Back to the future

Children Corner

- Ritwick Sinha, 

Class-VIII, 

Don Bosco Sr. Sec. School, Guwahati. 

Year 3100 AD. India has completely changed from what it was some thousand years ago. I was in a place called Axemland, which I think was probably known as Assam long ago. I am not sure, as I had just reached this place with the help of a time machine. I was new to this place. I was one of the very few ‘complete humans’ here. All the others were a mix of humans and robots and called themselves ‘Robohumans'. They had prosthetic limbs. Their brains were more developed than the normal human brain. This combining of humans with robots could turn out to be the end of human life on earth. Then, as I walked down the road, I was stunned to see a skyline where each skyscraper was more than 2,000 metres tall. I also saw some flying cars, which the Robohumans called the ‘carocopters', and then I saw some passenger vehicles – all of which could fly! I also had a view of the ‘warp drive', a spacecraft which could travel faster than light. There was no television, only teletablets through which one could see all the channels and could carry them anywhere one wanted to. There was not a single desktop computer anywhere. All the computers were portable. There were no schools. All the exams were held online. The results were also declared on the internet. I was shocked, as I had never imagined that technology could reach such heights. Sometime later, I was surprised to see some ‘Robocops' riding on their superbikes at a very high speed. I asked a Robocop, who was guarding a bank, why those Robocops were riding their superbikes at such a high speed. He told me that they were chasing an invisible robber who had robbed a bank. He also told me that only the Robocops could see the invisible robber, as their eyes were specially designed for the purpose with a red-coloured cell. The invisible robber reminded me of the story of The Invisible Man by H.G. Wells. Suddenly, a beam of light struck my eyes and I woke up from deep slumber and realised that it was only a dream. I hope that this dream comes true – only in the technology aspect and not in the extinction of human life on this planet. I also hope that people understand the importance of schools and continue the pursuit of education. 

Published in the Planet Young, The Assam Tribune on 10.04.2014