[shahidulnews] Venturing Into The Impossible

[Shahidul Alam]

Full article at: http://shahidul.wordpress.com/2008/03/19/

" Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."

Sir Arthur C Clarke

"Oh you are going to take pictures? Let me put on my sincere smile.  
Don't manage it all the time." He chuckled, as he stroked his belly.  
I should have been awed by a man who had propagated the idea of the  
geostationary satellite. Arthur C Clarke (http://en.wikipedia.org/ 
wiki/Arthur_C._Clarke) was the author of one of the most significant  
books on science fiction, and has inspired the names of lost  
dinosaurs and spacecraft. I had not been sure what to expect. But he  
quickly put me at ease. "I'll protect you from Pepsi." He said,  
stroking the Chihuahua that curled up on his lap. "He fought a hound."

I turned up at the designated time of 9:00 am at 25 Barnes Place in  
Colombo 7. I remember peering curiosly at the satellite dish through  
the bushes. Not too many people had a VSAT in their back garden in  
those days. Fittingly, it was the year 2001. I was in Colombo  
conducting a workshop for World Press Photo. I had also hoped to  
photograph Chandrika for my story "Women Leaders of South Asia". It  
was going to be a busy trip. These are the times when you mobilise  
your friends into action. My friend Nalaka Gunawardene had arranged  
the appointment with Clarke. Chulie de Silva had finally pegged down  
an appointment with Chandrika. Sir Clarke was skeptical about my  
prospects for photographing the president. "Do you think she'll see  
you at 4:30? He said and then went into this funny tale of how  
Chandrika was always late, and always charming, going into great  
detail on the vegetarian meal the former president had served that  
day. The Science Fiction visionary was also good at short term  
predictions. Soon before the appointment, Chandrika's secretary  
called to express her regrets.

Here was a man who had consistently come up with some of the most  
innovative ideas in modern telecommunications. The technologies he  
foretold have become integral parts of modern living. His stories  
have inspired entire generations. In 2001: A Space Odyssey as the  
supercomputer HAL is being switched off, with his logic completely  
gone, HAL begins singing the song Daisy Bell. One might see this as  
speech synthesis, but Clarke saw it as that twilight zone between  
humans and machine, as the human face of artificial intelligence.  
Nalaka and I were scared of losing the author's insight. Despite  
having written over 100 books, and published over 1000 articles, the  
anecdotes, the wit, enormous wealth of knowledge, the joy of life of  
this remarkable man would disappear with him. This was the man who  
had believed, "The only way of discovering the limits of the possible  
is to venture a little way past them into the impossible." Despite  
his youthfulness, he was getting old, and both of us knew the clock  
was ticking. He had wanted me to scan the photographs. We wanted to  
peer into his mind, for the stories behind the images.

Last year, while I was in Sri Lanka for another assignment, Nalaka  
arranged for another photo shoot. A slightly more official one. Pepsi  
had died. At ninety Clarke could no longer play table tennis. But his  
mind was as sharp as ever. That was the last photo shoot that Sir  
Arthur was to feature in.

I had asked him for two autographs. One for my friend Maarten of  
World Press Photo and one for my mother. My regret was not that I  
didn't have one for myself, but that like so many unfinished  
projects, the stories behind those photographs he had wanted me to  
scan, will never now be told.

But the world will remember his magic.

Shahidul Alam
http://shahidul.wordpress.com

ps: In my last posting on Pilger's Guardian piece on Moudud, I had  
forgotten to provide the URL: http://shahidul.wordpress.com/2008/03/18/




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