Richard Branson sent his first commercial rocket to space in July this year. His philosophy is: “If people aren’t calling you crazy, you aren’t thinking big enough.” It’s certainly a crazy idea when the world is reeling from a pandemic and economic difficulties.

However, the big idea was not the rocket ‘Unity’ hurtling into space, but the first person who imagined space travel. While many early civilisations speculated on what lies beyond the stars, modern space developments were inspired by a French fiction writer Jules Verne, who wrote From the Earth to the Moon in 1865 and Around the Moon in 1869.

Jules Verne, who wrote over 100 novels, was no stranger to huge ideas many would consider foolish, but which inspired engineers, inventors and technicians. Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea, suggested a prototype for submarines. Around the World in Eighty Days inspired adventure travelers and the Siberian Express train. Journey to the Center of the Earth has yet to become a reality. Robur the Conqueror features a helicopter, The Carpathian Castle describes holograms. He was a visionary in the true sense of the word.

When Jalaluddin Rumi urges us to “Start a huge foolish project” he gives the example of Noah’s Ark. One has to wonder at the strong convictions of the prophets when they began their missions. How did Prophet Moses convince the Israelites to leave Egypt? How did the Prophet Jesus inspire his small group of disciples to carry on his message after he was gone? Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) envisioned the spread of Islam when he set off on the Hijrah with a handful of people. Buddha’s first five

disciples left him in disappointment when he abandoned starvation for a more moderate meditation, yet he was undeterred.

In the 9th century, 65-year-old Ibn Firnas jumped off a cliff from Yemen’s Jabal Al-Arus mountain and glided in the air, staying in flight for minutes, not knowing that, centuries later, air travel would be commonplace.

Like Jules Verne, Nikolai Tesla had an unbounded imagination. He was the discoverer and inventor of alternating current electricity, the radio, wireless energy, remote-controlled boats and a dizzying array of inventions facing ridicule and lack of funding, yet his inventions are widely used today. His aim was to ensure free electricity and easy communication for the world and he devised many proposals to end all wars.

In 1920 Mahatma Gandhi developed a new form of protest — the non-cooperation movement, instead of the usual armed rebellion. The idea inspired the Anti-War Movement of the 1960s that ended the Vietnam war, and every peaceful citizens’ protest since.

Tarana Burke came up with the phrase ‘Me Too’ in 2006 for women to share their experiences, which grew into a global movement a decade later. The invention of anaesthesia, penicillin, vaccinations, stem-cell therapy, organ transplants, the printing press, the worldwide web are all testimony to the power of the fearless visionary.

An Irish pop singer, Bob Geldof, raised 150 million pounds for Ethiopian famine relief by organising a rock concert, Live Aid, in 1985. The neurologist Dr Ludwig Guttmann, came up with the idea of Para-Olympics in 1928, today the second biggest sporting event in the world. Britain’s Open University introduced distance learning in 1969, an indispensable teaching system today. The hand-held mobile developed in the 70s is today used by 85 percent of the world population and has revolutionised access in the poorest countries.

Even very ordinary individuals can make history. Captain Tom Moore, at the age of 99, announced he would walk 100 lengths with his walker to raise funds for the UK’s National Health Service charities during the Covid-19 epidemic. By his 100th birthday he had raised £39 million instead of the £1000 he hoped for.

As Allama Iqbal writes: Jab Ishq sikhata hai aadab-i-khudmukhtari/ Khultay hain ghulamon par asrar-i-shehenshahi [When passion teaches the way to self-reliance/ The slave is free to become a king].

Durriya Kazi is a Karachi-based artist. She may be reached at durriyakazi1918@gmail.com

Published in Dawn, EOS, August 8th, 2021