything, a signal or a discarded tissue paper from an extra-terrestrial space craft? Unfortunately No! They are still searching at SETI. Ofcourse, he had his detractors, but that’s not important, even Jesus had detractors., what is important is the fact that he climbed down the high horse of formulas and equations and algorithms and mathematical what-nots, to base and mould his theory on conjecture, and many clapped! Including me!

Do I believe in this equation? Yes and No!
Yes because the search for advanced intelligent races moved a few inches from the strict cauldron of numbers to a more loose area of probabilities and hypothesis.
No because, the search has to move from Telescopes, EM signals, Mathematics, and Physics itself, and into the realm of the human consciousness.

Don’t get me wrong, I am not talking entirely about spirituality and suggesting Frank Drake become a long-bearded, cave-dwelling, ochre-robed, Guru. Instead, I will explain via another theory that is prominent among ET researchers - The Zoo Hypothesis. I personally feel that this theory, is by far the most convincing and the most non-linear. I am all for non-linearity, as you can smell by now.

I have nothing against Mathematics, which is an extremely linear, product derivative, immensely useful scientific language, perhaps even an advanced version must be in use somewhere deep in the Big Black, but my problem is, how do you find something so elusive, by calculating a few numbers to decide on the co-ordinates and point your telescope there? If you think they are advanced, then its even worse, its like a 4th grade kid trying to look for a 10th grade kid in his class, using mathematics!!!

While Math is no doubt extremely useful, I think human intuition is equally important. Our world knows how to train humans to excel in the former, they catch us young, in schools, even if our ambition is to be a plumber, we are forced to learn Modular Arithmetic, Relation between Roots and Co-efficients, Algebra, Quadratic Equations, Trigonometry, Advanced Geometrics and of course, the brain melting theorems and equations and laws from Pythagoras of 572 BC to Albert Einstein of 1900 AD and all the blokes in between them!!! I have nothing against mathematics, really!

Intuition development, on the other hand, is largely ignored by teachers and parents alike, because, it’s a bad word in a world dominated by science, which needs proof for everything. While math and science are good to get a job, its mostly intuition that gets you a good life partner and happiness. You don’t go on a date working out an algorithm and scientifically proving beforehand, that this relationship will last forever, do you? A mother does not love her child after working out the square roots and co-efficient prime numbers, nor name her child ‘Electro-magnetic Spectrum Field‘. There is this side also to us humans, Intuition, which is a skill set by itself, and which needs to be nurtured and developed. You can hear the faint but sure voice of your intuition, only if you learn to shut the non-stop chatter of your mind. This is not easy, but high-school Math wasn’t either!

I think, extra-terrestrial intelligence is also something like finding a date. While our scientists unanimously agree that if the Aliens are from an older planetary / star system, then they HAVE to be that much more scientifically advanced than us, but comfortably ignore the possibility of them being that much more civilized and cultured, and good hearted (assuming they had a heart)
If they are scientifically so advanced, won’t they be spiritually advanced too? Won’t they be a species that has evolved beyond the limitations of technology inasmuch as they would have learnt to love and respect each other? Would they not have understood the foibles of war and violence and moved to a place of peace and togetherness? Won’t they know, from such an evolution to respect their planet and protect it with care and responsible actions? Wouldn’t they, assuming they have a super advanced space craft, visit our planet in a manner we cannot yet see, figure that we are still such a violent species that destroys each other and the planet in the name of greed and therefore, choose to remain an observer, or lose interest? Would you shake hands with a hungry Lion?

This is where the Zoo-Hypothesis needs explanation. This was born in continuation of Fermi’s Paradox to explain the apparent absence of proof of advanced ET life. I like this a little more because, the mathematicians in the Fermi meeting, sailed a longer distance away from mathematical gobbledygook into ordinary human intuitive skills.
Now, Imagine ETIL (Extra-Terrestrial Intelligent Life), was the research photographer from National Geographic. He is documenting through his camera, the intimate life of let’s say, the Meer cats. He knows where they live., but they do not know where he does. He’s got sophisticated observational gears while the meer cats are busy with survival, their daily routine of scurrying for food and not ending up as food to their predators. They live in the Kalahari desert while ETIL has just landed from New York, which to the meer cats, is Andromeda galaxy. Once ETIL sets his gear, which is neatly camouflaged with the cats’ habitat, the observation starts, remotely at a better location where all his digital imagery is routed from the site transmitter to a telecommunications satellite above the Indian Ocean and into a laptop in his New York office. All in real time!
ETIL learns everything about their behaviour and decides to give them an evolutionary nudge, perhaps a remote neuro-surgery to wire their brains or gene-splicing, into making them think.

Time goes by and the meer cats start evolving by developing thoughts and language. ETIL continues to watch and nudge while successfully remaining unseen. By now they are used to ETIL’s hi-tech gear, without understanding what it is, and accept it as part of their landscape and call it the Great Pyramids of Giza or The Stone Henge - a great monument raised by a great king who believed in after life and who………, get the drift??
While ETIL is sitting somewhere so far off, the mathematician meer cats are breaking their heads to see what lies beyond their world and if there are any advanced intelligence ‘out there’!
But if the meer cats evolved into a species of positive thinking, altruistic species, and gave up war and violence, and respected the land they lived on with such care and responsible actions, National Geographic will send ETIL on a chartered flight to immediately make contact with the meer cats and help them evolve further!

So, Zoo-Hypothesis is a theory which says an advance alien civilization is already watching us from wherever they are, on a non-interfering observational basis, until the time we are ready to be made contact with. Our planet is like a zoo, we are the caged animals, and they the zoo-keepers!

So until we clean up our acts, become worthy of ourselves, and adopt a lot more non-linear thinking (by which I mean, math counts my money and I love my coffee and what if the meer cats were actually the aliens we‘ve been looking for?!), ETIL’s of the universe will be in their distant offices, watching, waiting, hoping and praying we evolve into a better species, worthy of being friends, so we can finally meet.

16/05/09