10. Beyond the Horizon

Homo sapiens live in a spoon-fed world of pre-existing facts, ideologies, theories, concepts, beliefs, rights and wrongs. We study histories of this universe and carve our thoughts according to the observations, experiences and experiments of great men and women.

But, have we ever given second thoughts to their origin or considered why we are limited to them? Or have we ever deeply explored and discovered the horizons of our imaginary mind? We see dreams night and day, reveries of every kind, and fantasise a world of our own - a world not necessarily restricted to logic or reason. In some way or the other, we unconsciously construct a world, or for that matter, multiple worlds of our own, existing parallel to the ‘real’ world. These worlds or ‘alternative realities’ are pieces of fiction of our own making, which may go to any lengths. It is interesting to discover the extent to which our mind can travel, often leading to utopic, ‘out-of-the-box’ thoughts and imaginations. Such cognizance occurred to me post a dream I envisaged on a tranquil October night.

It was as if a whole new world lay in front of my eyes, watching extra-terrestrial life existing in all the other planets. I found myself to be the omniscient observer of the mesmerising events happening around me. With people settling in the neighbouring planets, it was soothing to witness our earth getting liberated of the population explosion it had been witnessing since decades. Wouldn’t it be a major omission if I talk about this encroachment without mentioning about the natives? Well, they were far from us in appearance; an entirely different set of species. Round-heads, fubsy and turquoise skin being some of their distinct characteristics. However, they appeared to be diligent and humble in demeanour. And I felt much like Gulliver coming across strange creatures in his travels.

I happened to witness non-living things react, which left me flabbergasted yet in some ways, it was a treat to watch them. The usually placid forests were able to “bough-wough” with the arrival of danger. Flowers were able to roam around the world like gypsies, planting themselves wherever they pleased. Lands on the other hand could shake themselves to their contentment, dissuading man from building his concrete nest in the process. And I felt like the curious Alice in Lewis Carroll’s Through the Looking Glass, loitering and experiencing a topsy-turvy world.

The amount of space thrust upon man- to settle, work and make merry seemed infinite, for there were planets aplenty! The moon, which had often been considered an auspicious celestial body in determining festivals, holy rites and rituals for many communities across the world, had now turned into a favourable destination for honeymooners, adventure enthusiasts, explorers, religious and superstitious people. So, applications for visa to the moon had already started pouring in! In fact, the happiest lot was the corpulence who eagerly wanted to pay a visit and delight himself by feeling lighter! All thanks to the moon’s weaker gravitational pull (one-sixth of the earth). Mars, being nearest to the earth became children’s attraction (and parents’ headache) for excursions.

Moving further, I realised how often we have come across people boasting about their ‘foreign-returned’ tag after an overseas trip. Considering the access to seven other colossal celestial objects, Neptune being the farthest of all, became every man’s dream destination. However, it was the determination of high-spirited Punjabi women which led them to accomplish their desire of an expedition to the cold planet – only to brag about being ‘Neptune-returned’ on their Twitter and Facebook accounts. So poor Mt. Everest lost all its value!

Talking about women, one of their biggest obsessions of all times has been beauty, and beauty pageants have been held to encourage them to recognise their external and internal splendour. On a universal

level, the competition however was an inter-planetary one, with Miss Mercury, Miss Venus, Miss Uranus, Miss Saturn and so on, competing hard for the Miss Cosmos title. And the stage was none other than Jupiter, possessing the capacity of a billion people (considering its massive structure).

All along I have mentioned travelling and settling, and the almost immediate question of accessing different planets would have risen in your mind. So, the catch is, people had rockets to commute- for short as well as long distances. Fly anywhere anytime to your heart’s content. So instead of bus conductors screaming to call people in, there were rocket conductors selling tickets for Mars and Saturn.

Another thing I observed was, with the universe becoming one and for all, the beliefs and superstitions created by astrologers and soothsayers regarding planetary shifts vanished, for people were able to access them on their own. In addition, equality among people was beginning to attain rightful restoration with the marginalised sections like Dalits, for instance being summoned for commencing holy pujas, and given respect and dignity. On the other hand, the poor migrating to alternate planets for space and opportunities boosted their standard of living.

Thus, the gap between the rich and the poor reduced subsequently. The theory of Karma was the strong influencing force behind the eradication of treachery, rapes, acid attacks, murders, robbery and all sorts of crimes. Law operated differently among the planets, with Mercury and Venus sending criminals towards the sun to burn and die.

The theory of time is one of the things that caught my attention. All our lives we have been taught about the value of time and that “time and tide wait for no one”. But this abstract thing called time could be paused and rewound by the inhabitants once a year. So the people had the opportunity to dive and delve into the depths of epochs and see their past. This somehow reminded me of the stream of consciousness technique which Virginia Woolf used in her characters (particularly Clarissa) in Mrs. Dalloway.

Trying to gather further information from a native of the ringed-planet, I suddenly found myself quivering. It kind of disrupted my stream of thoughts. I was amidst my glorious observations when some strange sounds appeared. They grew louder along with a few jerks, and finally my eyes opened. I saw my mum, her vexed expression, holding up my snoozing alarm and showing me the time. Alas! I had missed my morning lectures once again.

Saumya Kalra

III Year