. .T h e  P a s t. .

“Oh my God…we are way too low---”  (Beep)

A silent exclamation escaped through the mouths of the few early morning commuters making way up to their destinations.

Their unbelieving eyes traced the forbidden path of the American-11 daily, as it skimmed the nearly cloudless, temperate sky, of the eastern United States.

While the bludgeoning shockwave made its way down the Tower and into the waking Lower Manhattan, the reverberating blast never left the ears of the bedazzled bunch of spectators.

Two minutes and forty-four seconds after the abrupt transmission of the cabin crew to the Federal Aviation Authority, American-11 crashed, headlong, into the north tower of the World Trade Centre… having changed its mind midway on its scheduled flight to Boston.

As the drama unfolded, people stepped out onto their balconies, their eyes searching for the cause of the commotion. Their mind was just about to register the word “CATASTROPHE”, when the sonic boom of yet another blast made the floor slip beneath their feet.

United Airlines flight 175 had just hit home on the south tower of the WTC.

Their minds empty; their hearts racing, the prim suited gentry ready to start the day’s work, stared, apparently in utter horror, as the “Two Towers” spasmodically began their requiem descent.

Through the hideous clouds of smoke and corporeal debris, they saw their workplace in the process of livid devastation as it crumpled, straight as arrow, right into the heart of its doomed abyss…and unwittingly, became history.

According to rough estimations, the death toll surpassed the two thousandth mark.

At eight on the morning of September 11, 2001, the United States became a nation transformed. More so, as it resolved the transformation of the then, free, world.

Despite the common belief, that the stage-managed “attack” on the WTC in NY City was, as Hollywood has it, an “inside job”, the “honorable” authorities still, stubbornly so, attribute it – or rather, downright accuse it – to the notorious organization called Al-Qaeda,  currently no.1 on the American hit-list.

Nevertheless, the 9/11 event has marked the concoction of the legendary “war against terrorism”, in which the rest of the world is a bewildered participant.

It also marked the infamous conquests of Afghanistan, Iraq, and pretty much everywhere else… all in the name of the war, in which the opponents are yet to be discovered...

In the meantime, the turban-clad, innocent (until proven guilty, off course), desert refugees are helplessly being made scapegoats and eliminated.

Not to forget the ice-cold hostility, which, being revved-up against the followers of Islam, by none other than the self-proclaimed “defenders” of the “free” world, is pepper garnish on the long bleeding wound.

Meanwhile, all’s well that turns out well, is the nostrum policy being adopted by the sly “sufferers” of the 9/11 attack.

Their “insatiable roguish inquisitiveness” into the matters of practically every nation on earth, has caused a tumult, to which they, quite understandably, turn a deaf ear.

My heart burns to the core, when sanctions are posed against perfectly harmless, industrious, third-world nations, by the same “authorities” who are themselves sitting nonchalantly, on stockpiles of Weapons of Mass Destruction, which also, coincidentally, constitute a sweet percentage of the worlds total nuclear arsenal.

Moreover, the apprehending of thousands of the Middle Eastern youth, which has led to the eventual but premeditated rooting of such horror-flick torture centers such as the Guantanamo Bay – which the world is quite aware of – all in the hell-ridden name of putting a stop to the humbug preparation of terrorists, is utterly unbelievable.

Drifting in the midst of these dizzying states of affairs, one can only wish. And I do so as well. I wish to add just one thing in the past that is so imperfect. Just one thing.

Unity.

Had we all been united as one, not only in the trivial trade of material things, but also in the mental and spiritual manner, no one, no one would have dreamt of even attempting to impede our developments, let alone hindering us from achieving one.

It was, and still is, our ruthless egoism and power-hungry attitude, which caused our nations to drift apart and become so abysmally weak, that the enemy rose, used our weaknesses to their advantage, and left us groping hopelessly, for the support and stability, which is akin to a shining star in the horizon: beautiful, yet beyond reach.

                                                                                                             

  28th Aug 2007

                                                                                                                       

Sands of time

Muffled screams barely echoed off the mudhif walls. Um Saliha clutched cold palms with her sweaty ones. The grip slipped slightly in the paltry hue of the lone candle. But she didn’t let go.

Amahs tread around the bed surreptitiously, their light cloaks swishing the soft sand below. The off-white drapes veiling the bed from view gave away little as to the proceedings.

A tall dark figure shifted uneasily on its heavy feet as it drew a sharp breath of fusty air. The circular boudoir didn’t provide much room for movement. So it waited, tense.

She screamed again. Higher. An amah soothed her, “It’s close now”, she whispered softly.

I inched forward tugging at Sailha’s hand. She tugged back slightly. I squinted my eyes to pierce the gloom. I could feel the dark figure breathing heavily. I inhaled with him.

An amah appeared from behind the curtain. She hurried past us to the wall behind, plucked a sheep-skin sheet from a small pile and disappeared around the curtains.

