I now feel more insignificant than ever. There are 6,999,999,999 more humans like me in this world. More, seeing that it's been a week since the world population reached the seven billion mark. Thousands of squalling infants arriving every day screaming their lungs out, and we rejoice and raise toasts to them. The landmark moment's cropped up in a few conversations at school, and everyone talks about it almost reverently, as if we have achieved new heights as a race.
Seven billion is certainly an impressive figure, and we're suitably impressed. Abdul, who's handy with a calculator, proposed the interesting thought that if you began counting out loud "one watermelon, two watermelon, three watermelon" all the way to seven billion watermelons, taking one second to say each number, well, you couldn't. You'd be dead long before. If your children and grandchildren carried on this very worthwhile legacy, without going to sleep or taking bathroom breaks, they might make it, if they learnt to count from the moment they were born. That is about 220 years of counting. That is, in short, a lot of babies.
However, it isn't the number we're celebrating. Seven billion is a milestone, a mark of humans having well and truly taken over the earth, reigning supreme over all the organisms whose habitats we've destroyed. What seven billion means, though, isn't our supremacy over everything else, but a load of scary implications: a serious strain on our resources. No food, and consequently starvation. Outbreaks of disease as medicine supplies run short. Increasing crime rates. Tougher competition for university places and jobs as this cohort of teenagers makes way for the next. Probably a couple of epidemics that'll wipe out a good proportion of us in nature's millennial spring cleaning, or an asteroid or something that'll send us packing the same way as the dinosaurs. It's going to be one cheery future for little Danica May Camacho, or Nargis Kumar, or Bobby Hastwell, or whoever they're claiming the seven billionth kid is.
To be honest, let alone managing our resources, we humans aren't even that great at expanding our population compared with other biological juggernauts. The seemingly humble bacterium can claim five million trillion trillion individuals to its name - that's five followed by 30 zeroes. While the population grows, there is another equally pressing demographic concern. A preference for the boy child is all too prevalent in developing nations. While gender equality is taken for granted in most developed countries, it's disturbing that in the corporate world, more than nine in 10 chief executives are male. Female foeticide goes unchecked in parts of India and China, which boast the highest populations in the world. Illegal embryo screening makes this all too easy, and the sex ratio is getting more skewed than ever. My mum grew up in an environment where having just one child was seen as the way forward, as the government fought to decrease the fertility rate. While I therefore ended up with no annoying siblings, deep-seated prejudices are hard to uproot.
Relatives and friends of my parents in India - even qualified doctors, lawyers and accountants - have demanded to our faces if we're sure we don't want a "little brother for Lavanya", clucking disapprovingly. I was treated to an incredulous pause from the snip-snip-snip of the scissors at the salon where I get my hair cut when I shook my head to my Indian hairdresser's "do you have any brothers"? Funny, none of them ever asked me whether I have any sisters or not. While it sounds too fantastic to be true in the 21st century, a friend - a girl - has four sisters: her parents conceived again and again in the hope of getting the long-awaited boy, in a bizarre buying of multiple lottery tickets in the hope of the jackpot.
Discrimination isn't as common as it used to be, but it's still present. A century ago, it was the men who would support the ageing parents, which apparently justified their need for a male heir. Now, however, more women are standing up on their own two feet financially. The majority of parents who commit female foeticide are well off, seeing as they can cough up enough dosh for embryo screening. So why, stands the question, in this incredibly informed and enlightened age, are innocent little girls being brutally murdered for that unpardonable crime of being little girls? Give it a few years and there won't be enough women for all the men looking to marry, a problem already manifesting itself in China. At least that'll fix the population problem.
