Modern Physics continues to ask whether time even has a direction and wondering if it’s something that exists entirely in our heads.
In most Indian languages, the word for yesterday is the same as the word for tomorrow. Due to this, additional qualifiers have to be added to explicitly clarify if we are talking about the past or the future.
There are two core words used to define time and the passing of time:
- Kal (hindi) – yesterday or tomorrow
- Pal (hindi) – a moment
To add direction to the words above, we say:
- Aanewala Kal (hindi) – the tomorrow/yesterday that is yet to come
- Guzra Kal (hindi) – the tomorrow/yesterday that has passed
- Aanewala Pal (hindi) – the moment that is yet to come
- Guzra Pal (hindi) – the moment that has passed
There’s a classic bollywood song from the 70s that captures how time has to be qualified further to clarify if we are talking about the past or the future. The interesting part is that this is actually a hilarious comedy movie, and it just casually slides into being deeply philosophical in the songs in between.
