Dystopia: By Laiba Akhtar

Golden beaches, turquoise waters, rushing streams, mighty green mountains, fruit- laden trees, playing and laughing children, chirping birds, running animals, and colourful but small houses were bathing in the warm sunlight of the shining sun. The scent of gardenia, lavender, cyclamen, honeysuckle, and rose encapsulated the whole Island. Cuckoo's melodious voice was soothing the nerves of every morning person of Utopia. It was sitting on one of the branches of the tree and was spreading its lovely voice in that dreamland. Small, colourful and decorated houses with large green patches in between where animals were grazing, a mighty lake whose water was pure and clean, and snow-peaked huge mountains in the background; that valley could make anyone awed.

            Valley was very much awake at that time; people were having a morning walk, children were going to school, and aged people were performing their extra prayers or reading their Holy Books. In that peaceful valley, She was walking on the clean pavement which had houses on both sides. Branching ropes of wisteria climbed up the whitewashed walls of the houses, struggling in reaching the sky just like a real human being. The whole street was filled with the scent of flowers and in between them, that beautiful flower was walking on the road. Cuckoo gazed at that beauty and got mesmerized by her beautiful flowery full-length skirt, and a red scarf tied at her nape neck whose both ends resting on both shoulders. Her chocolaty brown tendrils were coming out of her scarf covering her both ears. A basket full of roses was hanging from her arm, and the scent of it encapsulated her. The dimpled smile was on her face while greeting each passer-by. Cuckoo also flew toward her and sat on her shoulder to gaze at her milky flawless skin. 

         "Hello, dear one" Her melodious voice caused Cuckoo to go into a trance. She laughed and extended her hand for Cuckoo to sit on it. It quickly sat on that soft cushion and gave a thank-you song to the flower-like girl.

"Cute one, what do you want? " The girl asked. 

"Your friendship" Cuckoo replied with shining orbs. 

"We are already friends, dear one. In Utopia, no one can be allied with each other. We all are one." She replied while averting her orbs toward the beautiful valley where happiness, purity and love dance. 

"Almeera! " A voice interrupted her and she turned around to find the source, but there was no one. 

………………………..

     "Almeera, it's getting late! Wake up! " Her orbs stirred, and slowly their lids raised, leaving behind Utopia and opening into Dystopia. 

Gazing at the white roof and wall, and listening to the buzzing of mobile and the voice of Al, a frown settled on her face. 

"I was in Utopia, Ap," Almeerah replied with an exasperated expression and yawned while resting her head on the headboard of the bed. 

"Dear, you are in Utopia! So, stop complaining and get yourself fresh." Daniya replied to her while checking her smartphone. 

"15 extra calories have been detected in your body. Start exercising to kill them." The Voice of Al emerged from Daniya's smartphone causing her relaxed expression to morph into the depressed one.

"Oh my God! Oh my God" She shot up from her chair and instantly started exercising. 

"Your blood pressure is increasing because of anxiety. Take a deep breath, and have a glass of water to calm down your nerves." Again the robot instructed her, causing her to halt her exercise and rushed toward the kitchen. 

           Almeerah rolled her eyes at the whole scene and went to the washroom. Before entering it, her eyes casually roamed toward the electronic calendar where "15 January 2110" was blinking.

…………………. 

        "Artificial Intelligence has taken up the responsibilities of drone flying. The drone system is now in automation mode." The robot newscaster was giving the news when Almeerah entered the lounge. 

"Thank God! Now the Drone accident ratio will decrease. Otherwise, I always get anxious while travelling in human-driven drones." Sabahat said while sitting beside her husband, Shahzaib. 

"But what about the humans who were a part of this field? What will happen to their jobs?" Hints of remorse were in his tone. 

"Your heartbeat is rapidly increasing. Take a deep breath! " Shahzaib's smartphone started speaking, causing him to sigh. 

"Shahzaib, follow its orders! " Sabahat said in a panic. 

