A pregnant pause

Finally, there's a chance India may be good at something. Given the country's propensity to add to the world's population, it appears the...

Finally, there8217;s a chance India may be good at something. Given the country8217;s propensity to add to the world8217;s population, it appears there will be no dearth of babies born at the stroke of the midnight hour when the world sleeps on January 1, 2000.

And to think halfway across the globe in the US, couples are paying 49.99 for a millennium conception kit and hotels from Norway to New Zealand are offering discounted rooms to couples who want a shot at stardom for their offspring. But in the age of Viagra and flexible definitions of the sexual act, is it surprising that nothing, not even the most private moment between two couples except when the talk focuses on the mother-in-law, is sacrosanct? If presidents can go on TV and answer questions from jurors about unfortunately-placed cigars and women can give birth on the Internet, there is perhaps little wrong in couples making a bid to enter the exclusive club that the first day of the millennium offers.

Forget all squeamishness about living in anengineered society. Give up all outdated notions of celebrating spontaneity. Rethink all beliefs in the marvellous enigma of birth. Dolly the Sheep has come to stay and everyone has joined the herd.

Perhaps it can be forgiven. Not everyday does a Canadian company offer a 2 million prize for the first child of the millennium or a Texan radio station provide a full college scholarship to Baby 2000. The public has become such an intrinsic part of private life that nothing, not even the bedroom, is safe from its reach.

There is also something to be said about the commonality of human experiences that such personal moments can no longer be considered individual and distinct. Imagine the queue of bawling babies born at around the same time, defined by their moment of birth and pre-selected to be part of a sub-group they had no claim on. But then perhaps it is no less than absurd than the hordes of people who will gather at New York8217;s Times Square on December 31, 1999, and dance their way into the new century,even as Internet chat rooms are abuzz with debates on whether the era doesn8217;t begin with January 1, 2001. And the 250 million people who will tune in to watch them on TV.

And the 2.5 million who will party all night in Southern California at what is helpfully being called Party 2000. And the 30 million who will join the March of the Millennium in over 2,000 cities8230;.

Since the nineties have officially been recognised as the Tabloid Decade, it is perhaps only fair that they should lead into a series of events which will be televised live, talked about on the Internet, written about in newspapers, and spun off into a series of merchandising opportunities.

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Baby2000 will be only the first of several mega events in the millennium. Earth Day 2000, Expo 2000, Holy Land 2000 and Holy Year 2000 will follow thick and fast. The entertainment economy of the West, hurtling from the OJ saga to the Clinton saga to the Kosovo saga will have something else to subsist on. Ratings, advertisements, direct marketingtie-ins in a year that is also happily a Leap Year will keep news junkies hooked. The market society has won, and the preconceived millennium generation will not know of any other.