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MUMBAI: For a generation of readers, science fiction fans, scientists and authors, Arthur Charles Clarke's death marks the end of an era. He was one of the most prolific science fiction writers who dared to look into the future and create worlds where anything was possible. The sense of wonder that his stories convey never fails to delight a reader. "He was a hard SF writer, obsessed with technology, but his work also displayed a childlike naiveté. He never stooped to bad science, but he never stopped believing in magic," says fantasy writer Samit Basu.
Basu adds, "I've always loved a sense of scale in fiction, a grandness, a strangeness, an ocean of possibilities. That's what I remember most keenly about Clarke; perhaps that has shaped my work, too.
Clarke died on Wednesday in Colombo at age 90; he was one of the few science fiction writers who lived to see his predictions become a reality. "As a teenager I remember reading about his super computers and space shuttles, and now I'm living in that world" says businessman Rahul Mehra. For Mehra, it was Clarke and Isaac Asimov who nurtured his imagination. "I hope I live to see humanoids in our world," he jokes.
Even the new generation of readers, who are more attuned to JK Rowling's Hogwarts and Terry Pratchett's Discworld, turn to Clark. His books evoke that feeling of awe and wonder. For instance, it's easy for people to identify with Childhood's End -- the complex SF story that not only gives us a different view of aliens, but portrays a human society living in a miasma of malice and discontent.
Clarke's Overlords -- the benevolent aliens -- came not to erase humanity, but to guide them and solve their problems. But in doing so, they forbade man from venturing into space.
His insight into human nature was in many ways quite accurate. Says 24-year-old psychologist, Shonali Kundu: "What made him different from other fiction writers is his ability to project the future in way that was very much possible."
Pune-based writer and poet Priya Sarukkai Chabbria, concurs. "Even though he was a mathematician and physicist, he still had the imagination of the creative writer and created very plausible worlds -- worlds that have come true."
His books will have the power to fuel the imagination of the next generation.