"Uff! Daily routine of our house! I am fed up with this whole scenario. Thank God, I have switched off my smartphone " Almeerah thought while anger rushed in her anderline. 

             Instantly, the auto-television channel turned into a comedy show where robots were performing on the stage. That show attracted Sabahat's attention and she started watching it with keen interest. 

            Almeerah made herself a mango shake, but before sipping it, she switched on her smartphone out of habit. With getting alive, its screen popped up with different notifications. Half of them were from the Health centre. 

"You should take a deep breath to ease your anxiety."

"Your body is undergoing different hormonal issues. Visit the nearest hospital!"

"Pineapple juice will be much better for you this morning as it will help you in cheering up."

"Google Algorithm has composed new music which will help you lighten up your mood."

Almeerah ignored the first two notifications and averted her attention to the last two. She put the shake aside and went to the fridge to take the pineapple. Instantly, music started playing on her smartphone. Lyrics, voice, and composure were perfect; her attention averted to it. As music resonated in the kitchen, a dimpled smile adorned her face. After ten minutes, she was humming the song while sipping her juice. All boredom and depression flew up, making her smartphone satisfied with its work. She could also listen to the laughter of her parents as they both started enjoying that comedy show, forgetting all about the worries of the twenty-second century. 

…………………………….

          "How meaningless and robotic life is! We are dependent on robots for as trivial work as driving. Our lives revolve around robots, either we are using them or are making them." Almeerah thought while gazing at the rushing roads of Lahore. Similar white automated cars were running there, and the politicians and the billionaires had flying black cars which were floating in the sky. 

White and black!

These were the colours of the world she had been seeing since her childhood. 

         "Creativity, struggle, learning new things, failing and achieving things; these are the beauties of life which we are deprived of. The ancestors who led such lives were real human beings. This robotic life is suffocating me now." 

Her train of thoughts was interrupted by the beep of a mobile, causing her attention to drift toward it. 

"Wanna listen to new music composed by us, especially for you." The notification was from Google Algorithm at which she rolled her eyes. 

            Seeing the time, she realized that it would take her thirty minutes to reach university. So, she leaned her head to the back of the seat and closed her eyes. 

………………….

        Pit Pat! 

 Sheets of rain were falling in the evergreen garden where happiness was dancing. Cuckoo, Blue herons, black-headed buntings, honey buzzards, yellow wagtails, golden orioles, willow warblers along with other species of birds were sitting in the shade, singing in the garden, enjoying this weather. Daffodils, Jasmine, Rose, Dove Tree, Cherry tree and evergreen gardenia were swaying and bathing in this blessing of nature. Between them, dancing on the soft grass, Almeerah was enjoying the cool and pure water droplets on her body. Water was dripping from her long brown hair, and her arms were wide, ready to accept this beautiful aspect of nature in them. Smiling and singing, she felt dopamine rush in her veins, cascading her whole body in it. 

              The beep of the impatient mobile burst her bubble of fantasy as she opened her eyes. A scowl etched on her face while she took her mobile in her hand to read the notification, again from the Health Center. 

"Our brain is unable to distinguish between imagination and reality. Feeding it with a high level of imagination can affect its fact-based portion. Kindly, don't do this with you. Have a nice day at University."

Again rolling her eyes at this notification, she gazed at the white plastic roads and white cars running on them.

No colour, no imagination, no fantasies in this world!

              Sometimes she wondered how she managed to get such dreams and imagination of an enchanting Utopia, and how she could think of her world as Dystopia where she had been born. Since childhood, she had this disease, according to her Health care centre, to imagine things which had never occurred in the world. But then she wondered how robots could know that these things had never happened in history. It was nearly impossible that robots could know ancient history as these robots had been invented in the twenty century at the hands of twenty-century scientists. And its inventors were miles away from fantasies, so how these robots could know the value of imagination. But then, how could she imagine things when she was surrounded by fact-based machines and Homo Sapiens. In her first grade, during science class, she learned that everyone inherited one chromosome from their father and one from their mother. The DNA is responsible to pass the genetic information from parents to offspring - the colour of eyes and hair, survival, height, reproduction, whether you sneezed or had freckles in sunlight- everything was in there. Maybe she had also inherited this immeasurable attribute, creativity and imagination, from her ancestors. 

