Question

Briefly explain the following statements from the text. "You have passed through a fantastic experience: or more correctly, a catastrophic experience."

Answer 1

Answer:

Gangadharpant’s experience was fantastic because it was unusual and strange. Rajendratried to explain the historian’s mental journey on the basis of the catastrophic theory of physics. The professor before the collision had been reading about the Battle of Panipat in which the Marathas were shown to win the battle. In that case, history would have taken a different turn.

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Answer 2

$\rm\huge\underline{Answer}$

In this statement Rajendra Deshpande tries to rationalise Professor Gaitonde’s experience of making a transition to another world. According to him, Professor Gaitonde has had a fantastic experience. Here, the word fantastic means both extraordinary and fanciful. However, he immediately finds a better word for the experience and calls it catastrophic. Now, this word is a reference to Catastrophe Theory which is a branch of mathematics and is concerned with abrupt changes. Professor Gaitonde’s experience of travelling to a parallel world without moving back or forth in time seems to be an apt example of a catastrophic experience to Rajendra Deshpande