Reflections: The mighty pyramids
Friends, there are eight wonders in the world but sometimes we come in contact with people who are no less than wonders too.
Jokes apart, let me come to the point. I was busy in preparing for a school project competition and my mind got lost in a maze. The title of my project was ‘My Favourite Wonderland’.
Since my childhood I have loved making paintings, so I decided to make a sketch of the pyramid of Egypt. By the way, I love pyramids, but only in images. Now in reality, I had to draw pyramids. I wondered how I was going to do it.
As I sat down to start my drawing, my mind wondered off and I started to think about how it was possible to build such a giant structure thousands of years ago, without any modern machinery and technology.
How did they place these giant stones in such a precise order? It seems impossible for men to have done this on their own. So what was done, in those times, with the help of which this impressive construction was possible?
When I got tired of thinking about this, I told myself that I would talk to my father about it the next day and turned to doing my painting. Since my father loved to read, he would definitely give me a satisfactory answer.
The next day, I was feeling very relaxed as I had completed and submitted my project. I was hopeful that I would get good marks, which would be added in the final result. When I met father in the evening, I asked him the same questions that had occupied my mind the night before. May parents were surprised at this, but also pleased that I was curious about the world and history.
My father encourage me by saying, “Thank God, children today are still taking interest in research, despite wasting time in useless activities on gadgets.”
While taking a sip of tea, my father told me about the pyramids of Egypt. He informed me that they were built around five thousand years ago. Archaeologists believe that it took 20 years or more to build one pyramid and at least 24,000 labourers worked on the construction of a pyramid. Papa further told that archaeologist discovered that many different stones were used in the construction of these pyramids, but even today, people are still unable to understand how those heavy stones were taken to such heights and placed one on top of the other, because at that time there was neither modern machinery nor technology. These structures seem to have been built by using the best of geometry and scientific techniques.
“Many people say that in the pyramids of Egypt, many pharaohs and their families were buried with their treasures,” I asked.
My father paused before replying so I quickly asked, “Is it the same pharaoh whom Hazrat Musa defeated?”
Papa smile and replied, “Son, there were many pharaohs, since this was the common title used for the monarchs of ancient Egypt from the First Dynasty.”
Even after so much progress and research in science, it’s still not known how the pyramids were constructed at that time. While father was telling me about the pyramids, my mind was wondering in Egypt. Then I expressed my wish that I wanted to see the pyramids of Egypt. Father promised that he would take me there one day.
Time flew by and I got busy in the final exams. The result day approached and I got the first price for my painting. When I went to receive the prize, I thought I should give a small speech on the pyramids and share the information given to me by my father. I began by saying, “Friends, nowadays I spend some time reading books to get knowledge because my father says those who read books never stay in the dark. Reading is a beacon of light for those who read, learn and understand.
“Now let me tell you something about the object I painted, the pyramids of Egypt....”