             With this thought, the image of her aunt Fatima flashed in front of her eyes. She was her photo living in London. She also had radical and imaginative thoughts, and she tried to instil those imaginative thoughts in her offspring- pushing them to think on their own and not depend on Google Algorithm and try to write on their own without the help of Creativity apps. She got reported by her son and Al's secret agency arrested her as they feared that she would be rebellious. Ten years had passed since this incident, and Aunt Fatima was in torture cubes,  equipped with devices which were affecting her mind and body organs. With this thought, tears swam in Almeerah's orbs which she swallowed back and braced herself for a tiring day in University. 

……………….

        Silence hung in the 8 G classroom cube where six students were sitting. Hexagonal in shape, whitewashed room, different faces of students displayed on a wall, and a desk in the front of the classroom, students were impatiently waiting for class to start. Almeerah sat on the seat, a voice of beep echoed in the classroom as the robot was accessing her whole body and marking her attendance. Tab opened in front of her, and on the screen, it was written:

Virus free! Not any serious disease in the body except low levels of calcium. Information has been forwarded to Dr Al 016. Report to the University's health cube after this lecture. 

Helplessness mounted in her being at this notification as she was obliged to follow its order. 

          "Uff! I can't believe these bastards are going to finish this physical classroom notion. Stupid politicians! Do they want to kill us in isolation?!"

Bob cut white hair, a wrinkled face which is as white as paper, hunched back, blue shirt, trousers with a scarf around the neck, spectacles on the eyes; Miss Surriya entered into the cube while loudly cursing the politicians. She was from an influential background so she could curse her fellow creatures without any fear, which was not the case with Almeerah. That's why she somewhat admired and somewhat envious of that old lady. Tense lines marred students' faces who were sitting physically in the cube, while virtual students were unaffected by this information. 

"But ma'am, we only have one Al cube in our houses, which can only meet our basic needs. For attending virtual lectures, we need another Al cube which we can't afford. What would we do? " One of the students asked in a panicked voice

"Ask this question from your politicians! What can I do? Thank God, my age is eight-five now. I will not be alive to see the worst condition of human beings." Miss Surriya said while clicking on her tab.

"Okay class, today in this history lecture, we will study the primitive era known as the "Pre-Covid 19 era". What did Lahore look like in that era? How were Lahoris living in that era? We will study this through my notes which I have taken from my ancestor's diaries." 

Chorus of sighs rippled in the classroom. 

"Ma'am, you still have such things in your home? " One of the virtual students cringed at which she glared at him. 

"Why? When I can have these ancient spectacles on my face, then I can have diaries in my life, too. There was an area of Lahore which was known as "Walled City", where my ancestors' house is. My elders and I have never allowed anyone to touch it. It is still there with its ancient history stored in it."

               Almeerah's mouth hung low, eyes widened and excitement ran in her veins at this information. A sudden urge to see that place came to her, but she was afraid, as always, to voice her unique desires. 

             All the white floors, walls, and human beings vanished as the lecture started and all around her was Pre-Covid Lahore. 

Men, women and children walking on the footpaths

Men pushing carts around the streets while calling out tempting prices, or funny music coming out from their radios. 

Horse or donkey carts could also be seen running on the roads. 

In shops, there were different types of books, clothes, shoes, and jewellery, and they were overcrowded with people. 

"Before virtual shopping, people used to do physical shopping. E-books were not common in that era, people took pride in buying and reading physical books." Ma'am's voice was also resonating in her Cloud.

Small but overcrowded houses where Grandparents were sitting in the lounge while their offsprings were around them. Most of them did have gadgets in their hands, but still, they were sitting together. 

The extended family was sitting in front of the television. The remote control was in the adult's hand while the whole family was watching television with a plate of fruit in between them. 

