Journey

Kria was late today. She had to attend the meeting for innovative approach on recycling of electronic waste this morning at eight. Her workday usually started early and ended by three in the afternoon. Post that she socialized with her friends and spent time on nearby beach or walked in the woods around.

It was six in the morning. She will have to rush through her routine. She said her morning payers in her bed. She walked to her bathroom built with ultra-modern amenities based on the principles of bio-mimicry. Bio-mimicry was an inseparable part of her personality now. Her scientific career advancements had led her to believe it is possible to have a balanced approach to become progressive while being humble to nature and humanity.

She plucked the neem stick from her balcony garden and brushed her teeth. Her bathroom was open to her bedroom. She took her bath in the flowing stream that came from recycled water. Her shower was a continuous flow of water and depicted the outside natural world. She seldom needed to use any factory made soap or shampoo now as she had found a way to cleanse with plant products that she grew in her balcony. The fishes in her shower pond would help clean the used water too. The bubbling sound of water soothed her senses at all times.

She lived in a compact apartment in the main metropolis. She lived with a self-reliant like minded community of people believing in nature’s healing powers. Their community was solar energy dependent since a decade now. She had once thought of retiring from her work completely and move to a small town for peace and tranquility, away from city.

In the past, she was grappling to balance her family life with her young child. Her research had taken a back seat. She had tried applying for jobs but the time expectations from the companies were challenging for her. In addition, the work commuting took more than 3 hours every day. She viewed travelling a load on natural resources. She did not consider such travelling a good use a time either. She rather spend such time with her loved ones and nurturing her son instead. Therefore, doing a job was never practical for her anyway. She could only do some reading and research work in her spare time. Her mind was her only lab. She had many ideas for a bright future but they could not be proved then. The world viewed her passion as a hobby. She had lost some confidence in herself in that phase of her life.

Her life was moving predictably and they were a very socially active outgoing family. Suddenly the crisis hit the world. She lost her husband during the pandemic leaving a son of ten year old with her. The loss of her husband had disturbed her life completely. Like others, they were home quarantined for more than 75 days during the pandemic. They took all precautions but nothing could save her husband. She and her son could not even see her dead husband. This was a very traumatic life incident. Many things changed after the pandemic not just for Kria but in the world as well.

Later she gathered herself up and raised her son single-handed. He grew up fast. She had never imagined that she would be able to witness such huge change in her lifetime after the pandemic. The world became a research ground. She took a research route of nature mimicking aggressively after her son moved to another city and later settled in there. She was comfortable with this arrangement since he was happy and she was now free to make her own choices. Also with advanced technology, it never felt they were too far.

She had moved to a small apartment. Instead of running away from the hustle of the city, she decided to find ways to bring nature to her home. Her innovations were easily replicable so she reached to glory in her own mind. Although it was not an easy journey for her, she made it through and thoroughly enjoyed the process. She was proud of her achievements. She was also grateful that she could live this life.

Silently she wished many times her husband was still around to experience this life. They had shared a very respectful and loving relationship in the time they were together. Kria did not spend a single day without remembering him. He had stayed supportive for Kria’s career and believed in her even in her nurturing days. He strongly held the opinion that once her nurturing years pass she will evolve to be a successful scientist. He was right but unfortunately, he was not around to see his words come to life.

By about 7 AM she finished her meditation. Her kitchen was close to her balcony so herbs were handy. Her balcony was also her sitting room and dining room. She fixed a sandwich with some lettuce tomatoes and basil leaves between two slices of bread she had made at home yesterday evening.

She received a call from her granddaughter Schway who was almost 12. She had called to give Kria a good news that she had graduated her first master’s program. Schway was home schooled like most of the kids in these times. Kria had received her master’s degree in her late 20’s. At that time, she never thought that the human brain would evolve so fast or that the world around her would change this far in such a short time. She hung up quickly it was almost 7.50 AM.

The flexible study table in the corner of her bedroom was her office and her home had grown to be her research lab. At 71 years, she was not only healthy and self-reliant but also employed. She switched on her projector phone. She smiled to herself when she looked at the device. Her journey from using a dial up wired phone in the neighbor's house to this mood recognition advanced model phone was an exciting one.

She received a call at 8AM sharp. “Good morning Dr. Kria are you ready for the conference?” Kria replied with pride and responsibility in her eyes, indeed she was.