The alarm buzzed alive. I woke up, grabbed the clock & held it in front of my face. It scanned my retina & checked my pupil dilation. After confirming that I was fully awake, it stopped buzzing. Then the clock spoke up !! “Good morning Mr. Sagar, its 6.30 am, the date is 8th May, 2046. Good day sir”.
I kept the clock back on the table & went inside the bathroom. It took me 10 seconds to finish brushing with my laser toothbrush, another 30 seconds to finish showering in UV light. After I was done, I headed to the refrigerator. I poured some synthetic milk into to my coffee mug & added two caffeine pills into it. I micro waved it for twenty seconds. The coffee smelt good. But it didn’t come close to coffee that I used to drink few years ago , made out cow’s milk & coffee powder. I took a sip & sat on my couch. I asked my butler, a robot powered by artificial intelligence to switch on the TV. The wall I was facing suddenly lit up, and became a TV. The weather report said “Maximum & Minimum temperatures of the day are expected to be 56 & 44 degree centigrade, there are chances of acid rain & dust storm. People are strictly advised to wear bio hazard suit outdoors to avoid contamination ”.
I asked my butler to get my suit ready. Just another usual day. Acid rains were common these days, especially during summer. I finished my coffee & sat there, looking around my cozy airtight apartment. It was airtight because, the outside air was so polluted it was no longer safe to breathe. Most of the greenery was extinct, unable to survive in the harsh environment. The only place where you could find greenery was in oxygen farms. These farms were guarded heavily due to terrorist threats. The third world war had changed the course of human history forever. 80% of the human population, along with most of plant & animal species was wiped out. The world I lived in today was nothing more than ruins. My thoughts were interrupted by my butler’s voice, he said “The suit is ready sir, if you let me know which place you wish to visit, I will send the co ordinates to your car”. I told my butler the address of an old bus stop next to a barren park, where I went every year on this day.
The car drove itself out of the garage & sent me a text message that it was ready. I wore my bio hazard suit & sat inside the car. The butler had packed breakfast. A chicken sandwich , which was made out of meat artificially grown in lab, a bottle of recycled water & dessert , flavored fruit pills to chew. As the car drove me to the spot, I looked out of the window. The sun had a red hue, because of the pollutants, even the clouds were all red, ready to pour acid. I missed the good old days, where I would wear a open face helmet & go on long rides with my girlfriend on my motorcycle. That feeling you get, when you breathe in a lungful fresh country side air, as you rode along the open road… priceless. Sometimes when it rained, we would stop below a tree & talk. Almost always the next day she would curl up in the bed, with cold. I would end up taking a day off work, making her soups & spicy noodles. I missed taking care of her.
I wonder where we went wrong. They say human beings are god’s favorite creation & that’s why he gave us intelligence, the ability to think beyond what was capable, to question, to learn & to evolve. He made us the most powerful species so that we will protect earth & preserve the natural balance. We did evolve, we did discover, we innovated & we progressed rapidly. We were so proud of our gift, that were blind to notice how we had turned the blessing into a curse. We plundered the natural resources to get rich. We created a society where many suffered for the greed of few. A society where price was more important than value, where happiness meant having money. We waged wars to satisfy our egos & killed millions of innocent people. While all this happened, we ignored the fact that slowly, but surely the world was coming to an end. Our intelligence, that we were so proud of had become the devil in disguise.
The car started beeping, I had arrived at bus stop. I checked the air seal on my bio suit & stepped out of the car. I sat on one of the old broken benches, where I had sat exactly 30 years ago with my girlfriend. I still remember that day, she was excited. She was travelling to visit her parents. That was the last time I had held her hand, the very last time I had felt the touch of her skin & the warmth of her embrace. The same night they dropped an atomic bomb & her city was wiped out. I think she was lucky to go out that way, to leave this world with only beautiful memories of the planet. The silence of my solacae was broken by the warning sound coming from my suit. I checked my suit’s control panel, the oxygen was critically low. I had to replace the oxygen tank with the reserve in my car. I wondered what was the point in living like this. In a barren world, without love & humanity. I decided it was time to meet my girlfriend on the other side, to hold my love in my arms again. I turned off the alarm & removed my helmet. The air was very painful to breathe. The carbon monoxide in the air made me feel dizzy. I slept on the ground & stared at the red clouds. I couldn’t help but laugh at human stupidity.
How we had dug our own grave in the name of evolution. My eye sight became blurred & my breathing heavy. As I slowly faded away into darkness, I realized it is true what they say. The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world, he did not exist.
This post was originally written by My dear friend Sagar Mysooru.
