The scenery from the window

The time is 5.58 p.m , on the dark wintry evening of  Saturday the 31st of January 2009. " Wow ", I say to myself, "the end of January 2009 is upon us ! " . For some reason writing the date out like this always makes me think about my life. I have now lived 19 years. Where have these 19 years taken me ? "This question is easy to answer" I say to myself as I draw the curtains of my attic room. Through the icy double glazed windows, the first thing I see is an old building and a similar double glazed window about 10 metres away, through this window is another attic, but this room is different from my own. There is a blackboard and on occasion I can see students seated on the wooden chairs inside. However, there is more to the view through my window than just another attic room. As I look to the far distance I can see a cross on top of a very old church and behind this symbolic pier are the stars, the Universe. This image is always very comforting to me. I am not a christian, but it always makes me feel like I am not alone, that through my window I can see a gate and behind this gate is the rest of the Universe. Sometimes I stare at this gate and I talk to the Universe beyond the gate, I share a special relation with the Universe, I feel that only it can understand me fully. I have lived 19 years, my first memory as a child is of my home in India. I remember sitting with a bowl of white mush in front of me. My mom had gone to the kitchen to fetch something, and so I was alone, or was I ? I remember hearing some crows outside, and I imagined the scene outside with the crows perched on the coconut tree outside our flat, and then I realized something. I was not alone, I am never alone, those crows told me something that day. They made me realize that there was a world beyond the confines of my own mind. That I was a part of this awesome Universe. So although in 19 years I have come from my humble flat in India to a hostel room at the University of Cambridge, there is one thing that has and will remain constant. The Universe is still with me, it's almost like a conscious entity that guides me through my life. I believe it is from this unique relationship I have with the Universe that my life's passion has been born ; Physics. 

As I look through my window again, and at this symbolic gate, I cant help but imagine what lies beyond this gate. What wonderful entities lie beyond the boundaries of our planet, and this is where Physics comes in. Physics allows me to take that journey beyond the gate and towards the rest of the Universe, and ultimately it takes me closer to my friend and my guide.