by Shree Sauparnika, I B.A. English
What was the Neanderthal’s oldest dream; as he lay there by his fireside chewing on a bit of deer meat and gazing up at the starlit sky? What do the most modern industrialized and advanced nations compete amongst themselves for? Why did the couple decide to separate after twenty-five years of marriage? What made the newly married couple decide to live away from their parents? In short, what holds all matter together, gives it shape, size, touch and feel?
One of the definitions of space is ‘an unoccupied expanse or area’. The word is often used casually as in ‘I think I need some space’ or ‘I have no space at all’, but I don’t think the word is given enough credit. Can you imagine a world without space? The claustrophobe in me does not want me to go there now. Can you believe in a world without personal space? I am sure most teenagers might just lose their minds if asked to even think about it. It would be fun to conjecture, though- You are having a bad day and want some alone time, maybe to vent, and in comes your sibling singing so tonelessly as to scandalize the most competitive of bovines. You start to shout at them but are so amused that all you can do is laugh. Maybe it is your favorite song and you sing along, forgetting what had been occupying your mind. Wait…. So does this mean that invading personal space, to an extent, might be actually… helpful?
*dramatic contemplating pause*
There are also instances where space is important. You should never ever EVER breach this barrier when man is in ‘commune’ with nature. Both you and the ‘communicator’ would regret it and have nightmares for the rest of your lives. Also, it could change lives forever. Let us look at Hindu mythology. If Sita had not crossed the Lakshman Rekha (which was kind of a personal space drawn for her, which also might cause a lot of controversy had it been done today), we would have had a different history altogether which would not have included the legendary exploits that followed. Nevertheless, knowing how smart our ancient sages were, I dare say that they would have found some other story threads to bring out the qualities and values Lord Ram embodies.
There is also the importance of consent. You cannot invade a stranger’s space without their permission. The famous quote, ‘Your freedom to swing your cane ends where my nose begins’ by Dr. Johnson could not be more apposite in this matter. People often fail to understand the significance behind this ideology of personal space. Most of the time, the violator does not even know that they are violating. Even worse is when the person whose personal space is being breached does not know it. This often happens to children. So they need to be informed and taught how to identify these people. The same goes for cyberspace. The invasion of a person’s privacy on the internet is not okay and this could also be due to mere ignorance, spite or just plain stupidity. The sooner people know this, the better the world will become.
Back to the simple idea of space -- have you thought of the English language without spaces?
Doyouknowhowharditistomakeoutwordswhentheyareinaclusterwithoutanyspaces? And that when they are so far apart that it hurts your eyes while reading?
I am merely trying to point out that space is ubiquitous. Inescapable. Unavoidable. And necessary. There is space out there in the universe between different galaxies, between different solar systems, between planets in a solar system. There is space here on Earth among all living freaks of nature. There is space in our bodies among our organs. There is space in our minds among our thoughts, though very little. Even in the atom, the sizes of all the neutrons, protons and electrons together do not make up even 1% of its volume. The rest is space. To conclude, we are all made up of spaces. Maybe that is what we are, just agglomerations of spaces, living in our own spaces, creating more spaces and trying to get through these spaces.
Kind of spaced out, eh?