New New York!!!

The definition of a hero is skewed.

When I was a kid, pop culture told me that the definition of a hero was the Good Guy who defeats the Bad Guy, saves the world, gets the girl, and lives happily ever after.

Nowadays, the definition of a hero is the one who either sacrifices himself for someone else’s happy ending, dies in vain, or lets the girl go. Even in the US military, they call a fallen soldier (who died in battle) a hero.

Obviously, something is off beam.

The above pic was taken years ago when I was sauntering and window shopping on one of the busy streets of Hong Kong. I am no stranger to big cities. From Dubai to Hong Kong, I understand big city vibes. People who have seen both HK and NYC know how amazingly similar these two cities are. Hong Kong is like Manhattan, but with more Asians.

Do you know the Time-Traveller dilemma? I mean, what would you do if you could travel back in time to a specific space-time convergence for a short period?

How silly of me the other day, as I pondered over this hypothetical possibility of what if I could do the same? I mean, by definition, finding a time machine would mean you can travel back and forth in time, so it doesn’t matter when you find it. As long as you know what space-time convergence you would like to go to, all you have to do is be prepared. Like in the movie trilogy ‘Back to the Future’.

That’s exactly what I did. I hypothetically prepared myself to visit New York City on the 11th of September 2001.

Believe me, I have done one of the most intense research on 9/11 during the writing of my second book. Readers who have read my book would understand the level of research required for the epilogue.

Anybody who thinks 9/11 is just a tragedy of the United States is wrong. There is a reason it’s called the World Trade Centre, for it was indeed a mini representation of the world itself. It was the day the whole world got PTS. People from all walks of life were affected that day, from every background and country, even India.

I came across an element that suggested that if possible, a massive coolant would have cooled down the fire and heat inside the buildings of the World Trade Centre during 9/11. That could have prevented the collapse of the buildings and, in turn, bought more time to save more lives. Remember, I don’t give two s**ts about two large billionaire real estate properties going down; it’s the lives lost that matter.

I thought – Of course, a heavy downpour of rain or one of those legendary New York thunderstorms would prove a natural coolant. I thought (like a genius) that if I ever found a Time Machine, I would travel back in time a few hours before 9/11 happened, steal a cloud-seeding aeroplane or something, fly it to New York City and cloud-seed a heavy rainfall. Simple, right?

But the moment I made this hypothetical plan in my mind, and the very moment I went online to do more research, the first documentary I saw on the internet started with a sentence that left me infuriated.

“On a bright and shiny, almost perfect Tuesday morning, with perfect visibility and a CLOUDLESS sky.” – To roughly paraphrase what I heard. The word ‘cloudless’ struck me with this unsettling thought that someone else has already thought through my cloud-seeding plan. I mean, if not anything, the one thing you need for cloud-seeding is a damn cloud.

That’s when I realised that stopping an event as a time traveller is more than just a task.

I was a 16-year-old boy when 9/11 happened in 2001. People often ask this question: “Where were you during 9/11?” I must reply that I was sleeping, literally, because as a 16-year-old boy living with my parents, it was already nightfall in India when 9/11 occurred. I only saw the news about the event on 12th September.

So, if anyone my age and in my situation wanted to do anything about 9/11, the only viable option would be to go back in time.

So let’s bring a hypothetical Time Traveller hero, maybe a 16-year-old boy like me, probably who was a student in some classroom and in some school.

Let's say he somehow found a way to time-travel back to 11th September 2001, standing right before the two towers as the events unfolded, what would he do? I read from a funny Reddit user about how he would give severe diarrhea to the terrorists before the attacks, which would force them to forfeit their plans.

As funny and effective as it may seem, that’s how easy it is for a time traveller to stop an event like 9/11 from happening. That’s it, stop it, call it a day, and act like a hero. But would you?

This is where we face the Time Traveller dilemma.

There are three options for our hypothetical time-travelling hero now –

Option A –

Stop the event from happening. Feel accomplished. Come back in time to your timeline and act the hero. But something, of course, is now wrong. Although you stopped 9/11, later on, something even bigger happened, as they came back with vengeance.

Option B –

Don’t stop the event from happening. Just be at the right place at the right time and try to save as many lives as possible. Come back to your timeline and notice small details of how some people were miraculously saved.

Option C –

Don’t do anything. Come back in time to your timeline. Make fancy claims and take credit for what someone else did. Hope that your lies are not exposed.

