I WRITE this column while our crazy century is gasping its last few breaths. Am I sorry to say 'g'bye' to it? Not really. Today is only the second day of the millennium. It's going to take a while to get used to filling the date on top of my columns. I'm still not sure how one is supposed to do this. Last week, I could write 'ninety- nine' with an apostrophe. Somehow, two zeros don't work in quite the same way. But, like the sages remind us, man is capable of getting used to anything. And what's a silly digital-change anyway ?

The world is expecting change. Big things are supposed to happen only because one particular calendar system has decided this is the moment that marks the start of a new era If that is so….your time starts now. Strange. Exactly a week ago, I was watching a TV programme featuring two of our biggest male stars - Amitabh Bachchan and Shah Rukh Khan. Was it is a mere coincidence, I wondered, that the younger actor was interviewed first ? The 20th century icon or the 21st century super hero ?His quote "I am the luckiest man in the world" was still ringing in my ears when the image of the older actor flashed on to the small screen. He look tired defeated and out of running. He practically admitted as much. It must have been the timing. As I watched the two - Shah Rukh, whose fortunes are skyrocketing, and Amitabh, who I still believe ought to have retired while he was still the reigning Shahenshah, it was like presiding over the wake of a century just ending, while rejoicing in the one not yet born.

A feeling of nostalgia and sadness swept over me the momentarily only to be replaced by optimism and hope. There was Shah Rukh, bursting with good health, aglow with the confidence success alone can bestow. And there was Amitabh., a grey, exhausted shadow of his former self, as he slouched into the chair and spoke in a flat, fatigued voice about his glory days.

A few days later, I'd gone for a short ride in a restored Morris. A beautiful car, created in 1934, for sporty, stylish couples to run around the English countryside in. All along the route, people stopped to stare, motorcyclists came alongside to get a better look. Some commented on how 'cute' the car was. Others merely looked amused. Fancy, modern automobiles whizzed past us. A few drivers honked impatiently when the traffic lights changed. One or two glared at us, as if to say: "Get out of the way, slow coaches - don't you know we are in a hurry ?" The red Morris chugged along non-chalantly, its engine purring softly, its black leather upholstered seats gleaming in the mild winter sun. The cars that raced past were already in the news century - showy, fashy, fast: And yet , it was strangely reassuring to be driving around sedately in a lovingly restored vintage car.

What is it going to be for India? Has the time to choose arrived already? If it is modern 'flash' that Indian wants, what exactly will it be giving up? How soon? Is that sort of a sacrifice necessary in the first place? Will there be comparisons? And tears? Who was the better actor, the bigger star - Amitabh Bachchan or Shah Rukh Khan? Which, the superior car - the jaunty coupe I was in or the Mercedes SLR 500 that effortlessly overtook us along the seafront? What on the earth is the next century going to unveil? And whatever it is, should we be using the yardsticks of the one gone to make judgements?

How different is 'different' going to be? And why are futurologists always so negative about their predictions? Since we have no choice but to accept change as inevitable, why challenge it? That's what our shastras tell us. That's what I believe. India in the year 2000 is going to be the same old India, but with renewed hopes and aspirations. That's what turning points in history are meant for - to stop, to pause, to take stock., to access. And then to do something positive with the data. My little ride in the car told me that. We will always have a Morris in our midst in India no matter which foreign car companies roll up to put their latest models on our roads. So long as I am secure in that knowledge, I don't really care what else happens. Though it would be really nice time if Amitabh Bachchan's next film is a huge box office hit.