Sorry, it's not a brian teaser!

Childhood is the best period of a human life, is what they say. Yes childhood the days of innocence and ignorance, which is marvelous. The memory of our childhood will remain in us forever. May be those impressions are so impressive to last forever. I remember getting up at five or six in the morning, when it is dark outside. And that used to be the routine. Every morning, i get up on my dad's lap and see my dad's face. I used to hate it, because he used pull my hair, pinch and scratch me to wake me up from sleep. For some innocent reason, i saw this as a torture, because it was painful other than it spoiling my sleep. So this wickedness of my dad was followed by my weep. Followed by that will be a fight between me and him. Then starts our reconciliation talk, with dad asking me about a nightmare or a dream i saw. And I used to present a dream or a nightmare every morning. Once I had no story to present as dream, so I raised both my hands till my chest level and said; I saw something like this. And my parents used to make fun of me and that continued for several years. I still do not know whether i was a story teller back then or was it a real dream. Now it’s been few years since he breathed his last breath. The dreams which entertained me in the childhood regularly have become a rare thing. In the last few years, i only remember few instances of me seeing a dream while asleep. And those dreams were often about my dad and others who are no more. But last Sunday, i had generous amount of drink and food which put me to sleep as soon as i reached my PG. And that dream i had was little different from the one, that i saw in my childhood as well those usual ones in the recent past.

It was a dream which took me to another world. It was just a dream which may have lasted for few minutes while i was asleep. But i lived in that imaginary world. I could remember what i saw or the imaginary life i lived in dream, while i was in sleep. It took me to 22nd century and the complexities one would see after 80 years. It amused me. So I decided to share it with you all. It was a world, where everyone including new born babies will wear sun pant and sun suit along with a face mask and an electronic spectacle. All this is to protect themselves from harmful rays from sun, because the ozone layer does not exist. The electronic spectacle will have two cameras and the images caught on camera will appear on a micro screen and people see the world around through that screen. Expensive glass used for window panes of houses and wind shields of cars, trains etc is designed to protect people from harmful ray from sun and other radiations. All houses, offices, hotels, party halls, malls will have car parking in a closed area, where harmful rays and radiations cannot enter. And every office, club, hotels and restaurants has got a changing room, where one could change their outfits. Even sports events which require players to wear shorts are conducted indoor. Players should wear Sun pant and Sun suit to play games like Cricket, when played outdoors. And one could see Sun suit and Sun pants of all our popular brands like Nike, Reebok, Adidas, Puma etc. Mobile phones are so advanced that it can communicate with other planets like Mars, other than taking care of most of the day to day activities like reminding one about, when his insurance payment is due, books doctor’s appointment based on one's health condition and tells what sort of food one should take, after checking nutrition requirement of an individual. People eat food prepared out of cultured meat and artificial vegetables grown indoors. Those plants were developed through advanced stem cell technology. People buy these plants from companies who develop it. Those plants do not require any fertilizer or pesticide. It should be grown as directed by the company and would only require water other than a growth regulator provided by the company. One would choose the vegetable for a day, based on the nutrition requirement. The company which develops such artificial vegetables will specify the amount of vitamin, Calcium, proteins, minerals and fiber present in a particular vegetable. So there are no potatoes, cabbage and tomato. It's just an artificial vegetable. Similarly there is no mutton, chicken, beef and pork. It's just cultured meat in a packet, with the name of the company manufacturing it and nutrition information. Most of the plants and trees have gone through several adaptations like camel and cactus. And those which cannot adopt have perished. As a result of this adaptation, I saw wrinkled tree leafs, curly grass and disfigured plants. Even the color of leafs and stems are not the same like what we see around. Forest and wild life is a fairy tale like dinosaurs. Concrete jungles have occupied the space of natural forests. And trees are found here and there in between huge concrete building. People travel to different planets in spaceships to attend party and ceremonies. Water is artificially created through a technology where hydrogen and carbon dioxide is converted to water. Oceans, rivers and all other water bodies were drained. Hence, humans occupied that space for dwelling. Interestingly there is a plastic eating worm, which makes plastic a bio-degradable item. So they use lot of plastic stuff. And poor people dwell in readymade plastic houses. Factories use solar and wind power, because fossil fuels are drained completely. It is the heyday of automated intelligence and one could see the apogee of automation.

I got up in the next morning and thought for a while about this vivacious world, I saw in my dream. This made me think that I should go out and see thinks around in the real world, to know how far we are, from what I saw in my dream.

