In this week's episode, we take a look at Stephen Hawking's parents and his childhood.

Summary

Stephen Hawking is one of those people who have shaped our understanding of the universe. At a time when nobody thought that Black Holes could shrink, Stephen Hawking postulated that Black Holes could shrink too, not just keep expanding with time. Even though people vehemently opposed him when he postulated his theory, now, it is widely accepted among the scientific community.

Stephen Hawking's birth was like a movie

A few years back I watched a movie in my mother tongue Tamil. In this movie, hero's friend, let's call him Raj, falls in love with a girl. But unfortunately for him, the girl whom he falls in love with, let's call her Priya, is the daughter of a political leader. Raj, on the other hand, works as a car driver in the same political leader's home. As a driver, one of his tasks was to bring Priya to the places she wanted to go. So, that's how they got to know each other and fell in love.

But even though Raj loves Priya so much, he is shit scared of her mother. Unlike in the USA and European countries, marrying the person one loves, is not such a simple thing in India. There are lots of factors that should match - caste, horoscope, financial status, etc. So, as a driver, Raj was neither of the same caste as Priya, nor did he have a respectable financial status.

So, he asks his friend, the hero, lets call him Vijay, for help. So, the hero agrees to help them get married. According to our tradition, the marriage is considered complete when the bridegroom ties a holy thread around the neck of the bride. So, all three of them, the hero Vijay, his friend Raj, and Raj's lover Priya, get into a car and go to a temple to get married. But somehow, Priya's mother keeps finding out their location, regardless of wherever they go, and sends thugs to stop them. So, at one point of time, they are just one km away from the temple, but they abandon the car and start running into a crowd, because they are surrounded. They run, while the thugs belonging to Priya's mother try to kill them by shooting at them.

But somehow they reach the temple. At that time, the hero Vijay vanishes suddenly. But Raj and Priya enter the temple, and notice that they don't have the holy thread, and without it, the marriage is not considered complete. Vijay was supposed to bring the holy thread, but he has suddenly gone missing.

Exactly at that moment, Priya's mother enters the temple with her thugs, and standing behind them, showing them where Raj and Priya were, was Vijay. It's only then that it becomes apparent to Raj and Priya that the person who was revealing their location to Priya's mother all this time was none other than Vijay.

Wh...

Stephen Hawking - Part 1