Jesus died and was resurrected after three days. That’s one of the reasons Christians believe him to be divine. But no one knows where Jesus went for three days. No one knows from his perspective what happened.

No one can speak for Jesus but his divine self, but I personally believe that Jesus Christ touched the very end of time and eternity in those three days. He went back and forth the entire existence, fixing all the problems of eternity, from the start to the end, before making the choice of coming back. Time works differently when you are divine, I guess. Maybe time stops for Jesus Christ.

But here, in my story, this hypothetical time-travelling hero did something similar (many times), and no one even knows about it. But that’s not how heroes are made, isn’t it? Heroes don’t seek validation, recognition or religion. They just do it.

But the problem is when other people, unworthy ones, take credit for the hero’s work. Then it is no longer a case of virtue, but a case of staying silent at prejudice. I mean, it's one thing not to believe in Jesus Christ, but it’s a different thing to claim the Devil to be Jesus Christ.

That boy could be a retired ‘Men In Black’ agent who just stopped an invasion, went quietly, and smiled at earning three black suits at the age of just 16. But when those who are not even worth half a black suit flash that neuralyzer at his eyes, take credit for his works while leaving the world in a hot garbage of mess, a beckoning arises.

Remember the three choices I mentioned above. What if this boy pulled down his Spider-Man mask, unrolled his Superman cape and wore his Iron Man armour before going for Option B. Maybe he stormed inside one of the burning towers on 9/11 and decided to save as many lives as possible, like a firefighter. He may not stop 9/11 from happening, but that does not mean he can’t save lives.

In my opinion, the firefighters are the true heroes of 9/11. Based on my research, everyone (except the victims) had a choice to run away from the buildings on that tragic day. Some made the brave move not to go. They stayed and helped others; regardless, they did have a choice. But firefighters are the only people who saw death before them and walked right into it without question asked.

 Plot twist – The Time Traveller boy didn’t travel back in time physically; no one can. He went back spiritually. But that would also mean that he would need a physical human to do his task, maybe someone within the buildings, someone who is a close match for his own self. Like in the movie ‘Source Code’ (2011).

Ever heard of things like – “I don’t know what happened, suddenly some divine force came onto me and I saved that cat from the tree,” or something like that. That is exactly how the onlookers would have seen this time-travelling boy as a man, probably wearing an ordinary mask on his face, but doing extraordinary feats.

Maybe he saved many lives, but could never save that very person he was, as time did run out.

What if Spider-Man from ‘The Amazing Spider-Man 2’ didn’t let Gwen die in that tower? Maybe he saved her, but died himself there. But it doesn’t matter, because that was not his timeline anyway, for he later came back to his 16-year-old self, went to college, and still got punishment for not doing his homework the previous night, lol. I mean, who would understand? This is resurrection on a whole new time-travelling level.

Usually this is called – being God, but since we live in a world where everything God and Godlike is frowned upon and ridiculed, and where every aspect of reality seeks a scientific explanation, I would stick to the Time Traveller boy hero theory.

But truth has its way of seeping, no matter how much it is suppressed. It may not be a coincidence that almost all the popular culture, from Hollywood superhero movies to even Indian movies like ‘Robot’, there is this irrefutable theme of how a hero storms into a burning tower, a building, or a high-rise and saves people. Maybe if this time-travelling boy is real, then reality itself bends as it refuses to keep quiet. It may not be a coincidence.

I am not saying those movies are perfect; I am just focusing on the theme or a scene that can’t resist the truth of a hero storming into a building and saving people. Like in the movie ‘Transformers 3’ (2011).

But, years later, this boy would return to New York as a man. Many people go to New York and think they have made a mark. Imagine making a mark in the city on a time-travelling, resurrecting level at the age of 16. Seeing the city that he once time-travelled to in a divine journey, what do you think he would say?

That was the inspiration for my song New New York.

But of course, things will be strange for him. Imagine going to the 9/11 memorial and searching for the name that you once were. Imagine meeting the family of this person and telling them that you were their son, brother or friend that day. Imagine explaining to people when they ask, “You saved so many, why didn’t you save yourself?”

Maybe there is a whole new alternate reality out there where 9/11 didn’t happen at all. I am not talking about stopping the event from happening; I am talking about a world where 9/11 was pointless – As in no pissed off terrorists or no governments bombing other countries. Maybe that reality exists somewhere too; maybe a place where the twin towers are still beaming.