"Respect of elders and living of grandparents with their sons and grandsons was a tradition of that time. Not like us who abandoned parents when they crossed fifty. Stupid rules of these barbarian governments." Miss Surriya hissed. "4G technology was in Lahore, and most of its population was deprived of this facility too." 

Students sit in an ordinary classroom which has simple armchairs and benches. Whiteboard was in front of the classroom on which the teacher was writing something with a blue, black and red marker. Students were responding to the teacher, and from the whole scene, anyone could assess the respect that which teacher was getting from students. 

           She envied those ancient people who had enjoyed calm, purposeful and creative lives. The desire to know more about them hit her, and she decided to take the risk.

"What is life without risks?! " 

            Someone inside her spoke, maybe that part of the body which was made up of creative chromosomes.  

………………...

            "Hmm. So, you want to experience that era? " 

Standing in the cube office of Miss Surriya, she voiced her desire in a stuttering voice. Firstly, she got rebuked by the lady for this stuttering, and then a wide smile plastered her face when she repeated her desire in a smooth voice. 

        While listening to her desire, Miss Surriya gave a certain eye signal to the wall at which a white robotic hand extended from it, carrying a cup of black coffee. 

"I love your bravery. The twenty-second century needs such youth, such minds." Miss Surriya praised her, but her mind drifted toward her aunt causing fear to creep in her spine. 

"Thank you, Ma'am." She replied in a small voice. 

"I can give you the keys and address to my ancestors' house. You are free to roam the place and explore that era. And don't worry! Pakistan, still, is not as advanced as first-world countries. It will take a couple of years for it to reach that level. Thank God, I will be no more to witness such a disastrous era." 

           Ma'am shuttered and extended the keys to her which she took with a thudding heart. Despite Ma'am's assurity, she felt that she had taken the key to a forbidden and haunting place. The key weighed heavily on her hands, and pleasant fear ran down her spine. 

            When she was about to step out of the office, Ma'am's voice echoed behind her. 

"This trip will be a treasure for you, worth cherishing but also haunting." 

Shadow passed her face, heart thudded and she stepped out with a shivering body. 

…………………

           Her car was continuously giving her warnings that going to a backward area can affect its tire, her mobile was continuously beeping that there were high chances of her getting any virus or germs, and her mind was also giving her red signals. But her heart was getting excited with the feel of the metal key in her hands. 

             At last, the automated car stopped in front of a two-storey worn-out house sequestered in a narrow deserted alley. Anderline hit her veins, the body started palpitating when she stood in front of the house. In her Montessori, their teacher arranged a visit to the museum and showed them how to use this metal key and manual lock. Revising her instructions, she inserted the key in the hole.

 And click! 

          A large mahogany door creaked, revealing a dusty, mighty, strong and colourful place. Almeerah's eyes widened at gazing at the vast lounge which had spiral staircases on both sides, leading to the second floor which had rows of mahogany doors. All closed, containing a history behind them. Stepping into it, she gazed at the colourful roofs and the weird designs on them. The same case was with floors. Though there was a layer of dust on them, the creamy and brown colour was reflected from some clean or less dirty patches. Brown doors, colourful rooftops and floors; Almeerah's heart yearned for such colourful and vast houses to reside in. Their politician's houses were also magnificent, but they also didn't have as much touch of colour as this house had. Robots had restricted humans to white and black colours; colours of monotony and robotic life. 

        Roaming into the brightly lit house, her mouth hung low, eyes widened and lines of excitement marred her features. 

………………

              Opening the first door, the first path toward the ancient era, she stepped into a small, dusty but brightly lit and colourful room. There were wooden shelves on one wall, and a jumbo size wooden cupboard on another wall. 

"What was the need for such jumbo-size cupboards?" She was amazed at the size. 

Opening the dusty cupboard, her eyes fell upon three to four slim books lying in one portion of it. 

