Chapter III
Now I tell you how I saw it.
This was how it all happened. Let me explain the particulars first. One day I was walking my way home after playing for almost a half a day with friends. It must have been four o’clock in the evening. The sun was beginning to diminish its brightness and casting its evening heat waves.
That day we played all sort of games. We played badminton; and in the middle our game was changed to cricket then to football. We played energetically, devotedly and ardently as each one us was unwilling to get defeated by a fellow player. These were school holidays indeed; and all of our gang played until there were no energy remained in ourselves to endure the playing for another extra minute. I was exhausted; and sweat was dripping from my shirt; it stained with wet round patches. My elder brother; his face sun tanned from the vigorous mid-day sun; walked behind me. He stopped and chatted with friends time to time and never kept up the pace with me. Then they started to throw stones at an unknown target. On the way through; to ease the fatigue; I squatted myself on a pile of wooden logs loaded with sawdust; and waited until the brother arrives; and naturally out of habit I looked at the sky.
I remember I was gazing up at the bright blue sky for no particular reason. All of a sudden, the sky burst asunder, and bright hovering silvery disk resembled a saucer; descended down; leaving flashes of bluish color on scattered clouds. My mouth half opened and my lips quivered as I could not believe my eyes. Timber logs on top got disturbed and swayed unsteadily since my body jerked and trembled out of astonishment; and I stumbled down from the pile of wooden logs to the earth below; as a result causing pain on my back and nape. Though I quickly scrambled to my feet again wiping sand out of my lips and rushed forward to acquire a clear view; despite the severe pain.
“Come on here! Hurry up! Look! Look!” I made a loud shout of amazement; even though I did not know my sound actually left from the mouth or not. All I heard was my heart’s rapid palpitations.
Then suddenly thought dawned on me not to waste time on screaming. I looked at it; as if not to miss a single detail. It stopped its movement a bit and hovered slowly generating a faint hissing sound. The saucer looked molten silver from the bottom; oval in front and convex in the rear; about hundred feet in size; and was revolving around itself. Then it started to hover slowly for a moment and gradually started move rapidly, piercing through the air apparently with its sharp edges exhibiting high maneuverability. It was covered with navigation lights surrounded with a glowing beams of light and reflections of lights came from the surface itself.
My brother came running in toward my direction; he apparently heard my loud call. I grabbed by his collar and pulled him hurriedly. As a result his shirt got torn apart.
“Why are you yelling?” Brother shouted.
“Look! Look! I pointed him the object without taking my eyes off it.
“Idiot! Look what you have done. You ruined my shirt.”
The silvery disk started to gather its pace; and its sight began to disappear among dense foliage of an overgrown tree.
“Oh no! It’s getting disappeared. Look at it. Hurry up! Quick!” I exclaimed excitedly since I could not wait any longer.
Just then my brother began to squint at it.
“Ah I see it. Wow!” my brother replied pointing his hand at the tree. His eyes opened wide.
“Oh! That’s something! Isn’t that Beautiful?” His face animated.
“What? What do you see? I inquired.
“It just went away.” I said in disappointment.
“No I see it all right.”
I looked for the trail it left on clouds in terms of smoke or color patches, as it did first appear before my eyes. Then I looked at my brother’s eyes to trace down his gaze; to see what he was seeing. But I could discern nothing.
Just then my mother called on us out of nowhere and scolded my brother for his ripped off shirt.
“I have told you this before. There is a limit for everything. You are not a child anymore. What happened to your shirt? I ask you.” Mother rebuked.
“Do you think I can afford dozen shirts?” Mother seized by my brother’s ear and shoved him toward the home.
I saw my brother’s face turned pale and then he looked back at me angrily as he understood who is to blame.
That evening he moved away from my presence; each time I approached him to start a conversation with him. He definitely had developed a resentment after what I have done to his shirt. Moreover mother scolded him for bad behavior and finally he went to his room and looked the door. What a misfortune? Why he was not excited as I am? An Important incident of human kind ought to have shadowed by a miserable ragged shirt?
The Night fell eventually. At dinner I approached him once again to discuss about the incident he saw; but I could not succeed this time either. He was busy with making a kite after dinner and did not even looked at me. He carried on his work as though I was not present in the house. I supplied him the glue and knotting thread to bind it; hoping to start a conversation relating to the incident; but he snatched bamboo sticks hurriedly from my hands without glancing at me. Apparently his anger was not subsided. Burning desire did not let me wait. I gathered my courage.
“So! Elder brother! You saw it.” I said calmly as though I was not willing to disturb his work very much.
“Yes! I saw. But you saw it first”
“Yes! Wasn’t that amazing?”
“Yes! It’s good. But I am making a better one here. This will be the most splendid one; once finished.”
