Back to: CBSE Class 8 English Summary and Notes
Table of Contents
Introduction
Duttada discovered a comet but his wife thought it would bring bad luck. He mocked her but it did bring bad luck.
Love for Comet
On a moonless night, Indrani Debi woke and found that her husband was not there. She knew that Duttada had gone to meet dibya. According to Indrani Debi, this dibya had caught such a spell on his husband that it was nearly impossible to get him back.
Indrani Debi saw that Duttada was watching the night sky with his telescope that he called Dibya Chakshu. Duttada was an amateur astronomer and wanted a good telescope. He had this curiosity to watch the heavens in the night and would spend hours watching through it.
Little But Effective
Duttada, though amateur, was confident on finding a new comet. He knew that professional astronomers had gigantic telescopes, but they considered looking at huge galaxies and nebulas and considered a comet an insignificant thing.
Duttada discovered the comet and informed the Indian Institute of Astrophysics of its whereabouts.
The new comet was named “Comet Dutta” after its discoverer. This discovery attracted a lot of fame for Duttada. He was an introvert and did not like this. Indrani Debi also thought that the comet brought bad luck. Duttada told her that comets were harmless.
The Inevitable Panic
In the dining hall of King’s College, Cambridge, James Forsyth was summoned by John Macpherson (Defense Science Advisor). Sir John showed Dr. Forsyth the manuscript of his original paper. Dr. James was confident that comet Dutta was about to collide with earth. He also mentioned that there might be rare circumstances, such as its collision with an asteroid. But to safeguard humanity’s interest, one must assume a direct hit by comet Dutta.
Ten Months Before The Impact
They had only ten months before comet Dutta hit the earth. James told Sir John that suppressing his paper (about the comet) would not prevent panic as other experts would come to the same conclusion sooner or later. They decided to organize an emergency meeting.