The writer is a 16-year-old student in Dubai
World Cup warm-up fixtures
Friday, May 24:
- Pakistan v Afghanistan (Bristol)
- Sri Lanka v South Africa (Cardiff)
Saturday, May 25
- England v Australia (Southampton)
- India v New Zealand (The Oval, London)
Sunday, May 26
- South Africa v West Indies (Bristol)
- Pakistan v Bangladesh (Cardiff)
Monday, May 27
- Australia v Sri Lanka (Southampton)
- England v Afghanistan (The Oval, London)
Tuesday, May 28
- West Indies v New Zealand (Bristol)
- Bangladesh v India (Cardiff)
BEETLEJUICE BEETLEJUICE
Starring: Winona Ryder, Michael Keaton, Jenny Ortega
Director: Tim Burton
Rating: 3/5
How to wear a kandura
Dos
- Wear the right fabric for the right season and occasion
- Always ask for the dress code if you don’t know
- Wear a white kandura, white ghutra / shemagh (headwear) and black shoes for work
- Wear 100 per cent cotton under the kandura as most fabrics are polyester
Don’ts
- Wear hamdania for work, always wear a ghutra and agal
- Buy a kandura only based on how it feels; ask questions about the fabric and understand what you are buying
COMPANY PROFILE
Founders: Alhaan Ahmed, Alyina Ahmed and Maximo Tettamanzi
Total funding: Self funded
A meeting of young minds
The 3,494 entries for the 2019 Sharjah Children Biennial come from:
435 – UAE
2,000 – China
808 – United Kingdom
165 – Argentina
38 – Lebanon
16 – Saudi Arabia
16 – Bangladesh
6 – Ireland
3 – Egypt
3 – France
2 – Sudan
1 – Kuwait
1 – Australia
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The Buckingham Murders
Starring: Kareena Kapoor Khan, Ash Tandon, Prabhleen Sandhu
Director: Hansal Mehta
Rating: 4 / 5
The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4-cylinder turbo hybrid
Transmission: eight-speed automatic
Power: 390bhp
Torque: 400Nm
Price: Dh340,000 ($92,579
TO ALL THE BOYS: ALWAYS AND FOREVER
Directed by: Michael Fimognari
Starring: Lana Condor and Noah Centineo
Two stars
The Penguin
Starring: Colin Farrell, Cristin Milioti, Rhenzy Feliz
Creator: Lauren LeFranc
Rating: 4/5
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Xpanceo
Started: 2018
Founders: Roman Axelrod, Valentyn Volkov
Based: Dubai, UAE
Industry: Smart contact lenses, augmented/virtual reality
Funding: $40 million
Investor: Opportunity Venture (Asia)
if you go
The flights
The closest international airport to the TMB trail is Geneva (just over an hour’s drive from the French ski town of Chamonix where most people start and end the walk). Direct flights from the UAE to Geneva are available with Etihad and Emirates from about Dh2,790 including taxes.
The trek
The Tour du Mont Blanc takes about 10 to 14 days to complete if walked in its entirety, but by using the services of a tour operator such as Raw Travel, a shorter “highlights” version allows you to complete the best of the route in a week, from Dh6,750 per person. The trails are blocked by snow from about late October to early May. Most people walk in July and August, but be warned that trails are often uncomfortably busy at this time and it can be very hot. The prime months are June and September.
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Israel Palestine on Swedish TV 1958-1989
Director: Goran Hugo Olsson
Rating: 5/5
ROUTE%20TO%20TITLE
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The Perfect Couple
Starring: Nicole Kidman, Liev Schreiber, Jack Reynor
Creator: Jenna Lamia
Rating: 3/5
Leading all-time NBA scorers
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar 38,387
Karl Malone 36,928
Kobe Bryant 33,643
Michael Jordan 32,292
LeBron James 31,425
Wilt Chamberlain 31,419
JAPANESE GRAND PRIX INFO
Schedule (All times UAE)
First practice: Friday, 5-6.30am
Second practice: Friday, 9-10.30am
Third practice: Saturday, 7-8am
Qualifying: Saturday, 10-11am
Race: Sunday, 9am-midday
Race venue: Suzuka International Racing Course
Circuit Length: 5.807km
Number of Laps: 53
Watch live: beIN Sports HD
GOLF’S RAHMBO
- 5 wins in 22 months as pro
- Three wins in past 10 starts
- 45 pro starts worldwide: 5 wins, 17 top 5s
- Ranked 551th in world on debut, now No 4 (was No 2 earlier this year)
- 5th player in last 30 years to win 3 European Tour and 2 PGA Tour titles before age 24 (Woods, Garcia, McIlroy, Spieth)
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Killing of Qassem Suleimani