Me Forever ….a Spectacular Prospect!

Me Forever ….a Spectacular Prospect!

Now I know who I shall become. Literally.

Move over Mr. James Bond. This is not another joke. I have just made that final decision. Mr. Bond should be interested, as I am going to glitter forever. Yes, I have found my passion. I was wondering about my future, ever since I was a child. While I was lying on my mother’s lap, I was told numerous stories about those twinkling stars in the sky. I was told, if I behaved as a good boy, I could become one, like Dhruva, some day. I do not know if I could keep that promise. Just note down, I might even be more famous than Barrack Obama. Stars are anyway so high up there that common men like me ended up loving their parallels in so many carats.

I knew my parents who knew their parents who knew their parents and that were perhaps the limit. At least for us common folks! This is all going to change, Oh! My dear champions of change, and soon we will all know who our great grandfathers were, if ‘Algordanza’ has its way. Do not confuse with Al Gore, though it certainly has an environmental connotation. I shall speak about that towards the end.

I am planning to become a Diamond. A Diamond! And believe me; its value will depend upon the carat and NOT on my value in this world. Even there, some inequality will be there, but I do not care. This is the epitome of ego I can think of (but cannot wear) and I am happy that E M Forster could not have imagined this. He could think of only ego from all possessions. This one will be transferred to up coming generations and I can sparkle as an adornment on my successor’s necks for years on without wearing and worrying, and letting them worrying about me, for a change.

I am told Algordanza is in the eastern Swiss Canton of Graubuenden, but I do not care as they are expanding and moreover they wouldn’t mind picking up my ashes as it will cost nothing compared to the 4500 to 17000 odd Swiss francs, that my successors will have to shell out to the Company. Successors will not worry as they will get something which adds value every year without any continuous outgo! Definitely maintenance costs, but a trifle I hope they might bear willingly for wearing me.

“Oh! This is just wild imagination”, did you say? No. The Company means business, if we can believe AFP. Potassium (K) and Calcium (Ca) which makes up about 85% of the ashes are first separated from Carbon. It is then subjected to high pressure and heat @1700 degrees C. The process compresses it into graphite, a carbon allotrope which is structurally a different form of carbon. More pressure and heat are applied on graphite to turn it into the hardest allotrope of carbon. It takes just eight weeks!

Well, can I have a unique one made on that precious soul; is that what you are asking? No way. You can get it documented. All this sounds interesting? Yes, by this way mankind can have numerous collections of diamonds in a few centuries! Is the technology invented now? AFP does not say anything. I do not know.

Just imagine, Poor Prince Myshkin could have avoided the embarrassment on the train to St. Petersburg, had he worn a diamond of those Late Myshkins. Oliver could have saved the trip to London had he just flashed that little lozenge around his neck. Poor Huckle, Petite……..now I am sad. You are telling me that these books and many like them, which are said to be the Gems of world literature, could not have been written as they lose face in front of diamonds, as the new documented ancestry evidence.

But we cannot resist change. Change is forever.

Environmentalists over the world, unite fast, you have nothing to lose except your bones! Diamonds are forever! So what are you waiting for? And mind me; this one is not for those who prefer that long sound sleep in cramped spaces. It rewards those who are willing to go off in ashes and smoke literally after that strenuous journey called Life.

(Indebted to The Hindu for news on July 11, 2008 and in turn AFP)

(July 2008)