| Blackouts sweep across India as power plants shudder to a
halt. Banks descend into chaos as transactions break down. Defibrillators and critical
equipment in hospitals begin to malfunction. Defence surveillance and communications
systems go awry. This doomsday scenario is not complete fantasy. Very simply, when the new
millennium dawns on January 1, 2000, computers will recognise it as 1900. It is the result
of an ancient and seemingly insignificant computer error. If unchecked, the year 2000
(Y2K) bug will trigger an anarchy that the western world now waits for with deep
trepidation. What does this have to do with
India? Until recently, everyone believed, very little. The entire country took refuge in
the fact that since India began computerisation late, there would be minimal damage. But
computers have invaded our lives more than we realise: from the personal computers on our
desks to tiny silicon chips running gigantic power plants, oil refineries, banks, missile
systems and phone exchanges.
Y2K can affect every business, and even at India Today we
have had to take care. Like ensuring our subscription lists do not fall into disarray next
year. Yet most of India has been slow to react. And as Assistant
Editor Samar Halarnkar writes, though the Government is leading a frantic race to fix the
problem, time is running out. "India is so tremendously late off the blocks that
money does not seem to be an issue," says Halarnkar who estimates that Rs 2,000
crore, at least, is being freely spent to fix the bug.
Illustrating the story was a challenge and we turned to our
inhouse computer whiz, Illustrator Nilanjan Das. He specialises in using the computer like
a palette, mixing photographs and pixels to create surreal digital canvases. For example,
the lead image of the cover story is actually a merging of 11 photographs.
More power to his computer. May it never be bitten by the
bug.
(Aroon Purie) |
