Time machine
In January, we got a feel of life in the medieval age

I believe in what author Rhonda Byrne says about our thoughts becoming reality, and when she warns us to be particular about what we desire, I totally agree with her. “Thank God, there is a delay,” she proclaims. The full implications of what she writes became clear in the inaugural fortnight of 2009 itself. Those sighing to go back to the ‘good old days’ got a taste of that life, as the fuel and engines of modern life, petroleum sector and truckers, went on strike at the same time, paradoxically halting life that they are supposed to fuel.

The paradox was visible everywhere. As a society we claim ‘An idea can change your life’ yet the lack of fuel brought home the point that in the absence of basic ingredients, an idea can’t be propelled. We pride ourselves on new means of communication thanks to information and communication revolution, yet we were grappling with basic problem of movement from one place to another. We are already too entrenched in the belief of global village, yet we found it hard to get basic sustenance material from nearby towns and villages.

Despite the grimness, it was a comical situation. Suddenly, things which we always took for granted suddenly got eclipsed from life. We didn’t know how to commute to work, how to complete urgent shopping errands, how to go to wish good health to an aunt who had been hospitalised? With trucks off road, fruits and vegetable vendors also vanished, so how to procure basic essentials of life? The vendor stalls, till a shortwhile ago adorned with kiwi fruits, Australian grapes and other such exotica, suddenly didn’t even have the basic banana to display. So the obvious worry was, how to reconcile one’s taste buds and make do with
dal-roti?

To add to it was the looming spectre of strike by NTPC, which would have meant existence without electricity. Now consider these consequences: an electricity strike would have meant braving the January cold without heater; it would have meant absence of hot water; and it would have meant absence of water (for how does one pump up the water to the tanks in high rises?

The twin strikes ended, but only after showing a mirror to the society. This time, the scarcity was man-made. But what happens when the world actually runs out of petroleum?

We have advanced so much in our social evolution (not just biological evolution) that going back to old forms of production and consumption is a nightmare. Can you imagine leading a life as ordinary mortals led in the times of Bahadur Shah Zafar? Can you contend with entertainment parties in the nature of mango parties along a river when you have advanced so much as to have Birthday bashes and bachelors’ parties in Maldives or Mauritius? Can you visualise your car park turning into a horse stable again, and you commuting in a coach to the nearby mall (oops, a bazaar)? Can you again think of travel being confined to grand-mom’s home, when nothing less than Europe trip is considered palpable? And can you seriously think of modern amenities like a geyser and a heater giving way to cow-dung cakes for cooking and warmth?

I conjure these bizarre scenarios because the glimpse provided by the January strike of life without petro-products was not too pleasing. Before it’s too late, the society has to invest in popularising alternative fuels. Critics of alternative energy have pointed out that solar and wind energy is too cost-intensive and requires a lot of space to cater to the existing populace. But then, didn’t someone say ‘necessity is the mother of invention’? And what can be a bigger necessity, than preventing the civilisation from collapsing?