I saw large scale excavation for construction. There were small hills and mountains which are being leveled to acquire land for building factories and homes. Then I met few people who are working for companies which deals with artificial intelligence and machine learning. Also I met few students who are studying data science. Walking through plastic waste littered roads, I saw a tall factory chimney which emits acrid smoke. The carbon rich smoke from vehicles has almost changed the color of plants and trees on the road side from green to black. Rivers, lakes and ponds are either polluted by effluents discharged from factories or it is being filled with malba (waste from building construction site). Such water bodies will gradually become place for human dwelling. It also reminded me the news about a ‘leopard in Vibgyor School in Bangalore’, few years ago as well as the several instances of snakes, and elephants found in the backyard or in the kitchen. This is a result of us occupying their habitat. It was 2Pm in the noon and my appetite started bothering me. I looked around and saw KFC on my right hand side and a pizza hut on the other side of the road. Adjacent to it was a Domino’s pizza. Then there was a Taco Bell and a Subway. This also made me think, what ifi I were to have chicken from a street vendor or a small hotel, who is not a franchise holder of an MNC like KFC. Still it is going to be the same genetically modified chicken produced by Suguna or Vencobb. These companies produce chicken and give it to framers. Even the feed for chicken is provided by the same company. Scientific research has proved that eating such chicken can even reduce once potency and can lead to various health disorders. And that creates market for pharmaceutical companies who produce boner pills and medicines for various ailments. And it is the same issue, one would see in eggs, mutton, beef and pork. Similarly the vegetables and cereals we eat, are produced by companies like Monsanto, who use poor farmers to test their half -baked invention called bio-technology. Other than that all we consume is packaged food, milk and soft drinks.

I wrote all this before going to bed.

I was so tried and fell asleep in no time.

I had great sleep and got up next morning with a new problem. It was another dream or I should say a nightmare I had.

I saw an old man walking up to me, who had a long face with huge forehead.

He had thick, lengthy mustache and beard. His appearance made me think that he is Galileo the scientist!

How are you kid? He asked sitting next me.

Who are you? Was my reply.

I am a passerby and just wanted to meet you, he replied.

But why? I quipped.

I saw what you wrote and I just wanted to meet you, he replied.

O great. So you read my stories, I said with excitement.

Yes. And I see me in you kid, he said.

I don't understand you, I said trying to figure out what is happening around.

I am your friend, he replied in a deep voice.

And what makes you my friend? I asked.

His reply was just a smile.

Are you...... are you Galileo? I asked.

Yes I am, but I am also Carl Marx, he replied.

His appearance changed to Carl Marx, then to Che-Guvara and to different people whom I could not identify.

Are you a magician or are you a ghost trying to trick me? I asked with fear.

I said, I am you, he replied in the same deep and calm voice.

Can you at least tell me the reason for you meeting me? I asked with anger.

Yes I will, but don’t you want to know who I am? Or are you convinced with my reply?

Yes. Just tell me who are you? And why are you bothering me, while I am sleeping? I could not tolerate this old man any more.

No kid, I am here to steal your sleep and a peaceful morning you would have after this sleep, he replied in the same deep voice.

Why would you do that? I asked.

Simply because you belong to the world, where people will snatch your life from you, he replied.

Look Mr. whoever you are. I earn very little. Neither my health nor my wallet can afford my alcohol consumption. Yet I drink almost every day to get some sleep. That way I am better prepared to face this world on the following day. And you should not mind fuck me, when I am sleeping; I said to see if this could help me to get rid of this old ass.

You would have had good sleep and better health without alcohol, if your life was not so demanding and expensive. And in fact it is not your life. The world around you, is too demanding. And that is exactly why I have come to meet you.

You still did not answer my question. You are still a stranger to me. Why should I believe you?

So can you let me sleep without your entertainment?

I am a collection of souls or you could call it spirits, who fought throughout their life to improve, their lives as well the world around, to create a better tomorrow. Some of us have achieved great success, while others failed miserable. Those who attained success in their quest have fought and liberated the lives of many. But, they are dissatisfied, because those issues which they gotten rid of, is being brought back in to the society in a new name and form to exploit common people. And that makes our struggle and effort meaningless. So we are a community and I see you as one among us, He explained.

So, what do you want from me? Or what can I do for you? I asked.

I don’t want anything from you, he replied.

Then why do you say that I belong to the world where people snatch my life from me? I asked.

Kid, this world belongs to ten percent of people who own it. Then the next thirty percent of population are trying their best to join the top ten’s club. Many of them will fail, while few succeed. But in this expedition, they fail to differentiate good and bad. And this thirty percent club members will hire rest of the world, to do any heinous thing to satisfy the whims and fantasies of their bosses. Hence you see exploitation everywhere. Therefore the world will snatch away your life, your family, and your loved ones. They will take away all that you have, which is hard earned. They will suck your blood till the last drop, which makes me say that the world around is so demanding. And it’s not just you, the entire world is being haunted in one way or the other, by the top ten club members and those who aspire to join that club, he explained.

So are you saying that all this people around are bad? I asked.

