It happened so suddenly. One second everything was fine, the very next all hell broke loose. Everybody on the spacecraft realized that something had gone terribly wrong. I thought, this is it !! We are all going to die.
The RISING
I heard something ……
Someone somewhere was talking, boisterously at that. It seemed to me like someone speaking from a well, far and distant. The voice steadily grew louder and clearer. Blood flowing in my numbed body caused a strange sensation. My mind first to awaken from the fog, detected the corpse like body. Slowly but surely my body was coming to life. Slowly I tried to open my eyes but could not. I decided not to rush and took some time off and tried again. I saw a group of people crowding over me. One of them was beaming at me through his pince-nez. Everybody left one by one but for two people whom I thought to be husband and wife. I was lying on a cozy bed, which was the softest thing I had ever touched. I remembered how I died in the drifter. I had a very strong suspicion that I was in heaven.
I tried to get up but the angel in front of me spoke kindly and said that I ought to take rest. She even called me grandpa. I was puzzled!! ” people surely don’t rest in heaven, they enjoy and have a good time, don’t they ?“I quizzed . And why are you calling me grandpa? I added in a hurry. She gave me a benevolent smile and looked at her companion. They were now conversing in hush-hush tones and at the conclusion of the tete-a-tete the angel came over to me and said something that sent shivers down my body and sent the whole world spinning right in front of my eyes.
I still looked around the room disbelievingly. Half an hour had passed since the couple had left me and I was still gasping for breath. Were they speaking the truth? The lady to whom I was alluding to was not the type who’d beat around the bush. She put it in a nutshell. You are not dead grandpa, but very much alive. You have just been awoken from a very long sleep. The year now is 2505. You were found in a spaceship all frozen and were revived to health. When I had challenged her to prove it, the lady just as easily as counting one to ten on her fingers proved beyond doubt that what she spoke was indeed the truth.
I wondered what a turn my life has taken. I no longer understood the term life. What indeed is life when you freeze for 500 odd years and the advancement in science can revive you as just as easily as if you have been to sleep .I smiled to myself thinking there was little difference between me and canned food available in the market, both are preserved using cryogenic techniques. I loathed the fact that I was alive and well here while my comrades should have perished on the drifter. On that day 500 years ago, I, like a Roman Gladiator condemned by the Ceasor, faced the virility of the infinite space, facing the other gladiators, lions and tigers out to kill me in the arena and got battered and bruised but held on, and on the brink of death was saved when the crowd showed me the thumbs-up for holding on. I began to think that time itself was insignificant and had lost her momentousness. What eminence does grandfather Time harbor if you could eclipse 500 years like a nap?
When I fully recovered from my lugubrious reverie, I found that earth has changed a lot. People I observed have learnt one thing well and that has made a profound influence on their way of living. People have learnt to learn from their mistakes. They have truly realized what was very well known in our times but which we never realized. Our lives are too short to make all the mistakes, so learn from others mistakes. I wandered out yesterday and was pleasantly surprised to see the amount of greenery all around. The Infinite space has been conquered and humbled. Advances in science and technology have been tremendous, but what has been heartening to see is the spiritual growth in the people . When all the people lead a happy and contended life, can there be a hell anywhere ? Advances in science have been complementing the outlook of the people. Medulla Oblongata, which is the lowest part of the brain stem, controls many Involuntary functions which include breathing, blood pressure, heart rate and digestion . A better understanding of medulla oblongata is giving people greater control over breathing, blood pressure, heart rate and digestion. When you Conquer yourself; you conquer the world. Thus people are living an extremely healthy life. Everybody has realized the importance of our ancient scriptures. During our times we transformed earth into a Global Village through the Internet revolution. Our children have transformed the whole COSMOS into a paradise through the know thyself revolution .By the Galactic Empire if there is one thing that I am as sure as of planets, it is that the future of our children is as bright as Venus.
The Topic given was....
You were on the first manned mission to Titan when your spacecraft brokedown. Without any source of power, and at a great distance from the sun the spacecraft underwent rapid cooling. As a result you went into a ‘cryogenic stasis’ and got lost in space and
- Blue furry object
- Roman gladiator
- Medulla oblongata