The Time Traveller

Ever since I walked the earth I have travelled.

Wherever it was that I wanted to go, I walked. Sometimes I would run, to get someplace faster.

But no matter how much I tried I could never outrun many fleet-footed, hoofed animals.

To get the better of the situation I tamed animals which could go faster than me. It started with the goats and buffaloes, later it was asses, and finally I conquered speed when I saddled the horse.

Then one day I invented the wheel. And things began to go very fast indeed.

But I wasn’t satisfied. Because whenever I looked to the skies I could see birds flying. These creatures made a mockery of all my terrestrial speedsters. I now knew what I wanted most.

I wanted to fly.

One day a pair of my brothers found a way. And ever since, I have tried to fly as fast as possible.

And when I had flown all over the skies on my planet, I looked to Space.

There was no stopping me now. I have already stepped on the moon. The other celestial bodies and galaxies are just a few steps away.

But then there were those who could still travel faster than me. Sound was one, and of course, Light, the other.

I have already beaten Sound now. Sometime in this millennium I will master Light too.
Wouldn’t that be great?

Before that yonder star can twinkle, I would be on it. I think that is what God means when he says, ‘Think of me and you will find me’.

That would leave me with the one thing that would be faster than me and which has always preceded me from the beginning – Time!

From the moment I invented the wheel I have measured travel against time. How fast I could get from point A to point B has motivated me to invent vehicles which could take me from here to there in a jiffy.

Travelling involves Time, which mostly and usually governs the travel. Someday it could be the other way around. Geography has already become irrelevant to me, someday Astronomy would too.

Remember “Startrek” – “Beam me up Scotty” and ‘Warp speed’ of Captain Kirk. Or the Hyperspace jumps in “Star Wars”. A snap of my fingers, a push of a button, say the magic word – and time flies!

Even my fantasies have revolved around this – Hanuman leaping across seas, Superman flying around the earth, even Harry Potter had his broom, his portkey, his flue powder, and the best part - he could apparate!

All this for just one thing – conquer distances. And time.

Or simply put, ‘to be where I want, when I want’!

Time is the one foe that has always beaten me.

Every journey was being measured in time, and as time. Time always has been and is the benchmark for travel. I now live in an age where I measure distances relative to time.

Earlier, I would say, ‘My school is 2 kms away’ or ‘the market is just a stone’s throw away’ or ‘go straight as the crow flies’ – all indicating distances. Now I say, ‘My school is five minutes away’. My grandparents live an hour away. And London is just eight hours from my home. Life has become a measure of time.

My life too is a slave of Time.

Not long ago Childhood was playing with me on the streets. Then adolescence grew up with me a while later. A few years ago I was sharing a dorm with youth. Adulthood has matured with me now. And old age will catch up with me someday in the future.

There is no way I can capture Time.

In the timeless classic ‘Waqt’, Lala Kedarnath says, ‘Waqt hi sub kuch hai; Wahi banata hai, wahi bigadta hai; Wahi humse leta hai aur wahi sood samet lauta deta hai’! (Time is everything; it is the one who creates, it is the one who destroys; it takes from us and returns with rewards!)

What he is saying is ‘Do not tempt Time’.

But not unknown to it I have done so!

From the moment I invented the wheel, I have been pacing time, sparring with it.
Not literally. Not tangibly either. But in many other ways - Intellectually, spiritually - yes I have overtaken it. I am way ahead of time - in my thoughts and in my mind.

When it looks at me, it sees the horses which I rode when I should have been panting after them; it sees the wheel which I invented just a few millennia ago when I should have been only walking; it sees the vehicles I invented just a hundred years ago when I should have been only playing with wheels; and it sees the milestones I have crossed yesterday when I should have only seen them from far.

I am outrunning time faster than it ever imagined. I have travelled much further in the last fifty years of evolution than it has. And I shall do so even more. My travel has been exponential whereas Time has travelled more or less straight. Our paths will cross sooner than before.

I shall evolve, mutate and change as I have done before - from Primates, to Homo-erectus, and from thence to the new me, the 21st century Man. Maybe in the near future I shall be the ‘Avatar’ that James Cameron wants me to be.

And when I do so, I shall have beaten Time.

A great man with a frizzled mane once fathered the Theory of Relativity. He said one day Time and Space would not matter. Twist and Warp the fabric of Space, and I will find that Time bows to me.

And then there are Black Holes – places in the universe where Time and Space merge. Enter one, and I shall find Distances do not exist, neither does Time. I shall be lost among the two.

Great many philosophers have always advocated that Time and Space are only two sides of the same coin. How I look at them changes my perspective. My perspective does not change them. One cannot exist without the other. Indeed one exists because of the other!

And equally great Prophets have sermonized that Time and Space are just a figment of our mind. Far greater distances have been travelled by my thoughts. And my spirit has soared through the ages. Time flies when I am with loved ones. Distances vanish when I am in love. I may be closer to myself than I realize.

The truth is, I was born to travel - for my survival, for humanity, for the sake of mankind - I have travelled and I shall keep on doing so.

I cannot go back. I don’t want to go back. But if I look back I can honestly say, ‘I have come a long way baby’.

I am a Time traveller.

Up till now I have travelled in time, mostly through it and sometimes against it. Tomorrow, I shall travel with it.

And maybe, someday in the future, Time shall cease to be my foe. That day is not far, my dear. When you just have to think of me and I’ll be there.

I have sung this ode to myself for a very long time now….

Musafir hoon yaaron, na ghar hai na thikana, mujhe chalte jaana hai, bus chalte jaana.