I could not understand what my brother said. I deliberately took my time before continuing the conversation since I suspected he did not hear my previous question because he was too engrossed in his work.
“What do you mean?” I continued again in a puzzled manner.
“The kite we saw over the tree.”
“What? Didn’t you see the saucer?”
“Are you out of your mind? What saucer. I saw the kite. Color was what made it more impressive.”
“I thought you saw it.” There was an air of sadness in what I said. I retraced my steps. Grief-stricken feeling possessed all over my head. My pain reappeared once more as though my backbone was pricked by a sharp needle.
“You need to have test your eyes for glasses.” Brother said sarcastically.
Then he stood up and sneered at me ironically. After that he moved color papers and scissors aside and went away to his room once again; leaving his work unfinished.
My brother’s insult, “You’d better check your eye sight.” was ingrained in to my memory like words carved in a stone. He should have seen the spectacle. I remember when he gazed over the tree, moving object was still in sight. How could he miss such a scenery? This was where my dilemma loomed up once again. It was indeed a huge predicament to resolve my enigma. Later date; I read in a book; it said during times of world war two; during the times of great depression and peril; unidentified flying objects were frequently witnessed worldwide by bomber crews. Even though such feelings were largely dependent upon their own experiences, did those objects appear entirely in their mind; solely because of the anxiety or mental states associated to vertigo? Those aviators; like other naive persons; usually had only vague understanding of their own feelings. And have they simply adopted a term vertigo to cover a multitude of otherwise inexplicable events? As far as my feelings were concerned; I could not find any of these mental states linked to my situation. Did I actually see it or not? Did I see a daydream or did I just hallucinate? I could not tell that fact precisely; after that strange conversation with my brother. Dear reader! You might feel I am jesting with your intelligence. It was strange indeed. Visualization alone; was apparently not sufficient to judge the situation it seemed. Hence I concluded; evidences must exist in terms of physical touch and feel.
If the previous incident was the first and the last occurrence happened to me regarding UFOs; then it would have been forgotten from my mind long ago. But that was not destined to be. Similar incident reappeared after three years’ time with same weirdness. This was how the second incident happened.
That was one of those nights I still remember so fresh as yesterday night. It must have been seven o’clock at night. The surroundings were cool and silent. I was walking back home after delayed stay at my aunt’s house with my cousin. My Cousin walked with me until we reached the asphalt road. He handed me a parcel for my mother and headed back home. It was dark. Streaks of light patches had appeared time to time on the country road, as the projections of electric lamps inside human dwellings in the immediate vicinity. I walked over the bridge and stopped in the middle to hear the sound of swirling water below. As my eyes moved up; I saw the mesmerizing beauty of the night sky, which was devoid of clouds; and the light of day had given place to the darkness of a moonless night, and stars in the far away skies glowed with increased brightness. The Dog-Star Sirius glowed with restless flicker with its intrinsic luminosity. It seemed to me those starry nights rarely appear in the sky these days; like I first witnessed it in my primal youth. Those shines of stars! I have never seen such a starry night in all my life. It gave me memories of my childhood. Mild breeze blew across my face. My shirt’s collar fluttered and hair of my nape moved with the wind.
I fixed my eyes at horizon and moved them up little by little as if I was looking through a telescope. I wish I had a telescope to scan this starry night. I must have darted my eyes from one distant shining star to another; covering billions and trillions miles of distance. I moved my eyes from one great civilization to another. From one great alien in-habitation to another; from one great technological peak to another. Thousand light years passed in a blink of an eye as I moved my eyes slowly but steadily. Ah! I was dreaming again.
A man came walking along the road. I could not distinguish his face because of the darkness. He was carrying a torch light. He pointed his torch light at my face to recognize me; and after knowing I was not one of his acquaintances, he immediately lowered his torch light at the asphalt road and walked with a slow swaying gait toward the place I was waiting.
I moved away from him and cast my eyes again at the horizon. At this very moment I noticed some beams of red and yellow lights gathered around a circle shaped body; rising over the distant paddy fields. Then those lights suddenly started to blink in rapid succession; and after moving a little bit further up from the horizon; it stationed at a fixed location. Yes! I was witnessing an UFO for the second time in my life. But this time there was a difference. This time I was less excited. Just then the man was passing away from me.
“Mr.! Would you come here for a second?” I said calmly.
“Yes! Sure, what is it?”
“See that light over there?”
He looked at those bright red beams of lights. Now the lights have increased its brightness. A Blue light also joined in; accompanying the red and yellow lights.
For the first time I observed his features. He was a middle age man around forty; nicely dressed and clean shaven. He must be coming home after finishing late hours of work.
“What is it?” he inquired.
