by Aju Mukhopadhyay

In his book, India 2020, the great Indian President Abdul Kalam wrote his vision that India would be a Great Nation based on Technology by 2020. Reaching the year-end we crossed it and welcomed the New Year 2021. Surely we have not achieved his vision except in stronger border skirmishes using force with neighboring countries. And it gives hint that technology is not all! The year was passed bullied by Coronaviruses worldwide. The future has become more uncertain.       

 The crux of the problem is Time. Entering into it in his A Brief History of Time Stephen Hawking could not exactly come out of it. He said that Time is hit by three arrows of which ‘psychological arrow’ gives the feeling that time passes and there is a hint about the past but not the future. In an essay, “The Future of the Universe” he said that “Time travel is not possible, and never will be . . . we have not been invaded by the hordes of tourists from the future.” Sri Aurobindo in his The Life Divine wrote that Time is the “Eternity of the Eternal.” Time in Divine light is eternal but mortal time is divided; future of the mortal man is quite uncertain.                                               

 Who could guess that before the onset of 2020 Coronavirus would break out in Wuhan and silently spread carrying the secret message to isolate ourselves and half-cover our faces! Who can guess what is being planned by the Dark Horses who have encircled the earth by their ominous Belt and jeopardized the life of all its neighbors! Who could guess that all shouts and dire threats by the fiercest President of the richest country against all belligerent country-heads would utterly fail to raise a hair! Communism failed to protect the poor and got lost on the way but it’s living strongly in few rare pockets protected by their demoniac dictators, performing all ugly jobs against humanity. Peace conferences and prayers for Peace are a farce.                                                                                     

 Workers’ and peasants’ unions are getting weaker; capitalism is raising its ugly head around us. Pleas to go digital help the big business houses most against the toiling masses; the big online retailers are mostly international business tycoons, helped in the backdrop of cry for self-reliance. Small fries would not be able to compete, lose all stakes, would be gulped by the biggies; the aim seems to be that. Bureaucracy and monopoly houses don’t help the people a bit to address their inconveniences and grievances.

 The earth is dug deep, mountains dwarfed, rivers dried to extract minerals banishing the sons and daughters of the soil, destroying trees and wildlife. Rains flood due to climate change. The future is hollowed for all upcoming generations. Few gains at the cost of the masses. Time is ruthless; the failed ones would be left on the roadside, bewildered. The cunning ones who are born to gain in the troubled water shall be fattened as usual. The principle of caveat emptor would be applicable to all others.

 Equitas governance is where all small ones; peasants, workers, traders, artisans, and professionals are allowed to function in their convenient way, old and new, are not compelled to join the group of cunning foxes, and are allowed to share the wealth according to their worth. Everything should exist side by side like every person and language and culture. No drastic change should be imposed on others. Varieties should be the guiding principles of human life and society. Those who wish to bring oneness in everything do not understand the true meaning of it for that great “Ekam Sat” is beyond their grasp. Hope is, someday the sea of muted humanity would rise up to change the system. It doesn’t matter that time is passing through 2021 for it is a very temporary phenomenon like more years until significant changes would be welcome.

About the Author:

Aju Mukhopadhyay is an award-winning world Poet with a membership of various international poetry sites, a member of the Advisory Board of Editors in some important magazines, an author of various genres of books, Laureate award winner for books (Non-fiction), Novelist, Essayist, Environmentalist, and Critic.