With hard work and untiring efforts, I had managed to make a time machine (which worked really well). I was so excited to travel to the future as I had always seen flying cars, hygienic atmosphere, more disciplined people and a lot of fascinating stuff in the sci-fi movies that depicts the future. So after making the time machine, all I could think of was to go in the future and see what it really was like.

My time machine was a secret and I kept it hidden from everyone. It was in our basement where my parents kept old and useless stuff so they didn’t go there until they needed anything. And today was the day to test my time machine. Excitedly, I settled in the seat and held my breath as I started it. It hardly took 10 seconds to reach the future!

When the hatch opened, I was shocked to see the state of the world where I landed … instead of the glorious scene I had envisioned, I witnessed a deplorable one which made me really sad.

The first shock was that everyone was wearing oxygen masks and looked miserable. At first, I thought they had breathing problem but when I stepped out of my time machine I couldn’t breathe! I had to return to my time machine to get the necessary supplies and, thankfully, my time machine was equipped with everything and so I wore a mask too. I stepped out again and realised that there was hardly any greenery, no trees or green fields. With no sight of plants, there was hardly any oxygen too.

The world in the future was far worse than anyone’s worst nightmare. I saw my homeland had turned into a complete dungeon. Even England, America, Germany and France were mostly dilapidated. Antarctica and Arctic, once the coldest places on Earth, had temperatures as high as 50 degree Celsius!

It was a scene I would never ever want to see again in my life. It was not our planet Earth anymore. It was like living on some other planet with barren dunes everywhere, smoke rising and rubble all around

I travelled from one country to another, but all I saw was destruction. Many countries were completely destroyed, some as a result of wars while others due to flood or drought. Therefore, the atmosphere was all misty because of the dust that rose from the ground after the blasts and earthquakes.

And during the visits to different places, I didn’t see any bird, animal or even insect. Of course, how could they survive if there was no oxygen, after all they couldn’t wear oxygen masks.

I also noticed that people from different countries had started invading other places to get their hands on whatever was left in terms of food, shelter or clothing.

It was a scene I would never ever want to see again in my life. It was not our planet Earth anymore. It was like living on some other planet with barren dunes everywhere, smoke rising and rubble all around.

It took me not more than an hour to see all these places of the future and it almost gave me a heart attack. I decided to get back in my present world — the still blue and green globe with birds, animals and insects. And beautiful buildings, lovely trees and people busy in their routine chores.

Oh, how blessed I felt when I saw that the world was yet not destroyed and I didn’t have to wear an oxygen mask too! However, the time is not far when people will start destroying peace and harmony, the greenery and life on this lovely planet Earth if they keep on with their careless attitude towards it.

Remember friends, this was just a glimpse of our dark future but if we try to save our planet now instead of wasting its valuable resources, we can have a bright future.

Published in Dawn, Business & Finance weekly, October 1st, 2016