Is it really a time to celebrate?

For the deprived and down-trodden millions across the world, there is no meaning to the advent of a new year or a century or a millennium. It's the age-old struggle for survival for them. Future holds no promise. Still, some brace for tomorrow, a tomorrow that never comes, writes Rafiqul Islam

For some it began long ago, for many it will start precisely when it is supposed to start, while for the vast majority of mankind and for all of every life form on earth - what is it in anyway? For them it never had any inherent significance or meaning.

When the dial-hands of timepieces cross the 12 o'clock mark at midnight on December 31, 1999, for many it will be not merely the beginning of a new year, but also of a new century and a new millennium -- all three in one instant. A very rare occasion indeed, for a very few of us make a century of life and no-one ever makes a life of one thousand years. The actual new century and the new millennium do not begin until past midnight, December 31, 2000. Never mind, time and the machines to measure it are our creations, and we want occasions to celebrate - a year in advance is a god-sent gift for the weary ones who aren't so sure to live up to the precise moment on December 31 in the year 2000. Uncertainty of life-span makes us go by the modified theory of 'better early than never' since everyone realises that late may mean - 'never'. The lucky ones can celebrate it again in the year 2000. Why not? Celebrating an event in advance or later is neither on the negative list in the holy books nor restricted by science, and not at all bad for health (may, in fact, be beneficial).

What after all is a new year, century or a millennium? It's all related to time which is an adaptation of the humans and is measured surprisingly on entirely different math-basis - seconds and minutes on a '60' math-base, day and week on base-seven and a year on base-12 math (similar to measurement of distances i. e. inches). And, the century as well as the millennium is on the conventional decimal base. Why everything relating to time has not been built on a uniform math-base (say 7, 12, 60 or the decimal) is a different story.

Life's cycle went on unhindered even when there were no time-keeping devices and calendars. The fact that of this planet's nearly four billion years only few hundreds saw the clocks and calendars does not diminish its importance to the modern man who is somehow totally chained to its own creation - time. But, our ancestors, the Homo erectus -- who had added to the mystery and beauty of planet earth nearly 300,000 years ago - were bound to the sun in their routine chores of life. To them the appearance of the sun meant time to work and its disappearance - the nightfall - meant a period of rest, hiding into shelters against harmful adversaries (some real, some imaginary).

Time essentially serves humans. To all other life forms it isn't there. But does life, which has been defined by scientists as a "self-sustaining chemical system with inherent capability of undergoing evolution" means only this much. That would imply that time serves a chemical system confined in the body - differently built for each species. Have we, humans, with our inherent capability of adjusting through evolutionary changes created time, in base units, and linked it to our life cycles? That evolutionary process over the past millions of years has helped man to understand, to some extent, about its own self and attain great mastery over nature (though man doesn't have control over many of nature's awesome powers, forces and behaviour). But beyond these that make surviving easier we haven't yet been able to find answers to many questions like: our behaviour with other homo sapiens, our relationship with other life form, our position in the cosmos (are we alone?) and -- in the first place -- why are we here in this planet and not elsewhere?

Along with these a very pertinent question comes to the mind: what was there for serving any life form when there was nothing called time? Conversely, what happens to time (or what and whose purpose would it serve?) once all chemical-systems in various species cease to function with this planet's merger in the cosmos through total disintegration? Those, however, aren't so vital for the modern men who yearn for every conceivable occasion to celebrate.

What are the celebrations and revelry all about? Expectation! That the millennium and the century we are carving out from the future will change every thing in our lives - ending our sufferings and sorrows.

What do we demand from the future that the past didn't give us? What are our expectations and based on what? For whom will the new century be? How did the entire past differ from the first day of the 1st century and the 1st millennium, how did it differ from the last day of that century or the millennium? How did the first day of the 2nd millennium and each subsequent century differ from the previous ones? What are the differences between January 1, 1901 -- when this century began -- and December 31, 1999 (one year short and still no harm celebrating century-end)? Are we celebrating a century well spent or the eagerly awaited arrival of a new century? What were our achievements and failures in the past that we think can be taken care of in the future. From here where shall we be at the beginning of the 4th millennium?

Well, broadly, the past has seen success and failure - equally astounding, glaring and, in some cases, mind-boggling.

The single most miraculous achievement and success of man has probably been invention of vocabulary and language to communicate with each other. Invention of alphabets and numbers and the mastery of their use -- revolutionised through invention of the printing press - were all that was needed to store and disseminate information and knowledge at unimaginable speed to millions of people all over the world. The past, the present and the future of the planet are not to be lost ever. Knowledge of one generation could be preserved for generations to come.

Next came invention of stone tools. Since the human body didn't have adequate defence capability to face any threat from other animals, this single invention followed by newer and better tools of all sorts coming hot on its heels helped man overcome these deficiencies. Then came invention of fire... the wheel. From that stage on, man's conquest of the planet was unstoppable.