The Amazing Drive

'Hold on to the joystick steady and cruise along with confidence,' Vivek ordered to his copilot. Vivek had taken an intergalactic tour assignment. It was many years now Vivek and many like him had left the planet Earth for good.

Mars was the new destination. Though the conditions of life and livelihood were nowhere in comparison to our mother earth. But the living conditions in the place we know as Earth was anything but healthy. Population had risen many fold and with it, the challenges had multiplied.

Climate change was the biggest game spoiler. Many COP meetings on climate change were held between the nations but no conclusive decisions have come out. Further, no country was prepared to make sacrifices to bring discipline to their lives. The average temperature was rising more than 2°, the acceptable level. The ocean levels had risen by two metres and many low-lying coastal regions had been eaten away by the hungry sea waters. Food had become scarce. The vulnerable section of the populace was dying to the vagaries of nature in famine, floods, and extreme weather.

For many years scientists were doing research to put man on any other planet to reduce the burden on earth. Mars was the obvious choice as its weather conditions matched more or less with Earth. So the first batch of volunteers were selected to move permanently to Mars. Vivek was one of those twenty people selected in the first batch.

The journey to Mars was one way as the scientists had not discovered the technology to bring the spacecraft with the human beings back from Mars safely. Vivek had left earth knowing well that he would be leaving his loved ones for good. But there was the technology for voice communication from Mars to Earth and vice versa. So Vivek knew that he would not miss his dear ones as he could talk to them whenever he wished. That was his strength.

The twenty people left the Earth for Mars on a day in March just a few days after the festival of Holi. A tearful farewell was given.

Life on Mars was very challenging at first. But fortune was very generous to the twenty people. With limited means at first, they began the life of a pioneer. But they had been taught to make all sorts of sacrifices so they were not remorseful in any way. On the contrary, they were very resourceful.

Slowly but surely they,i.e. the people of Mars made their life as smooth as possible. At the space station, scientific experiments continued for the benefit of the Martians. Food was manufactured in the laboratory. Humans were conditioned to eat and drink like aliens, unlike humans. So large-scale food grain production was not required. A computer chip was built that when implanted in the human brain helped to control emotions like hunger and pain. Even disease could be tackled.

The people had developed spacecraft that could be used for interplanetary travel. So to do away with boredom people took to travel in outer space. The people of Mars developed the technology to travel to Earth and back. So Vivek got a chance to visit his relatives on earth. It was a happy reunion.

'Arey, Vivek you look pale after going to Mars,' his childhood friends cried out in unison. 'We have to live in glass domes to protect ourselves from the harmful ultraviolet rays of the sun because the atmosphere on Mars is more rarefied than on Earth,' Vivek replied with calculated confidence.

During one such interplanetary travel, Vivek discovered a small meteor where he could park his vehicle and relax. He had the right to name the meteor so he named it after his mother, Gayatri.

The Gayatri meteor was placed usefully for future pit stops of spacecraft. Vivek had set up his own pit garage where he tended to space vehicles that needed repair. Business was a way of barter system. Cash had been replaced by payment in kind. 

Vivek was happy that one sure thing in this space life was the absence of crime. Another adorable quality of life in the space was the absence of competition. All the people living there knew that to live peacefully and happily one had to live by taking care of others. There was an absence of religion and politics.

But as Martians had developed the technique to go to Earth and return to Mars, people from Earth now took to making voyages to Mars. People started to colonize Mars. But as there were many preconditions to visit Mars with cost so there was a limit to new colonists.

Lawmakers being absent was the biggest missing link. Both politics and religion being absent, the Martian people were leading lives totally alien to men.

The story was continuing gracefully when suddenly Vivek sat up with a jolt. He felt like his vehicle had jumped a pothole like he remembered happening to vehicles on Earth.

But seriously his vehicle had hit a big boulder while negotiating a big pothole. Vivek was about to scold his Co-driver when he was rudely awakened. For some moment he tried to recollect where he was. Then he realised he was visiting his relatives in Kolkata and his Co-driver was driving his premier SUV from Delhi as he was taking a power nap. He had taken a driver to help manage the tedious road journey.

But Vivek enjoyed the brief interlude he went through, akin to a science fiction movie. He hoped his dream never ended.

It was a beautiful feeling.