Man today has left Darwin behind, he can and does plan out
the evolutionary pace of the species. The hateful Nazi eugenics is remodelled in our genetic
engineering. Transhumanists believe our species can attain enhanced stamina and
intelligence. Google is funding research to make man 'immortal' - aiming at a
200 year longevity. To maintain enhance sexual power in 80+ generations,
laboratories are doling out magic pills. Garcia Marquez's cyclist hero in 'To my Melancholy Whores' rings up the 'Madam' for a virgin on his
90th birthday. Wow! stop aging and aspire for immortality, is the new call by
the scientific community. Hospitals everywhere
try to save octogenarians knowing well the futility of the task. Governments
pump in resources to prolong life. More than half the population of the world
lives on pension or public - private charity - without contributing anything to
the society. These oldies desire revitalized youth and like Shantanu enforce,
by sheer bond of filial affection, a vow of celibacy and perpetual bachelorhood
in his most heroic and ethically conscious son, Bhisma. So was the case with
Yajati who enjoyed the sacrificed youth of his son. All these are the achievements of human civilization and we
are proud of it. But who enjoys the fruits of these achievements? The answer is
plain and simple: The rich and the powerful. A poor man choicelessly sinks into
fatalistic stupor. And the young - the demographic dividend - have no share of
the socio - economic pie. Young and innovative men and women do not enjoy
individual authenticity and wait for opportunities. In India, Pilots and
Scindia's are sidelined while the aged in the organizations control the purse strings
and grab the steering wheel. Frustration like simmering fire engulfs the youth
to despair.
We have made the earth - the greatest monument - a
dilapidated structure, almost a ghost of her pristine state. The environment is
barren, almost infertile. She cannot anymore hold and nourish our growing
population. We are about 8 billion and going. We don't pause to think whether
the coming generation can get air to breathe, water to drink, earth to stand
on. Pollution is our most unenviable contribution to our progeny. The air they
breathe is poison. The ozone layer is depleted, the forest cover is
disappearing. The big cities we have
built - New York, Delhi, Beijing, Paris, Mumbai, Chennai - all are dens
of pollution, Dante's torture spirals where life groans. Youth is gone at
thirty. The newborns soon gain lung infections. Venice and such cities are now
sinking. The leaning Towers may soon measure their length on the ground. And the earth shakes.
In north India, particularly the Himalayan region earthquakes of low and medium
magnitude are daily nightmares. The cities are packed like sardines. The poor
and the houseless are not safe even on
the pavements. Land Rovers mow them in their tired sleep. All governments
promise homes to the unsheltered but roofless youth languishes in the coaxing
pretence of the power groups. Almost all cities are thirsty - be it Mumbai, Chennai or Brahmapur or Argentina.
When the rains come floods take their toll. China, America, England and our own
India float groaning during the flood seasons- and when the floods leave behind
a desolate scene the young and the old
and the poor cry for water. All our efforts to save water, our rain
harvesting programmes go awry. We have
drunk the milk of Paradise in our dreams and imaginative literature but we cry
hoarse in our parched throats for water. The future we have given our children
is a dry, depleted, bland and bald earth without clean air, without water -
sans everywhere.
We have willed a
corrupt, ill-organised and ungovernable social structure to gen next. My words
are harsh but the reality is harsher still. The mobile phone and the internet
was supposed to be a great blessing for
a communicative society coming close together. But the Internet is used for
fakery deceit and violence. Every day the Face Book, Twitter and other such
'beautiful' Apps (Tik Tok and Hip Hop)
blare expletives at the best creation of God. Lies, damned lies and fake
statistics are thrown at unsuspecting people. Hacking is another menace - and
all these are done not by preternatural
creatures but by the modern men and women of our world. Character is not
destiny, the assassination of character is our destiny. The younger generation
is now very much the victim of our fond
gifts. But the worst legacy we may leave behind are caste, colour, sex, race
and religious discriminations. Those who
said black is beautiful are now forced to fight for existential relevance.
In America the Blacks are now up in arms
against the whites. The liberal accommodation
of all colours, creeds, ideologies, freakishness is now disturbed by
other identities and ideologies which were once thought banal. A young man does
not know what to hold on to. What values
are growth friendly and life friendly the young cannot choose as the efficacy
of all ideals are made debatable without any possible resolution. In sheer
frustration and anger he picks up the AK47 as a symbol of macho authenticity
and kills without any disturbance of his own value equilibrium. Rape and murder
are of no consequence. Terrorism too is now an accepted fact of life. If
someone is a victim, he becomes a victimizer to have heroic revenge or at least
to get even.
The young today are bewildered. The latest pandemic trounced
his freedom and identity. He has no future to look forward to nor does he have any love for his
past. His present is now chocked by time's uncertain pace. Will the lovers of
this earth, the Human Race, the great cultures and the dreamers of cosmic
dreams now pause and introspect for a moment? - To make a future for their own? If they too are in a
mental stasis, the future will not
happen. Hurry up please - It's Time.
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