New Delhi: The morning of September 10, 2001, was just like any other news day. The news was full of fears of recession, potential tax cuts, the dawn of an era of animated actors, and an NYT article on how academia had turned its gaze to The Simpsons.
“The Simpsons, with its clever writing and satirical attacks, has not only changed the way Americans view cartoons, but also the way they speak,” the NYT article read.
It was also reported that Michael Jackson had collapsed during a party at the swanky Tavern on the Green restaurant. Whether it was true or a myth, the report’s veracity remains disputed.
There were also news articles about Democrats and Republicans “scrambling to rekindle” prosperity in the US.
Meanwhile, Kenneth H. Perlin, a professor in the Department of Computer Science at New York University, had a vision to impart “psychological complexity” to video game heroines. The professor was awarded a United States patent for scripting interactive animated actors.
Come to think of it, it was 2001, and we were talking about how to make animated actors more realistic. Twenty-five years later, in 2026, we can create these characters and much more with the tap of a finger using AI.
A day of films, music and television
Popular culture news was brimming with The Musketeer, Hollywood’s latest adaptation of Alexandre Dumas. The movie had grossed $10.7 million at the weekend box office.
Meanwhile, The Tribune Co. stations were close to a group deal with Warner Bros to continue airing “the top-rated sitcom Friends twice a day.”
“The negotiations concern Tribune’s ability to double-run the series during the remainder of its first cycle, which ends in 2004,” the news report read.
Just two days earlier, Jennifer Lopez and Ja Rule’s “I’m Real (Murder Remix)” had reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. It would go on to stay at the top of the chart for five non-consecutive weeks.
For The Washington Post, the story was about Adam Morgan’s festival, described as the longest-running neighbourhood celebration in Washington, DC.
“There were tacos and pad thai and hot dogs. There was the plaintive wail of Andean flute music and the pulsing beat of Zairian soukous. Some people wore saris, some donned bold-coloured African dresses, others came in jeans,” the author had written.
Meanwhile, in the business world, then technology giant Motorola had announced 2,000 job cuts.
A question that would soon become history
Amid it all, the newspapers were also trying to establish something far more significant: whether Ahmad Shah Massoud was dead.
Massoud had been assassinated two days earlier by two suicide bombers in Khwaja Bahauddin, Afghanistan. Known as the “Lion of Panjshir,” Massoud was an Afghan military commander and political leader.
He led the Northern Alliance and was one of the principal opponents of the Taliban.
The headlines were still about recession, television, music, technology, films, and the death of an Afghan leader.
Nobody could have imagined what the next day would bring. Until 9/11 struck and changed the world order.
Edited by Maryam Hassan