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)