Finding Wonder in Everyday Life Through Physics

A new year has just started, and already we are a month into it. The end of one year and the start of another are always good times to stop and think about what happened and what lies ahead.

At IIT Kanpur, where some of us teach, the first week of January is always very busy. A new semester begins, students come back from their winter break, and everyone hurries through the foggy mornings to reach their classes on time.

As people meet on campus, it is common to greet each other by saying “Happy New Year.” But if you feel that last year was ordinary or not very memorable, there is another way to look at it. Every day, small things happen around us that follow the rules of physics, and these hidden details can make life more interesting and meaningful than we usually notice.

So even if a year seems normal, the little wonders in our daily lives—how things move, fall, or interact—can remind us that every moment has something special in it. Physics helps us see the world differently, making ordinary days feel extraordinary.