Stepping back in time

My eye surgeon has a special way of telling me about the state of my eyes. As he looks in my eyes, he laments that we are not twenty-one any more. As he writes down the prescription, his words are very assuring: 'do not worry and I will see you in six months' time'. Six months can be a long time in the later stages of one's life. I have a friend, who was given three months to live as the tumour was untreatable. He lived three more months.

Aging is a natural process of life. It can be both good and bad at different points of time. Good, because better conveniences for life turn up and bad, as some of God given abilities are weakened. In this context I have a fond memory from my childhood. It was in my school days when my mother would wake me up in the weekend mornings. Her usual words of chastisement were about the morning turning into noon and me being in bed. Later, in the day as I was getting ready to go out, she was unhappy as it was so early in the morning. This would not be a problem today as I would be busy with games on the cell phone without the bother to go out.

The activities in life today, either for work or entertainment, are mostly driven by computers. This is a phenomenon that began in the seventies and has gone on to transform our lifestyle. Before then the boundary between work and entertainment was sharp. The major form of entertainment in those days was the cinema. The fanfare that went along with the release of new films were wild compared to what we see today. Another engagement of the time, though on a smaller scale, was the game of cricket as the colonials were gradually dethroned from their own creation. As the games were played, people would crowd around a radio set, as there were not many of them. Television was a much later creation.

Alongside, politics saw many changes during those days. As Britain shrank, the control of the world crossed the Atlantic to a former colony. The Soviets rose alongside with their newly found place in the world war. The country became an example in the effective use of planning tools. The five-year plan rose to a new height demonstrating the power of planning as a management tool. The Soviets prospered. Soon afterwards, they won the space race by sending the first man to walk in the sky. Charismatic Soviet leaders such as Khrushchev were idolized by the young generation. Unfortunately, this did not last long as the Western world led by the United States came back with successive outbursts such as the Cuban blockade and then the landing on the moon. The Soviet Union was weakened and the union broke up leaving the world with one superpower only. But that was not long as the Union rose again much to the dismay of the existing power.

Amidst this cataclysm we are now at the doorstep of a possible world war while the planet Earth bleeds from human abuses. The world being so stressful today the future does not look very promising. The stock market, though a necessity for the growth of business, is also a worrisome factor in view of looming recession. More investors are likely to lose than the few who may win. The market has seen many ups and downs everywhere, symbolised by the crash in nineteen-thirties of the NYSE. Our market is a much later creation. There have been several roller-coaster rides of the market since its beginning, mostly through intrusion.The market, at best, is not understood.

As we seek new ways of growth, the future is at best unclear at this point of time. The 'Internet of Things' have done wonders. The follow-up in Artificial Intelligence or Robotics has immense possibilities. But these are growth along the known trajectory. What would be interesting is a breakthrough along a deviant path such as we have seen in the migration to the electrical world from the mechanical.

A schoolboy's definition of Infinity is a place where things happen that do not. We see many such things happen in our life today such as satellites tracking our path on a roadway. Yet there are disbelievers of moon landing among us who would stop short at nothing but a possible alien visit. Yet considering the enormous distance between stars it is unfathomable how another civilisation, however advanced, will be able to scale the distance short of the ability to transform a person into constituent elements, for example, and then commute as in Star Wars. The remaining period of this century will be an exciting period to live awaiting such possibilities either proven or discarded. Meanwhile, we shall have to wait. How can I envy the very young amongst us who will have this proud privilege long after we are gone? May the Earth live until then with its human habitants.

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