"എ.കെ.ജി.മെമ്മോറിയൽ എച്ച് .എസ്.എസ് .പിണാറായി/അക്ഷരവൃക്ഷം/A TIME WHEN YOU CAN ONLY REGRET" എന്ന താളിന്റെ പതിപ്പുകൾ തമ്മിലുള്ള വ്യത്യാസം

Sophie still remembers the day when her mother gifted her a telescope for the first time. She was amazed to see through it.  She spotted the Moon, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and many more. She saw the craters on Moon, was thrilled to see the red Martian surface and dreamt of walking there one day..., but never did she ever had the slightest idea that she’ll have to live her entire life at the red cold barren surface.

There was a time when she studied other planets through a telescope, but now her fate is to study her home planet, or once a home planet earth from other planets.

Earth which was once a beautiful blue planet with grasslands, rivers, mountains, seas etc. is now a dark brown planet with poisoned rivers, seas, air...even sunlight can’t get in.

Sophie stood up and left her lab. She went into her room and laid on her bed. She was not sleepy, nor tired she was sad. She closed her eyes hoping to get some rest. But her mind was busy and restless. She remembered a discovery made by some scientists years ago. Two centuries ago, some scientists did a research and found that life would end on earth after 2.8 billion years. But life ended on earth even before that, just after two centuries. Now nothing thrives on earth. Once only scientists and astronauts went to other planets to find a possibility of life, but now only scientists and astronauts go to earth to find a possibility of life there.

Back when she was on earth, she remembered the rallies and protests held demanding an action for climate change. But like most people she never cared, until... became worse, things started becoming worse, climate change affected their lives, everything became out of control. Living on earth became more and more difficult. Pollution and was too much. Natural calamities became a common thing. Earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions, floods, cyclones, rising temperatures...pandemics started spreading everywhere, diseases thought to be extinct came back, with a new set of different ones...people started dying here and there...we felt as if the world was coming to an end. Half the population died there itself. The rest were left with no other choice, but to leave the planet. Colonies were established on Mars and Moon for tourism, but now people started living there permanently. It has been five years since the incident, but Sophie felt as if it happened yesterday.

Tears went down Sophie’s cheeks. ‘Those who died back there were lucky, at least they had the luck to die on earth’, she thought ‘my last wish would be to decay on earth soil, but it will remain as a never fulfilled one. My life is coming to an end. But the children, what about them? Their life just started and had to face such a tragedy. Some didn't even had the luck to be born on earth.’

Sophie could still hear the slogans sung by the children during the protests “why spoil our future? There is no planet B, protect the earth for your children and the coming generation”. These words echoed in her ears. Sophie sat up. She wasn't able to sleep. She wanted to cry out loud. She regretted for her mistakes. She felt guilty...she felt responsible for spoiling the children's future, for destroying the earth, for the deaths of thousands, for everything that happened.  Every human regretted like her. Sophie went to the window. She missed seeing the beautiful moon from earth. The Martian sky was empty. With a sigh again she went back to bed. She asked herself ‘can I ever go back to earth again? No, I don’t think so, I guess my time’s up.,<br>’ ‘I’m sorry everyone’ she sobbed. <br>Again a murmur was heard <br>‘The only last thing I can do is regret’, and her eyes were closed forever.