There was a sharp intake of breath, and then she wailed so loud I felt my belly drop. She screamed again. Saliha pulled me closer and whispered something. I look at her worried eyes and she reflected my fear.

There was a scuffle behind the curtains and some talk. She was crying now. There was a loud “Yes!” and she groaned in pain. Suddenly amidst her scream another cry broke a much smaller cry. Her screams filled the room now. The dark figure was very still. His right ear slightly turned forward, listening intently.

Another loud moan and the smaller cry got louder. I felt the hair on my neck rise. Um Saliha’s palm was now slipping.

Suddenly an amah let out “Praise be to the almighty!”. The figure stood frozen, unmoving. I pitched forward pulling Saliha with me. She didn’t resist this time.

to be continued..

18th March 2013

Looking at the world today, one can but wonder of what is yet to come..

As far as I can get a tiny glimpse, the "future" seems to be both, bright ...and horrendously dark.

The good tidings then, would come in the form of big time cures for cancer, AIDS and other fatal diseases perhaps with a single shot of some "weirdo-biotic", or a simple three-day course pill. Perhaps, nuclear medicine will be saturated directly into our blood streams to prevent the invasion of all viruses, just as now nuclear patented nations prevent invasion by neighboring aggressive powers, without any confrontation(?)

Well, it seems all will be 'bright' with cheap nuclear electricity everywhere, in every home, super babies immune to all defects and disease, "conveniently" born... and a population of mentally exhausted, liposucked intelligent beings that would have made their human-ancestors puke all day.

About the darkness (shoot me, I like Harry Potter)... dark deeds will indeed become more complex, crime more sophisticated and sublime. With the elitist side of man in full bloom, humans will worry how to protect themselves, from themselves. Managing the moolah is well, already an Inception-style nightmare.

In comparison, these future humans will see the last free tribes of the East and South-America, more at peace than them: Poorer, maybe, in material, but definitely richer, in contentment.

As the resources on our beloved earth dwindle, the thirst for a green utopia grows more intense. And the dream of a "perfect place to live" will remain to be exactly that: a dream..

Options left with our great, great, great grand children will be grand cities floating in the air (with no place left to live on the ground), flying vehicles jumping from one city to another. Architects burying them in underground housing and shopping complexes, schools and universities, constructed from byproducts and excrements, shopping online for home-like food...¦and then, people will finally start shifting over to the moon, for good, mostly due to the "common" shortage of pipes pumping rationed oxygen, from genetically-modified technoplants, into their airborne homes.

So all-in-all the vision of a future raised on solid bedrock? The world we live in is constantly racing past our present, to bring us a brighter future - or so we like to think, as these sweet imaginations pale into insignificance in the face of insurmountable problems that are plaguing the world, today.

Come 29th century, our children will be alive and kicking, threatened by gargantuan explosives, ethno-religious wars, unknown and bizarre illnesses and super-viruses -resulting in pestilence, far-reaching pandemics and famines, mass deaths and mass graves..with survivors wishing for death...more potential W.M.Ds than nuclear bombs, perhaps nanobombs -  invisible but capable of far worse holocausts.

Technology would be intricate and advancing and as everybody loves messing with it - Al-Qaeda is surely going to be there too.

But again, with all the medicinal accomplishments wouldn't life expectancy soar to an all time high? The dependent population would be towering over our working, super-intelligent grand grand children. "Super", for they would actually be computer-programmed and superior clones with cutting edge efficiency and capabilities.

Or, perhaps with biotechnology  exploring unknown realms of knowledge, scientists would end up creating weird and twisted clones of their own species, more frightening than Frankenstein ever dreamed of - bringing about a 'designer' evolution...designed to serve the elite.

Man's dream will indeed come true in this future along with a loss of faith. The transgenic man will be a spiritually vacant and empty shell, intelligent to the highest degree, but absolutely heartless.  In the attempt to achieve immortality scientists would dream our nightmares... where an evil Harry Potter would indeed be a real person with real magic, and where Gandalf and Frodo would dance with Oompaloompas.

I see this world merely as fragments of smog covered islands densely populated with these mentally invalid, mutated beings. Whose wars and ground shaking destruction would reduce skyscrapers and other architecture of today, to rubble beyond recognition, something that global warming would never achieve...and somewhere under this debris would be the handful of homo-sapien survivors grateful to find shelter from the ever-so-near sun, and ravaging competitors.

We are riding on the back of a foolish pride and arrogance of a materialistic, future world. And in the process, we are losing sight of the things vital for us: fraternity, peace of the body and soul, selflessness and religion.

That, is the grim, bleak, and nauseating picture of the future, that we like to think is just restricted to post-apocalypse era movies.

I do have a small advice for those who have had patience till this point...  just one thing though, to perhaps avoid the advent of such terrible times..One thing, and that’s all:

 Think, for it is the mere thought, that makes a man, human...

16th October 2011, 12.55 Am