One of the things I am constantly surprised by is how much in WYSIWYG-mode kids think. I am more and more sure that all successful artists, scientists, and innovators are those people who have managed to retain that child-like curiosity and “face-value” attitude well into adulthood…
So, as it happens today, Kymaia asked her pilot grandfather a question that had been bothering her since she boarded the flight from Bengaluru last night, “Ajoba, why do aircraft go so fast?”
Now, given that Baba teaches advanced flying to professional pilots, this entailed a lot of excited running around, pulling out models and charts, as well as explanations of how a “jet engine” works and how speed is essential to attain lift overcoming drag, which results in flight, and so on. For this, he brought the cut-out battery-operated model of a jet engine to demonstrate the intricacies, since he is a firm believer in showing, then telling. As the mock-up engine started up, Baba told her about the intake and the exhaust and how it generates the thrust to propel the machine forward, and how the wings generate lift to lift it off the ground and so on and so forth.
And so it happened that there we were, sitting in the living room, with a working model of a jet engine and Baba explaining the internal working to her.
Surprisingly, she was awfully quiet for someone who wouldn’t (couldn’t?) stop chattering. She just stared at the engine mock-up very keenly. And silently, but with a sort of pregnant expectation we could not fathom. We decided to let her be for some time with the model whirring away.
Then, a few minutes later, we heard her voice, with a tinge of disappointment and more than a hint of scepticism, “Ajoba, it is still not flying!”
Ah, for the innocence of childhood!