"Books were common in that era? "

Another wave of awe hit her as she took those rusty, worn-out books in her hands. Words on the pages were now washed away and pages were torn from here and there. But, the front page, which was made of cardboard, was still intact. Almeerah read the titles:

Robin Hood

Ameer Hamza and his tales

Umru Ayar and Jinn

          The colourful title pages were telling her that the stories in the torn-out pages were worth reading, and twenty-second children were deprived of a glaring part of their childhood enjoyment. Memorizing the titles, she hugged those books before putting them neatly in their place. 

          After it, she went toward the other room where she again found three to four books lying on the bed. Despite one, the other's conditions were similar to the previous three. She took the only intact book in her hands, orbs lit up and anticipation ran in her veins. Before it, she had only once carried a book in her hands, during her visit to the museum. Otherwise physical books had been replaced by E-books decades ago. The Government had announced that having physical books would cost you a penalty and jail, as for making paper they had to cut the trees, and trees were becoming rare. Despite inventing another way of making paper, Governments took the easy way: demolish the notion of physical books from people's lives. 

               Almeerah, who had only used E-books in her life, was now having a real book in her shivering hands. A broad smile etched on her lips as she read the title "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland". A sudden desire to read this hit her as words were appealing, calling her. Sitting on the bed cross-legged, she started navigating through the initial pages of that fantasy-based story. 

ALICE was beginning to get very tired of sitting by her sister on the bank, and of having

nothing to do: once or twice she had peeped into the book her sister was reading, but it had no pictures or conversations in it, “ and what is the use of a book,” thought Alice, “ without

pictures or conversations ?”

           "What is the use of life without creativity and books! " Almeerah instantly thought. 

Reading the ninth page, a realization dawned upon her at which an irritating fear seized her. This trip was supposed to be a quick one as her duties couldn't wait for long, and she was also not able to take this book with her. 

Stupid Al rules! 

 Helpless tears swam in her orbs and a sudden urge to shriek hit her. Fear, helplessness and anger were building in her, anxious to find a way of coming out. Swallowing the lump, reluctantly putting the adventurous book on the bed, she came out after closing the door behind her. 

…………………….

          While navigating through the other rooms, her excitement became half as an important part of her being, the physical book, was lying behind a closed door. Taking a deep sigh, she opened the last door, heavier than the other ones. 

           Pushing the door, she stepped into the dusty but brightly lit room. It seemed that sunlight, after getting rejected by twenty-second-century people, had sneaked into this house for a refuge. She gazed all around the room where a single bed, a cracked mirror on the wall, and a jumbo size wooden structure were present. There were plain wooden shelves on it without any door. 

           Furrow settled in between her eyebrows as she approached it with curious expressions. In the shelves of it, she again found that which seemed to be a part of this aged but magnificent house. Again, taking the dusty book in her hand, she read its title "Diary". Enchanting pink flowers were crafted on its cardboard front. Though this time she was reluctant to open the book, her curious fingers were itching to open it. She raised the cardboard a bit and peeked into it where strong blue handwriting was present, eager to be read, saved into the chest and passed on to the generations. That blue handwriting was calling her, and her heart was eager to oblige to it. Fact-based machine -brain- was giving warnings, but emotional baggage- heart- was eager to discover the insights of ancestors. In the war of facts and emotions, emotions won.

           Again, sitting cross-legged on the bed, she opened the first page. 

"Today's day was blasting! Chemistry sir was on leave and no teacher came in as a substitute. Yayy!! Our whole class decided to play "Shadi Shadi''. Sania had her Nokia mobile hidden in her bag. So, she played shadi songs which were saved on her mobile. Mahnoor and Ume Hani became bride and groom, while we all completed the rituals of Shadi- giving Salamis, criticizing and backbiting each other, and eating snacks which we bought from the canteen of college. When we all were going to have a group photo with a fake bride and groom, a Discipline teacher came in. Oh no!!! The rest of the period was spent listening to her rebuke and insults, but don't know why, we were still unable to control our laughter. My, tau, tummy started getting hurt because of controlling the laughter. Just as she left, we broke down into a laughing mess. 

