TALKING FROM THE MOON

I am an old man. I am 160 years old, and I live on the moon. It’s been more than 300 years since my ancestors shifted to the satellite after population explosion threatened to destroy earth. In a city known as New Delhi, they applied for voluntary citizenship of the moon. Keen to tame the overpopulation, the United States of the World government happily agreed. Our ancestors were made to undergo a series of what was known as compatibility surgical procedures. Then they left for the moon, which is where I live today.

Think of it. Four hundred years since my relatives came to the moon for the first time. Two hundred odd years since they built a majestic moonsion here. We, the luno sapiens, have built an independent human society in which people eat what is grown on the moon; are well-adjusted to temperature fluctuations of around 300 degrees every day; and even stay in touch with our counterparts on earth. Ours is a peace-loving society, the last war we had being the one for the possession of CME (Central Moon Economy) some 100 years ago. Seventy hundred people died on both sides, a huge loss since some of them were 60-year-old youngsters.

Today’s moon has a great system of education that has taken 500 years to develop. Our science and technology has developed so much that I am able to write an article for a newspaper that is printed from the city of my ancestors. It is the best way of reaching out to my kind of people I guess. Everything out here is too good, too perfect. People live for a long time, mainly since diet options are limited and we do not drink alcohol which damages earthlings but isn’t available in our satellite. Some crooks tried to smuggle it, but the centralised government acted fast and murdered their devious ambitions. Good for us, since we are fitter than our counterparts on earth.

Since everything is so perfect here, do I have a problem? Yes, I do. I want to go back to earth, at least for a while, and experience what all is happening out there. I am told that the earth has become one big world with a huge number of friendly states that try to help one another. They worship the same God, eat the same food, dress similarly, and work for the betterment of the planet. I want to experience the harmony in complexity, and bring some of my knowledge back here. But I can’t do that. You know why? I won’t survive there. My body has changed. I am as different from a homo sapien as Pluto is from Jupiter. So, I must live till I die. On the moon. Nice knowing you.