I said nothing. I just only smiled a little.
He pointed his torch again at my face to look at me closely. Then he pointed his torch toward the direction where the lights came from. He waited there observing it for a brief moment.
“I must be going. It’s getting late.” He said lowering his face and continued with his walk away from me. Suddenly a thought did cross my mind; the thought which oppressed my mind incessantly over the last two years. I began to follow him hurriedly. Once our distant became closer; I called him.
“Hey Mr.! Would you excuse me?” I was thinking of asking him what he actually saw over the faddy field in the distant horizon. But strangely I lost my courage. Instead of asking the real question I asked.
“Would you tell me the time? I think my mother expecting me.” I did not know why I asked that futile senseless question. But I did not have to worry about it for long; answer came in a different fashion in the end.
“Oh! It’s now eight o’clock.” He said and continued further. Now there was an air of friendliness in his talk.
“I thought of asking you. Tell me! What is so special about a telecommunication tower with a light?” he said. I shocked hearing it. I faltered.
“Ah! Yes! I thought it looked beautiful. May be because there’s no moon today.”
As I continued my way toward home. It became all clear to me. There was no point of arguing or asking others. Ideas and thoughts revolved around my head ceaselessly like a violent swirl of water.
Another three years had passed. Then I was a twenty years old university student; studying in my first academic year. I studied mathematics and chemistry. I must confess that; none of the subjects captured my mind. I participated for lectures only when I felt it. I used to copy down notes from friends; from those who attend lectures without a fail. Sometimes I did not bring my books and did not copy those notes even; hoping I would study subjects entirely from their notes and textbooks; and face the examination in comfortable and hassle-free manner. In those days my mind was asking for a different kind of subject. A subject to which I could devote my thinking and passion. Surely those subjects were astronomy and cosmology. I was yearning to study ‘Warm holes’ and ‘Black holes’. I craved for studying Galaxies and Dark matter. I wanted to ascertain knowledge of mind blowing theories and equations. But it was a mere expectation before having higher degree of knowledge in physics and mathematics; no institution would teach those subject in our country. So my education continued entirely aimless; free from enthusiasm and eagerness of any kind and suffered from lack of objectives. I spent my time chatting trifles with students at the university canteen; sipping over an evening tea; which had no taste what so ever; for a long time until the sun disappeared from western skies; leaving twenty feet long shadows of university buildings on the garden’s meadow.
To say something about my character back then, I was a very cheerful, lively fellow. I was simply young and lived with my companions; as a young would live free from burdens. I had money, and I even owned a magnificent racer- motor bike; which was used to trail behind gorgeous ladies of our tastes; in evenings; in less crowded town streets. We would follow them and hover around them until they vanish in to the dark; closing those creaking black iron gates of their living places. Then we would look at them regretfully from behind; through the holes of iron grill patterns. After losing hope we would exchange glances with other rider companions. Nodding our heads as if to say.
“Buddy! It is no use. She is gone. Let’s call it a day.”
Finally I found a girl. I initiated a love affair with a girl called Natasha. She was stunning; tall and graceful, with a lovely figure. She always dressed majestically; as though she could not dress otherwise. She had a joyous smile, and beautiful shining eyes. Especially her eyes were splendidly dark, and glittering. Natasha scored best marks in all exams. She was intelligent. I could not match her intelligence. While she score high marks; I scored mediocre grades; mainly because of lacking of sufficient knowledge about the subject and; due to the fact that guessing the answer instead of learning it. Friends used to say; I was unworthy of her. Sure enough! But I believed firmly we were a matching couple. I was handsome and tall. She was nineteen.
Year end exam days closed in. I looked for my remaining notes. I had to turn my studying table upside down to find relevant notes. But I could find only incomplete notes and sketches. I noticed an old book of mine laying underneath a stack of dust covered exercise books. I took it out right away and examined it with delight. I used to collect pictures of flying saucers; since I was twelve years old. All those pictures I could find from magazines and newspapers; had pasted neatly on pages of that book and remained intact. My task was completed. No any important notes found. But I found my old book.
That night I sat at my computer and downloaded some new UFO photographs from the internet. It seemed to me there were innumerable number of photographs which had been posted recently. I took printouts of good quality pictures. Next morning I intended to lecture about UFOs to my fellow batch mates; and I walked with a joyful feeling; holding my old book in left hand and pictures I took in right hand.
“Hey guys! Look what I have found.” I said majestically. “Come on here! I want to show you something.” Everybody gathered around me.
“These are real photos of UFOs.”
“Excuse me bro, what are UFOs anyway?” one of them said.
“You should be ashamed of yourself. You don’t know that? That is unidentified flying objects you moron!” I said.
