‘Great! Heartiest congratulations on having a gorgeous baby’ neighbour was wishing me on arrival of my baby. It was tough time to get the governments’ permission before conceiving a baby. The local birth control commissioner quizzed us for two weeks on our back ground, property, bank balance, interviewed our employers along with their spouses, any hereditary disease if at all we carry, if we are carrier of any disease & has ability to transform to our progeny, if we have any previous baby, any miscarriage so many things he crosschecked. The existing law which allows only thirty percent of the couple let conceive baby fortunately we were lucky amongst them. Lastly he permitted us to conceive a baby.
It was a nice job on the part of the government & I fully supported for birth control sanctions/regularities observed by the government. It was necessary for if we are entering into twenty third century we’ve to take care of our rapidly depleting resources & restrictions on sharing equally our earth with other animals too.
Regular rituals had to be started before conceiving a baby. we booked the school corporation which would be taking care of baby. The care would extend till its masters or doctors & the occupations based of its aptitude & liking. The school corporation governors’ appointment took three months in the school corporation city two thousand kilometers away from our work place in south central Africa. The panel of selectors took our interview & verified our identity along with the permission from the birth control commissioner.
Having done admission to our yet to born baby we deposited our share along with the governments’ for the future education. I remember we stressed neither on our kid to live here on earth, neither underwater in pacific nor on Mars, Jupiter’s Io or Europa however friendly it might be. My friends’ daughter went to Europa got settled there & now she meets her parents over photo-phone only. Whatever developments our love for kids’ remains.
I was on the seventh heaven having a girl child. When the neighbour asked for her genomap of our daughter. ‘Did we have to do it?’ I asked innocently. He looked at me as if I was the biggest fool around. ‘I don’t know’, he continued with low depressing tone as if he was telling me my biggest mistake of life, I’ve done it. Our yet to born son is genetically engineered. He rested slowly on the couch, I was shaken. I just could not fathom the gravity of my mistake as I was miserably, foolishly unaware of the recent generation though I was living in twenty third century. Had own flat on nine hundred & seventy third floor with fly-car parked outside our flat at fifteen thousand feet above ground level. I was moderately rich with cash of thirteen zillion bucks in bank, three hundred square mails of sea bed in deep pacific for human underwater colonies, had own flourishing business of hydrogen refilling in the fly-cars mid air.
‘Look buddy, I won’t say you have done any mistake but I’ve done something for my yet to born son’ he spoke in deep voice. Whatever he’d told me listening that made me sunk into couch. Neighbour had genetically engineered his son. The genes were going to reveal their true colours as per their designed & destined engineering. His son on attaining twenty three years of his age would be seven feet three inches tall, wheatish-white in complexion, his eye sight would be as clear as thirty three giga-pixel camera would give that is ten fold clear than the extinct eagle of twentieth century. His weight shall be close to hundred Kgs, he’d have no facial hairs, smallest external ears, his intelligence quotient would be fifteen times more than normal man, and he’d be genetically safeguarded from thirteen thousand diseases with inbuilt antibiotics in his blood. He’d need three times less oxygen than normal man, three hundred times more muscular heart & most important I heard is, he was designed to live not less than three hundred years.
I had thrown party on the occasion of arrival of my new daughter. It was on my floating helipad converted for giving party to my esteemed guests near Indian Ocean closed to once & now sunk Lakshdweep islands. Everybody in the hall were busy enjoying the party, I was depressed with the thought of how my baby doll will survive with the plastic men & women.
By
Vijay Yelmelwar
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