How Hawking’s thoughts resonate in Kashmir

The world paused to pay respects to Stephen Hawking, the legendary British author and physicist, after he passed away last week, battling a rare motor neuron disease for five decades. For me in Kashmir, his words still resonate in my thoughts.

The man who roamed the cosmos from his wheelchair talked through a computer, using a speech-generating device. For years, he spoke through the voice output communication aid because he could not talk. Yet, he told the world, “Mankind’s greatest achievements have come about by talking and its greatest failures by not talking.”

How prescient his words were in the Kashmir context! Kashmiris are pained by the bloody discord in their home state and how it has jeopardized daily life. Often, while bemoaning the situation in the Valley, Kashmiris have hoped that there will be talks among those on the opposite ends of the ideological spectrum. Hawking’s words haunt me. “Speech has allowed the communication of ideas, enabling human beings to work together to build the impossible… the possibilities are unbounded. All we need to do is make sure we keep talking.”

So many Kashmiris who yearn for peace and stability in their state want to say the same to those holding positions of authority on different sides of the Kashmir issue: Please keep talking. For those who are not from Kashmir, it will be difficult to fathom the helplessness and frustration felt by youngsters of the Valley over the prevailing situation. In my interactions with students at camps organised across Jammu and Kashmir, I was struck by the pain that they carried within them, having grown up in a conflict zone.

Hawking again made me think of my home state when I read his remarkably inspiring words. “However bad life may seem, there is always something you can do, and succeed at. While there’s life, there is hope.” I would cite Hawking’s example in our student interactions and would give a brief introduction of the physicist to the students not acquainted with him.

I had bought his book, ‘A Brief History of Time’, with much enthusiasm about a decade ago. Perhaps, I was too young at that time to understand the complexities of the cosmos and the universe that Hawking wrote about.

I was always drawn more to the power of his spoken word. When the devastating flood waters inundated Srinagar in 2014, I was involved with various groups of youth who carried out rescue work in the Valley. I saw them working tirelessly and was reminded of Hawking’s observation. “Intelligence is the ability to adapt to change.”

Yes, professor Hawking, you have moved on into space. We will remember your remarkable words of advice to your children, and try to live the same way: “Look up at the stars and not down at your feet.”

KASHMIRIS HAVE HOPED THAT THERE WILL BE TALKS AMONG THOSE ON THE OPPOSITE ENDS OF THE IDEOLOGICAL SPECTRUM