Once upon a time in my future … I live in peace, with all the facilities I can need surrounding me. I am in no fear of being destroyed by an attack, I am in no fear of being ill-treated by injustice, I am in no fear of being robbed by cruel men. I am relaxed!

Once upon a time in my future, I see happiness and joy as my companions! I have forgotten the word ‘depression’.

My present is completely different from the past. The world has progressed and humanity is restored. The oppressions on innocent Kashmiris, on innocent Palestinians and on all other innocent inhabitants of the world, have come to a halt, a permanent halt!

All the countries, literally all the 215 countries in the world, have joined a peace agreement and nuclear weapons have ended. There is no more fighting and, in fact, the military expertise of whole world is on the decline -- there is no need of military power!

There are no more millions of dollars wasted on being armed, since all countries live in complete tranquillity! The Asians back the Europeans, the Africans back the Arabs, the Americans back the whole world; people live with unity, peace and harmony; no one is an enemy.

The justice system is fully developed and fair. There is no injustice and favouritism carried out in any part of the world. All the citizens of this planet get their rights and share. They all are satisfied!

Once upon a time in the future, I realise my present is completely different from my past! When I go out of my home, or when I get in my home, I have no fear of being looted. Robbers and thieves are extinct!

Once upon a time in the future, I would write my daily diary as following:

“Today is Saturday; 26th December, 2076. I woke up at 6:00am. I ate breakfast, which my robot made for me. Then I went to the park, where I had a walk there with four friends — an American, an African, an Arab and an Asian. I returned after two hours, but left again for some office work in my Google Car. I left behind my robot to prepare dinner for me.

“After finishing the work at the office, I again sat in the Google Car and travelled to the neighbouring countries, just for some leisure. In the evening, my Google Car brought me back to my house and I ate dinner.

“While on my electronic bed at night, my brain whispered ‘Hey Qasim! You need to sleep now,’ and the lights went off and I fell asleep.”

Published in Dawn, Young World, December 4th, 2021