Genesis.

They were at the pinnacle of their age. After 5000 centuries of war and bloodshed, the people of this world.. their world, finally saw the pointlessness of it all, and surrendered themselves completely to science. The ancient ones were so different from the people today. They were barbaric and polytheistic. The Age of War all but obliterated their kind. The wise ones came to the consensus that, in order for the war to be truly over, they would have to adopt Science, as their one true God. Thus, began the Golden Age of Reason, which was now a 100 centuries strong. In this time, they saw and experienced wonders, to which they were previously shut out from, thanks to their quantum leaps in technological advancements. They overcame war, poverty, crime, disease, and want. Their lifespans were dramatically increased, and now each one was able to live for over 7 centuries.

The crowning glory in all their work, however, was that of space exploration. In the time that came to be known as The Age of Space Travel, every being belonging to their race, now had the means necessary to travel in space, as easily as talking a walk in their own backyard. Located in the Deneb system, in the heart of the Milky Way Galaxy, their planet formed a perfect launchpad from which the space explorers could visit bordering star systems, and soon enough, much of known space itself. There was only one kind of hero for the people of this planet now. The Space Explorer. Those finding hitherto undiscovered planets and systems were given special places of honor. But, with having explored much of known space, the people of this planet slowly withdrew into themselves. They grew indulgent and apathetic in their utopia, with their every want and need being taken care of a machine, suitable for the job. They were so confident in their technology, their machinery that even space missions were now completely unmanned, with the spacecrafts reduced to mere data repositories. The planet’s interior and outer defenses lay in neglect, as the people reveled in their own self indulgence and pompousness.

Not everyone was happy with things here, though. One, the greatest space explorer of the younger generation, missed the old ways, and lived his life here in anguish, because of the fact that no one else saw like he did. No one had the vision, the wisdom, the sense to see that the people were slowly destroying themselves from within. These were the thoughts crossing his mind, as he sat by the oceanside, with his love; the one being for whom he would do anything.. absolutely anything. As he watched the high waves , seemingly touching the blue-orange skies, and falling down gracefully back on to the surface, he said “What I would give to be able to ride those waves Shalla. See how they rise ! Ride them, and you can touch the heavens themselves ! Only this time, there will be no spacecraft… no mindless drone to aid you. Our people were so concerned with looking outward, they all but chose to ignore what was right here! all the surrounding beauty! No one even knows how to ride a wave without the help of a machine !!” Shalla looked up at him and said “Are you saying that you regret all the things you did when you were out in space? seeking new worlds?”. To which, he replied “No Shalla. I cannot even begin to describe the wonders of space to you. But, at the same time, we need to look at ourselves, our planet, as well. Otherwise, I fear a time will come when we will neglect our planet so much that it will turn back on us. And we are so drunk in our own technological prowess that we do not even have the power to mitigate such an event, let alone defend ourselves from the dangers of space! “.

“In my travels, I have met many races Shalla, and been to numerous planets. But, for all our thoughts of having explored known space, let me tell you. What the collective explorers of our planet, myself included, have discovered so far, is NOTHING.. compared to the vastness of the universe. Beleive me, we have not even explored the proverbial tip of the entire Iceberg ! I wish to travel through the furthest reaches of space Shalla. I wish to ride the waves of this ocean. I wish to be able to hold you in my arms as I do them. But as advanced as our technology is, we still have our limitations. Wormhole technology is still not as stable as one would wish it to be. We are capable of traveling as speeds equal to that of light, but no faster. With a single thought, I can visualise Kree-Lar, the principal planet of the Kree System, which is 10000 light years away. I want to be able to travel at such speeds Shalla. I want to be able to travel to the edge of the universe and back, and still come home to your warm embrace.” He said. Shalla held him close to her and said “You had better take me with you. There is no way I will wait for you to come back from one of your adventures!”. “We will always be together, my love.” He said. They both kissed, and Shalla drew back, looked into his eyes and said “I love you, No…” … she never got a chance to finish saying his name. They both experienced a sudden lurch and found themselves hurtling in the air, higher and higher, till abruptly, they found themselves falling back to ground, just as fast. The waves suddenly took on gigantic proportions and all the surrounding trees were uprooted out of their roots and hurled across the skies.

Landing hard, he rose, to find Shalla knocked unconscious.

