A Visit to Cambridge Summary Analysis and Explanation

Students can also check the English Summary to revise with them during exam preparation.

A Visit to Cambridge Summary Analysis and Explanation By Firdaus Kanga

About the Poet William Firdaus Kanga

Poet Name Firdaus Kanga
Born 1960 (age 60 years), Mumbai
Died Jul 31, 1991.
Nationality British, Indian
Movies Sixth Happiness

A Visit to Cambridge Introduction

The two great men exchange thoughts on what it means to live life in a wheelchair, and on how the so-called ‘normal’ people react to the disabled. This is the story of a travelogue, both of them ‘disabled’, or ‘differently-abled’ as we now say.

Stephen Hawking is one of the greatest scientists of our time. He suffers from a form of paralysis that confines him to a wheelchair and allows him to ‘speak’ only by punching buttons on a computer, which speaks for him in a machine-like voice.

Firdaus Kanga is a writer and journalist who lives and works in Mumbai. Kanga was born with “brittle bones’ that tended to break easily when he was a child. Like Hawking, Kanga moves around in a wheelchair.

A Visit to Cambridge

A Visit to Cambridge Summary of the Lesson in English

This story is about a meeting between two differently-abled people. Both were extraordinary in their fields. Stephen Hawking was a great scientist though he suffers from paralysis.

He can speak only through the computer and confined to a wheelchair. Firdaus Kanga, the writer and journalist from Mumbai was born with very weak and easily breakable bones. He took moves around in a wheelchair.

Both met in England at Stephen’s place. They discussed about the point of view of normal people for differently-abled. The writer, Firdaus, was on a walking tour through Cambridge to UK.

He got to know about Hawking from his guide, Hawking was occupying Newton’s chair at the University. He wrote ‘A Brief History of Time’ one of the best sellers.

Firdaus called Hawking and got an appointment to meet him for half an hour. It was encouraging to Firdaus to meeting somebody like him on a wheelchair. Both of them were differently-abled.

Their bodies were disintegrating but minds were brilliant. Hawking had little switches in his hand. He was able to move his finger to find the words on a computer.

When Firdaus asked Hawking that “people often thought that disabled people were unhappy people”. Hawking replied, “I find it amusing when people patronize me”. He was a very practical person he didn’t think anything good about being disabled.

He admitted that it is annoying when another disabled person came and disturbed him in his work. Seeing the poor condition of the great scientists, Firdaus felt relief because neither he can walk nor even stand.

Hawking didn’t like the idea of the disabled Olympics. According to him, it is a wastage of time. His advice that they should concentrate on what they were good at.

They spent one hour together instead of half an hour; had tea and saw his garden. At the time of departure, Firdaus got up to say goodbye. But he could neither kiss nor cry. He convinced that the paralytic scientist was a symbol of bravery.

A Visit to Cambridge Summary