Magic. The image of the Hogwarts wizarding school flashes before my eyes. Spells being cast, wizards and witches 'apparating' from one place to the other and Harry Potter playing quidditch on a flying broom. These are the things that come to mind when someone says Magic.
However, there is magic everywhere. Let me start this story at the beginning. The beginning of the universe 14 billion years ago. The big bang created something, far beyond the realms of our imagination, out of nothing. It created the smallest of things like the atom and the largest of objects, like the stars. The earth is located in the solar system in what scientists like to call the Goldilocks zone. However, the Earth had a singularly hostile environment and yet, life got going and evolved into the world we know today. The astonishing variety of species of different colours, shapes and sizes is fascinating and yet out of a million species, homo sapiens became the most advanced species. Humans learnt to question and the first answer that came to mind when humans started questioning life, was magic. The chemistry of life is fantastically mundane. It only requires carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, a little calcium and a dash of other elements- everything you can produce in a chemistry lab. Yet, these elements arrange themselves in an intricate manner to create living beings. That of course, is the miracle of life and consciousness.
The Earth, along with life on it, is a flawless creation with an optimum temperature, the right amount of water, adequate distance from the Sun and of course, the Carbon cycle without which life would cease to exist.. The slightest flaw, the slightest imbalance, would cause the extinction of life on Earth. Take a moment to contemplate the number of factors and coincidences which may have resulted in the formation of something so simple and yet so complex.
What may seem like too much of a coincidence to most people, is magic to me, the Sleight of the Hand of God. It also teaches us not not to interfere with this amazing delicate balance of nature. So look around and enjoy the wonders of Creation. As JK Rowling said, “Believe in magic and you will find it.”
-Mallika Dasgupta(Batch of 2020-21)
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