I Posed with Einstein
It was a sunny day in the 1940s when Tim drove 75 kilometers with me from New York to Princeton. I had just moved from Bangalore to New York, where i still live , after marrying Tim, a statistical analyst in the United Nations. Tim liked going places, meeting people and making new friends. And, now that he was married, he also liked taking his young bride along.
Our marriage was relatively brief because Tim passed away suddenly in 1966 while we were still young. Among the many mementoes he left behind is a framed black and white photograph in our sitting room. Its a photo of Albert Einstein and me.
That sunny day, Tim has to deliver a lecture at Princeton University. He'd been there before and was keen on visiting again, because , as a mathematics student, Princeton was special to him. It was also where his idol Albert Einstein lived and worked. Tim had walked past Einstein's 112, Mercer street home several times. But overawed by the great man, he would never have dared to go and see him uninvited.
Now after spending the whole morning at the lecture, Tim took me around. I'l show you Einstein's house, he told me excitedly. We soon spotted the house, strolled past and returned to look at it again. It was very quiet and peaceful with nobody in sight. Suddenly Tim got an idea. Why not go in and ring the bell? Perhaps he mustered the courage to do it this time because he had a young sari-clad lady with him.
"Oh, no!" I exclaimed. "Its Einstein's house. How can we?" But, brushing my protests aside, Tim walked away firmly upto the proch and rang the bell. As we waited with trepidation, a woman finally opened the door. It was Einstein's younger sister Maja, who'd immigrated to the US from Italy in 1939, following the introduction of antiSemitic laws there. She'd stayed with Einstein ever since.
"Come in," said Maja. We walked into their simple home and Einstein too was there. He smiled and looked benign in his tweed coat all but toned up. After the handshakes, he politely asked us the purpose of our visit. Tim apologized for intruding and explained that as a mathematics scholar, who'd also studied relativity , he could not resist the temptation of visiting the man who had always inspired him.
Einstein looked happy on hearing that. He told us that neighbourhood children also sometimes dropped by to chat and to learn Maths from him. That must have put Tim at ease, and they soon went on to discuss Mathematics. As we sat there chatting, Maja, came in again with steaming cups of coffee. Soon we took our leave and were saying goodbye in the lane outside, "If you need any help," Einstein told tim, "come back anytime."
Just that Einstein spotted our cybershot camera hanging from Tim's shoulder. "Well, now that you are here," said Einstein, "would you like to photograph your charming lady with me?"
This was more than anything we could have hoped for! Tim lined up Einstein and me. He then removed the leather case from the camera that used 120-size film and gave 12 shots per roll. Tim must have loaded a new roll that day, but we'd been shooting pictures off and on all morning.
Tim looked at the camera's counter. To his horror, he noticed that the roll was over. What bad luck-- on such a preciousoccaison! But when he saw Einstein, pipe in hand, looking up like a child, expectantly for him to click, Tim decided not to let us down-- typical of my husband, who'd never upset a friend. So he took a split-second decison. He'd go through the motions of shooting,even though there would be no photograph.
He pushed the Rollei's film-advance lever, as if there was nothing wrong, for the "next" exposure. Nevermind if it broke, or if the film got ripped apart inside. But to his immense relief-- the lever turned. Even Tim couldn't explained that. He then pressed the button. The shutter clicked too! But Tim wasnt sure there'd be any photo.
When the film was developed, we got the unexpected thirteenth photo -- a real reward for Tim's audacity that day. Or, more so, his courage. As Tim always believed: Nothing ventured, nothing gained.