Almeerah was unable to understand their play and the reason behind their laughing, but still, her heart yearned to be in that place, doing the same. How carefree and young they all sounded!" 

"Last night, Papa bought a pair of parrots as my birthday gift. Cute speaking green parrots have taken my heart. Today, I skipped college and remained near their cage. I kept on talking to them and teaching them new words. I wish to remain near their cage the whole day but Mama calls me for help in the kitchen. Uff! She is always getting worried about my cooking, hobbies and studies. Marrying me is her life's goal on which she remained focused the whole time. My future husband surely will be enjoying his carefree life. Thinking or talking about his marriage will not be a part of his family. And here, my family is always getting worried about my marriage, my health, my personality and my hobbies. 

              That whole page's incident was a unique one for Almeerah as parrots and every type of organism remains on the surface of Earth. If they ever dare to come near a human's accommodation, Al emits radioactive lights to keep them away. Technology believes that these organisms have the baggage of viruses, germs and diseases with them, and they should be kept at a distance from humans. The animal welfare field has been given to Robots decades ago. And this mindset about the girl and boy marriage? Maybe in history, the sixth wave of feminism came because of such mindsets. 

             She turned toward the window to see that sunlight was packing itself, indicating that the sun was getting ready to set.

"Oh no! " 

She murmured while her shoulders slumped and a pout set on her face. 

"Just a last page" she murmured to herself and shuffled the pages to have the last peek into the golden era of the twenty-first century. 

"Yesterday night, we came back to our boring routines. After a memorable two-night stay in Naran Kaghan, I'm back in a sweltering city and the boring routine of my life. I have already started missing those splendid ice top mountains, running streams, doing breakfast over melting water of ice, Babusar top, and calm Jheel Saif ul Malook. The cold weather, icy breeze, fish, ice and calmness of that area were worth experiencing. Thank God, there was no electricity and internet in our hotel. Away from the mobile and internet, I really enjoyed natural beauty, family time and long walks at the night. And now I'm back in the buzzing and burning city, and the daily tensions of my life. Uff! I wanna go back to the hilly areas!"

…………………………..

             "Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep"

  The twenty-first-century house resonated with the angry horn of the twenty-second century's car, Utopian era thoughts were interrupted by Dystopian elements. That angry horn of Al told her that machinery couldn't bear her absence anymore, duties which Al had assigned to humans couldn't wait anymore. 

             Almeerah's eyes widened and she swiftly abandoned the diary on the bed and ran toward the door. Anderline hit her being, and a hand clasped around her mouth. Just before stepping out of the room, her gaze wavered toward the diary and stopped there for a brief second. She felt that the diary was calling her, inviting her to roam more into the golden era. 

             "Beeeeepppp!!! " 

It seemed that Al had sensed her reluctance and showed its anger at avoiding itself. Shutting the door, she blocked the view and ran toward the main door. While descending the stairs, her right foot chappal slipped from her foot, and she had to run toward the car with a bare foot. 

                 The angry car opened its doors when she locked the main door behind her. The door to the ancient times was closed, and the door to the modern but suffocating present opened for her. As soon as she slid into the car, the car started running on the uneven road, leaving the ancient house behind her. From the rear mirror, she could see herself distancing from the ancient house. 

           "What is Naran Kaghan? " The question popped in her curious mind and a longing lurked in her heart. 

"Miss Almeerah, your virtual interview with the freelancing 00 company is going to start after forty minutes. Do check the main points before appearing in the interview. After that, you have to take the dinner prescribed by the Al University doctor." 

           Voice of her smartphone resonated in the car, but her eyes were fixed on the house which was now turning into a dot. The car turned the corner, the ancient house vanished and grief spooled itself around her entire being. Averting her gaze from the mirror, it fixed on the black cloud-ladened sky in front of her. The sky, dark as Al's torture room, weighed down upon the city will all its load of steeled intensity, waiting to engulf the individuality of human. 

           Taking a deep sigh, Almeerah took the smartphone and started reading the points for her virtual interview.