(The Genesis which this story concerns, cometh. or in other words “To be Continued” )

Life as we know it.. or do we??

Clark and I were coming back from O’Hare one day, and suddenly, out of nowhere, Clark asks me “What is the purpose of life?”… and for a second, I frantically scan his face to make sure that there were no maniacal or suicidal tendencies mirrored in there, because he was the one doing the driving !!!! (Hehe.. just kidding clark )

But then, we actually went on to talk quite a bit about the purpose of life in general, as in, with respect to the entire human race.. not just him, or me, or a couple of other people. It is talk like that, and lying down on a bed of grass on a cool, moonless and absolutely clear night and watching the countless number of stars, that really makes me feel insignificant in the whole quagmire of things, that defines life. The 1st thing that comes to my mind in situations like those is a Calvin & Hobbes comic strip where in Calvin looks up at the starry sky and goes “I’m SIGNIFICANT!!!!”.. then the next panel shows him looking upwards silently, and the last panel shows him looking at us and saying “Screamed the dust speck”. Hilarious though the comic strip may appear, it does have a point y’kno…

We’re only but part of 1 planet, and in this planet alone, we have animals, insects, plants, fauna on land, fauna on water, flora on land, flora on water.. and get this…. according to some noted paeleontologists, 99% of all plant and animal species that have existed have already become extinct with most leaving no fossils. It is also humbling to realize that humans and other large animals are freakishly rare life forms, since 99% of all known animal species are smaller than bumble bees.

From all of the mind-numbing variety and diversity present in our planet, it was the human being (more technically, his ape-like ancestor) who was given the upper hand to evolve as the alpha organism, the top of the food chain.. so to speak. The fact that Man is so self delusional and gloatful about his technical prowess and advancements is another matter altogether, but lets not go there. Let us, instead, ponder the fact that, this is but one miniscule planet in the whole friggin cosmos, which may never even had any life on it to begin with, had its orbit been a few million kilometers here or there. It is a really precious gift, the life that this planet has.. and the sad part is, all the other species on this planet seem to realise and respect it, revere it even, except for us.

But, you also cannot help but wonder…. Is the life on planet earth really so precious that it exists only here and nowhere else in the entire universe??? I mean.. considering the fact that the universe is.. umm.. well, limitless, surely there has to be life somewhere else right?? If we talk science, then we can go on and on and on about the various factors to consider and what kind of life may evolve where, depending on the conditions present in any given part at any given time, in the universe. Even if there may not be any life now, there must have been life before somewhere, with some random planet going through the same evolutionary stages as earth did, only a 1000 million light years away and 500 million years before.

Again, one would notice that man makes the general mistake of assuming that “Intelligent” life, if found elsewhere, would be of a size similar to our own, because in some warped way, the common man thinks that our size is indicative of our intelligence, because micro organisms or fishes or insects aren’t as intelligent as we are. How are we to tell whether the nano-sized creatures on uranus (ASSUMING there were any ), which resemble a cross between a fish and a lion , are any less intelligent than we are? Or the 50 foot tall dragonflies found on a planet (named.. umm.. i dunno.. kashyapchandros?? ) thrice the size of jupiter, in the andromeda galaxy, are, on an intelligence level, similar to a dodo, a blonde or even me?? .. . For all we know, the denizens of uranus have already perfected Hyperdrive.. and we’ve hardly gotten ourselves to the moon!!

Life.. i dunno.. its too profound and too reverent a concept to be tinkering around with. I just wish everybody on this planet (species no bar ) realises that. Nature keeps reminding us all the time.. we just have to listen. And yeah you.. you.. Uranoids!!! Inspite of our shortcomings, we humans are intelligent!! we only have to attach a sense of responsibility to it.. And you will see that the day isn’t far where your monopoly over hyperdrive comes to an end!!! .. .. and as for you Kashyapchandroids, its ok.. you have plenty of time, and evolution, to catch up to our current position. Just don’t blow it all off once you get to this point ok?? .

P.S: I wrote this blog entry in a completely sound and stable state of mind!! I did not get high on Crystal Meth, nor did I have a few too many Screwdrivers . Its just that, when i start to feel insignificant amidst the grand scheme of things in the Universe, i really start to wonder about a lot of stuff . Ohh by the way, feeling insignificant when you see all the people who leave their mark on the world in their own small way, is a totally different mother :p.. .