The rain fell relentlessly on the outskirts of Bengaluru.
Lightning cracked the sky, and a layer of water shimmered across the highway like a mirror reflecting the fading lights of a restless world.
Inside a black SUV, Karthik leaned back in the rear seat, quietly watching the storm through the window. He wasn't speaking. He wasn't checking his phone. The silence in the car wasn't awkward — it was contemplative.
He was 53.
He was the founder and CEO of CodeCraft Systems, a global IT services and consulting firm valued at over $100 million. A company built with vision, sacrifice, and clarity. He had thousands of employees across India, Singapore, the US, and the Middle East. His life was full of headlines and strategy meetings.
But tonight, there was a strange stillness in him.
Success no longer excited him the way it used to.
The World in 2035
The world in 2035 was not what he had once dreamed it would be.
The United States remained powerful, but fractured — politically divided and distracted. China had grown far more aggressive, tightening its grip on international finance, data infrastructure, and manufacturing. Its digital surveillance model had spread to several authoritarian states.
Russia had extended its influence in Central Asia and parts of Africa, using hybrid warfare and soft influence.
The Middle East had reshuffled its power centers. Climate migration and water security had created instability across continents. African nations were finally rising economically, but they were heavily indebted to outside influences.
India was stronger in numbers — now the world's most populous country, and among the top three economies — but still not truly respected as a strategic force.
It had military strength, talent, and digital capability.
But no unified vision.
India: A Giant with Uneven Feet
By 2035, India is expected to have smart cities and advanced startups. It led in affordable healthcare innovation, drone logistics, and electric vehicle assembly. The middle class had expanded. Metro trains crisscrossed the nation.
But structurally, the country still struggled with:
Education systems full of outdated textbooks and exam-centric teaching
A bloated bureaucracy with minimal accountability
Regional divisions deepened by cultural neglect
Infrastructure gaps between rural and urban
Political parties are more focused on control than governance
And Tamil Nadu?
It had economic growth — but it had lost something deeper.
The Decline of a Civilization's Pride
Karthik, born and raised in Tamil Nadu, carried the weight of its 2,000-year-old legacy on his shoulders.
He had seen, in his lifetime, how Tamil civilization — once celebrated for its literature, architecture, maritime trade, and philosophical contributions — had slowly become a footnote in modern India's story.
Tamil was still spoken.
But was it understood?
Its ancient values of justice, equality, and knowledge had been buried under rote learning and fragmented politics.
In 2035, even educated families in Chennai were beginning to treat Tamil as "just another subject," preferring international schools, foreign degrees, and western cultural markers.
The global image of Tamil Nadu was either filtered through cinema or ignored completely.
Karthik had tried to preserve that identity — supporting libraries, restoring temples, and promoting local research — but it never reached beyond the walls of philanthropy.
The Dream That Died Before It Lived
He had always wanted to reform how India educated its people, how states like Tamil Nadu trained leaders, and how public systems could become self-sustaining.
He never wanted to build new schools.
He wanted to transform the ones that already existed.
He wanted to modernize curriculum, train better teachers, use technology without letting it destroy cultural memory, and create learning models rooted in both global relevance and native wisdom.
But bureaucracy, short-term politics, and power games blocked every effort.
He had the money. He had the model.
But not the time.
Until now.
As the car cruised along the wet highway, his phone lit up with a calendar reminder:
"Rural Education Reform Strategy Session – Monday, 9:00 AM"
He opened a new note.
"If the system can't be reformed from the top…
We must create pressure from the ground.
Tamil Nadu must become a global thought leader again — in tech, education, and dignity.
India must stop being just a service provider and become a decision-maker in geopolitics.
Change institutions.
Create systems.
Don't just build.
Reform."
Before he could finish typing, there was a blinding light.
The horn of a truck.
Screeching tires.
Steel crashing against steel.
Everything ended in silence.
Waking to a Second Life
He opened his eyes.
The spinning fan above him made a low rattling sound, like a soft reminder that time had bent itself.
He sat up.
His body felt light.
He ran to the mirror in the corner of the room and gasped.
The reflection was young.
Too young.
He touched his face — no wrinkles, no white hair.
Just the 18-year-old version of himself staring back.
He looked around the room. The furniture, the calendar, the transistor radio playing a film song in the next room…
July 2, 1990.
He was back.
Alive again.
Not as a punishment. Not as a miracle.
But as a second chance.
The People He Had Lost
The voice that came from the kitchen made his knees weak.
"Karthik! Your coffee is getting cold!"
He ran toward it.
His mother, Priya, stood by the stove, her hands full of work and love. She looked like the woman he hadn't seen in decades — young, energetic, sharp.
She turned to him, confused.
"What's wrong with you? Why are you looking like you forgot your name?"
Karthik's eyes filled with tears.
He whispered, "I just missed your voice."
"What?"
"Nothing. Just… happy."
She handed him his coffee. "You better be. It's your first day of college."
Then came Kavitha — his sister, just 22, full of promise.
She looked just like she used to, before the office politics and life's weight wore her down.
"You're not even dressed yet?" she teased. "Are you planning to skip college on Day One?"
He stared at her, grateful.
"I'm going. I promise."
She handed him a notebook. "Then go fix the world. But start by fixing your hair."
He laughed softly.
This time, he would protect her too.
A New Beginning with an Old Purpose
He stepped out into the morning light.
The world was simpler. Slower. The internet hadn't arrived. The liberalization policy was still a year away. The stock market was just a rumor to most middle-class families.
But Karthik?
He remembered what was coming.
He remembered every opportunity — and every mistake.
This time, he wouldn't build a school.
He would reform the way schools taught.
He would change how institutions functioned.
He would make Tamil Nadu a place where the world looked for solutions — not just workers.
And he would push India not just toward economic growth…
…but toward global strategic leadership.