Apoorva Tapas, October 15, 2012

When Harsh Suryavanshi asked his roommate the “how” question, he received the timeless response: “Abbey yede, bas likhne ka, sochne ka nahi! Khush rahega!” So, if no one knows the “how” behind things we study, isn’t it magic we’re being taught?

Until last week, Harsh Suryavanshi was just another engineering student straight out of a Chetan Bhagat novel – avid procrastinator, desperate girlfriend-seeker and occasional alcohol consumer, harbouring a secret passion of becoming a writer or a rock musician. It is with these clichés that Harsh walked in for his final-year viva examination, only to have his world changed by an epiphany: he was actually being taught magic for the last four years!

As he sat there fending off vague questions with vaguer answers about principles and theorems by famous dead people, it dawned on him that the understanding of the principles had died with their creators. Who actually knew exactly how anything works? Books? Teachers? Seniors? Well, certainly not him.

Suddenly he found himself in the midst of a mystical civilisation. Our forefathers discovered the secrets of the universe and passed them on through scriptures. Their instructions were followed and a great dynasty was raised – bridges, gears, amplifiers, processors…the Internet! All of it still works…but somewhere along the line, the “how” part was lost. If no one knows the how, did that not essentially render these creations magical?!

Harsh was possessed by this revelation. A few formulae muttered, complex algorithms copied and voilà, a brand new creation, which worked just fine…but nobody knew how.

He began going back in time, through the ancient journals his seniors had left him: same diagrams, same flowcharts, same typos. Books too – local authors, foreign authors, Wikipedia… they were all identical; basically just quoting each other. Everyone knew the scriptures by heart, but nobody had the slightest idea as to how it all works.

Harsh was convinced there was a secret magical energy that keeps everything running. He confided in his roommate and asked him the “how” question, only to receive the timeless response such a question provokes: “Abbey yede, bas likhne ka, sochne ka nahi! Khush rahega!”

Harsh was in anguish. So much angst and so many feelings, but nobody to listen. There was only one solution – blog about it. And it is this post that has taken the nation by storm.

Hours within publishing it, the post has gone viral. It has stirred an awakening among the youth, who have always suspected something amiss, and have finally found a name for it. Harsh has become an icon, a true philosopher, heralding the new age of magic. He has gathered an immense following that even include some faculty members and noted academicians who have finally come out of the closet and confessed what they had always suspected – it’s all magic.

The Government too, is overjoyed with this development. A former Minister for Magic has even liked Harsh’s Facebook page to show his approval. A hunt for “Muggles” or endangered species of scientists and authentic engineers has begun all over the country. Many are said to be locked up in secret government facilities for military research and certain elite institutes of Science. They choose to remain underground.

As this idea spreads, engineering infrastructure around the country is beginning to weaken and shake as if doubting its fundamentals…literally. However, the nation is not alarmed as it may just be a manifestation of magic.