No, most of them you see around are good people and they do what they do, to fulfill their personal needs. They are being paid by their bosses who aspire to join the top ten’s club, he clarified.

Does that mean, being ‘money minded’ is wrong? I asked.

The entire world wakes to see another sun rise, only to make money, which makes their life better. And it’s absolutely right. But how you make money tells who you are, He explained.

Then what about the government, judiciary and the legal system which exists here? I asked.

The government and the party which rules the country are just a mechanism to maintain the order of the day. They do the service of those thirty percent who run this country, which is owned by the top ten club members. As far as judiciary is concerned, you would see the ‘goddess of justice’ who is blindfolded, is evenly balancing a scale and a sword. The sword represents punishment. The scale represents equal justice for all. You see a vegetable vendor using a scale whose need is bent and tilted to cheat customer. In the same manner, there are several loop holes in the judicial system, through which wealthy culprits will escape while innocents are punished. The goddess of justice is blind folded by circumstantial evidences, well paid lawyers and liars(witness), He explained.

So what do you think, I should do? I asked.

Just continue the way you are. You have no army or Armageddon to wage this war. Yet I suggest you to go on. And you will win. Help the helpless around and be their voice. The world around will remember you, even after your death and you deserve a place in our community. This is all I wanted to tell you, for which I am here. Now, let me leave and you can sleep. Good bye, he said.

I saw him disappearing into the thin air.

This night mare changed the way I see the world around.

This new paradigm made me think that all MNC’s and corporate who call us ‘Human Resources’ have actually turned this world into a market, where every sphere of our live is meant to make money for them.

It is even more disturbing to see that the government is withdrawing itself from all its responsibility to provide more space for corporate companies to do business.

Arun Shouri the disinvestment champion of India sold several public sector units to private companies during NDA regime, under former prime minister late Atel Bihari Vagpayee. The then NDA government followed by ten years of Congress rule did least to protect the public sector unit. Even Prime Minister Narendra Modi did least to make public sector units profitable. Instead, they hampered its growth deliberately, to provide more space for private companies. For example, BSNL does not have 4G service yet, when private companies are striving for 5G. Such deliberate hindrance from government will of course make BSNL a non performing PSU. Then our government will make a distress sale to get rid of it. It is the same scenario which made Mysore lamps, HMT and several otherPSU shut down, even though they were the best, at one point of time. Such failure of PSU is mainly because they failed toprovide innovative and value added service. Hence they could not compete with private players. On the other hand, public would still love to use the service of PSU, if it’s available. People who are best in the industry are happier to work for a PSU than a private company, if there remuneration is good along with a scope for growth.BJP led NDA and the Congress led UPA did least to protect public sector units. And even the left is least bothered. BSNL and ONGC are text book examples of how PSU’s growth is hampered, to provide more space for private companies. BSNL was maintained the way it is, to help Reliance group to have more customers for Jio. In the same manner ONGC was silenced to help Reliance group.

Another great responsible of the government is to provide primary health care and education. Unfortunately the government is not spending adequately to educate India. One could see more than fifty students in government schools where teachers can hardly pay attention to all students. And the poor condition of government schools, fails to attract students, even from poor families. This leads to a situation, where government schools will not have the minimum strength required to continue (For example: Tamil Nadu government is trying shut down around 1600 government schools). So eventually those schools will shut down to provide more space for private and international schools. This will deny education for those willing to study, but cannot afford fees. Few months ago there was news in Hindu about a district collector sending her kid to Government Anganwadi and that’s one way to make our governments schools better. IN US and several other European countries the education is free and is better than private school. There those who go to private schools are filthy rich and prefer private school, only to showcase their pompous life. I met a student in Chennai who spends 8 hours in collage and 4 hours to learn German language. He said that he would like to do Mechatronics which is mechanical engineering and Robotics in Germany. He said that he prefers Germany, because education in Germany is free.

NDA government under former PM late Atel Bihari Vagpayee stopped pension scheme for state and union government employees. The remuneration for government employees are no more an attraction, which is why more people aspire for a job in private companies than a government job. And those who work in government will not be left with any other option than to be corrupt to live in this expensive world. Along with that, now they are not entitled for retirement benefits. That way it helps corporate who sell their dividends as well as those who provide investment solutions like Mutual funds. NDA brought this great reform and the Congress led UPA who ruled for 10 years have never made an attempt to bring back pension scheme for government employees. The left parties also did not make any serious attempt in this regard.

Days before election BJP led NDA introduced a scheme where farmers across India, who owns a parcel of land, which is less than five acres, are entitled for 2000 rupees. These schemes tantamount to 'cash for vote' though it was in the form of a government scheme.

This makes me think that, those who go out to vote are in a situation, where they voting for UPA or NDA or not going vote or hitting NOTA are all, a stab to themselves as well as to the democracy.

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