Welcome to the future

'Mama', said my younger daughter 'I really have to prepare for the conference. My travel papers are ready but I am still waiting for my inter-satellite visa confirmation'.

I looked up slowly from my laptop, silver hair tied in a bun. I had gained 20 kgs since my last blog post in 2010 and turned slowly to look at my 39-year old younger offspring.

Life thirty years after did not make much sense. I still wonder whether I am hallucinating or whether the strong anti-oxidants with which I spike my own system to develop immunity against a series of diseases had turned me into a crazily preserved heritage piece.

'Mama, you're not listening to me. As usual you are caught in some faraway world of yours. This time I am reading an advanced paper on how subtle alterations in the human body could be made to respond to climatic and space changes, enabling mankind to survive the harshest of weathers and most toxic of chemicals. This piece of research is explosive. Aliens from all over the galaxy will follow suit. This time, the conference is truly inter-galactic', she explained patiently.

My younger daughter was always a stick of dynamite. Ever since I took her for the sound and light programme of a planetarium in my modest city, there has been no looking back. Having graduated in space science and after a twenty-year stint at NASA she has come back to her home country as today it is the foremost nation in blue sky research.

'And yes,' she continued, 'this time we are travelling in style. We are using a new spacecraft that can gobble up millions of light years in a split second,' she continued breathlessly, trying on the fancy buckle of her space suit, which was a new creation by her favourite designer. The mother of pearl buckle was an added embellishment to her smart and hassle-free well-cut space suit. Matching accessories and shoes were being tossed around in a frenzy as she twisted and turned her unruly curls to a more systematic style.

Welcome to the future. These are my little flights of fancy of what would happen thirty years hence. I may be totally wrong. Maybe this is wishful thinking. Maybe it will be a reality. But for the moment, it sounds good.

Let me live the moment.