Saraswat International Journal on Emerging Technologies 11(4): 446-449(2020) 446 International Journal on Emerging Technologies 11(4): 446-449(2020) ISSN No. (Print): 0975-8364 ISSN No. (Online): 2249-3255 Representation of Emerging Technologies: Postmodern Urban Dystopia in Manjula Padmanabhan’s Harvest Surbhi Saraswat Assistant Professor, Amity Institute of English Studies & Research, Amity University, India. (Corresponding author: Surbhi Saraswat) (Received 25 May 2020, Revised 26 June 2020, Accepted 04 July 2020) (Published by Research Trend, Website: www.researchtrend.net) ABSTRACT: The proposed paper discusses Manjula Padmanabhan’s play Harvest (1997). Though cast is in a futuristic mould, the play highlights the postmodern reality of emerging technologies and its influence on our day to day life. The play posits the heinous self-inflicted suffering of people who require money to survive in the demanding environment of a modern city. It projects the economic desperation for which the marginalized poor sell their organs in a commercial process which benefits the rich and influential. As a piece of 'science fiction', the play uses the strategy of 'futurization' to speak of present day realities in an oblique fashion. It depicts the condition of helpless people of a third world country. There is a broader social critique in which Harvest projects, with mingled admiration and horror, the metropolitan aspirations and the increasing craze for electronic gadgets. The futuristic city space delineates urban India’s new life style—an aimless striving for ‘equipment’, addiction to TV and a complete dependence on modern props. Apart from these issues, Padmanabhan also addresses the problems created by over population in urban spaces as she refers to organ trade, prison-like existence, partiality of parents towards employed children, and the pathetic condition of women. The play Harvest not only depicts the postcolonial scenario but also articulates the neo-colonisation process. It focuses on the power of foreign purchasers over third world organ donors, showing a ‘cannibalistic’ equation in sociological terms. Through this the playwright voices the subaltern existence of the city dwellers who suffer both the poverty and exploitation for survival. The city itself is an entity in this game. It fascinates in the beginning but gradually entraps the individual in its vicious coils. Keywords: Dystopia, Postmodern, Technology, Urban, Neo-colonial. Abbreviations: IP – InterPlanta, T. S. Eliot - Thomas Stearns Eliot, AD-Anno Domini. I. INTRODUCTION This is the way the world ends This is the way the world ends This is the way the world ends Not with a bang but a whimper T.S. Eliot “The Hollow Men” This famous last paragraph of T. S. Eliot’s poem “The Hollow Men” is befitting in the context to the plight of the poor urban dwellers who live a miserable life in modern suburbs. Even their death does not create any difference to the world. Poverty is one such condition for the urban city dweller that punishes the poor man till his last breath. Manjula Padmanabhan’s play Harvest has a futuristic setting though it highlights the heinous self-inflicted suffering of people who require money to survive in the demanding environment of a modern city today. The play projects the compulsive need for which the marginalized sell their organs. It depicts a dark future of poor helpless people of third world countries. The play is set in 2010 AD in Bombay, when the sale of human organs is a common everyday affair. The drama focuses upon the mingled admiration and horror of the suburbanites’ life style and their increasing craze for electronic gadgets. The donors, mostly single room dwellers in a crowded Indian city sell their body parts to rich clients through international registered and approved agents. Devoid of basic human amenities of life, they mistake wealth for happiness [2, 4]. II. MATERIAL AND METHODS The qualitative study was conducted by referring to the theoretical aspect of organ transplant and the impact of emerging technologies on human life. The research is carried out by referring to literature review and the other texts that are aligned by the thematic and philosophical structure of the play. A. Relevance & Insight Though Padmanabhan has used a futuristic space to depict the deprivations faced by poor city dwellers in the twenty-first century, it is reported that she herself conceived of the idea for Harvest during a visit to her sister in Madras in early 1995 where she was confronted with the brutal reality of the trade in human organs on a morning walk around the town. Padmanabhan shares about the incident that resulted in the inception of writing this play in her essay “The Story of Harvest” (1998), during her visit to her sister in Madras in early 1995 she saw several men in dressing gowns and sterile mouth masks. Upon making enquiries, she was told that they were poor villagers of Tamil Nadu state and were recovering from kidney- transplant surgery. Later news articles about this flourishing trade in organ selling compelled her to write on the theme of a frenzied quest for longevity by cannibalizing the bodies of the young and needy [5]. e t