“Oh! I see! You are the boss.”
Then I showed them the first few pages of the book. They looked at it attentively. I could see their eyes brightened up with excitement.
“Wait! This picture looks so real. Look at the background.” Natasha said. This old picture was taken somewhere in India in nineteen sixties. It depicted a saucer of molten silver in color; hovering over a building what looked like an Islamic mosque.
“Ok! Don’t look at those old pictures. How about some new images?” I showed them printouts of the pictures I downloaded yesterday. They all were colorful fantastic photos indeed with high resolution. Those pictures were photographed from everywhere; from Japan; from Russia; from England. Friends then began to share and study them for long time; in order to find any faults associated with those pictures to establish the authenticity. Another friend of mine called Dunston came in from behind.
“Oh! Guys! Great! Are those UFO pictures?” Dunston exclaimed with delight and moved his eyes from one corner to another.
“Nice collection. Wait! Give me that photo you are holding.”
“This one?” A girl lifted him a picture.
“Yes! That’s the one. Sweetheart! Would you please handover me that?”
The Girl handed him the photo she was holding.
“Wow! Where did you find this bro?” he waved that photo to me sarcastically. Then he showed it to everybody. “You good people! Look at this. I declare this photo as a photographic masterpiece. Just look at those colors. Fantastic isn’t it? A proof of genuine UFOs do exist.”
I was baffled by Dunston’s behavior. Silence reigned among ourselves.
Dunstan took a sip of someone’s tea and smirked at me.
“Guys! Listen! I am here to give you; a speech about myself. My name is Dunston. No! I am Mr. Dunston. I am a genius! I call myself a professional hoaxer! I submitted this photograph to UFO seekers blog not long ago. Only last month. You gentlemen should understand that, I have to find my day to day expenses.”
“Wow! You son of a bi**h! You really did that?” a friend came forward and shook his hand. Everybody laughed with amusement.
Then he took out his mobile phone and showed the original picture he took to everybody. After that he further explained how he did it using a miniature UFO model made out of trash can lid.
“It’s not that difficult. All you need is a piece of string; to hang the UFO model to a tree above. After that, guess what you need. Laptop and Photoshop for editing. That’s all. I used the depth of field effect to blur the surrounding. I even made a video out of this; by pulling the string back and forth to fake its movement. Just visit the web site UFO seekers and………”
I was utterly humiliated. My face withered. I heard his conversation with friends when I walked further away from them. I was not in a mood to collect my old book even.
I did not know how I faced my year end exams. I went on a vacation in the middle of exam days. I thought of repeating the exam next year once I have studied the subjects well. Only after a week I returned to proper senses. I met Natasha.
“Where have you been all these days? You forgot to return my phone calls even. Is that the correct way to treat your girlfriend? I warn you! If you do this thing again, look what will happen.” She reproached me. Her eyes gleamed with fury.
“Ok! Sorry darling! Shall we go on a ride?”
“I don’t like your motorbike”
“No! I have my cousin’s car. Will you join me?”
But I could not go on with her that day as I planned. But following incident happened three weeks after that.
I was driving my car in to the countryside with her. I had begun to understand the wild and crazy swings in weather due to the monsoon season. It was raining yesterday all night; but next morning; the morning I drove with Natasha; it was clear and sunlight was flooded everywhere and clouds glistened pure white with an extra glow. I became absolutely fascinated with the beauty. I stopped the car and walked along the country road.
I knew my life was full of strange things and allures. My life unexpectedly presented me wondrous surprises. Oh God! I was witnessing this sight again; for the third time in my life. I found myself seeing a flying saucer rising slowly above an isolated faddy field about four hundred meters away from us. I spotted its blue beams thrusting downwards as it steadily propelling upwards. Should I tell this to Natasha? I decided not to. She was looking at the other side; at the sight of a faraway blue misty mountains. Then she looked at where I was gazing at. Was it still there? The saucer? I guarantee it was. I walked with Natasha as though nothing happened. She gave me continues glances as if she found out something strange in me.
I stepped aside from the main road and walked toward the barren paddy field. Frogs croaked. I trod slowly sweeping away weeds and shrubs by hands; causing long stems of grass to rock to and fro. My denim trouser stained with flashing patches of mud. I looked backed at Natasha. Her face blushed. She waited not knowing whether to continue with me or stay at the main road. I nodded my head signaling her to wait. But suddenly she changed her mind; started to walk behind me avoiding prickly bushes. Earth was muddy from overnight monsoon rain. Water droplets splashed as I moved weeds to make my way forward. Wild flowers over which bees and wasps were hovering and humming reflected sunlight and wafted fragrance of humid air. My curiosity was overwhelming. We walked further and reached the spot twenty feet away from my destination. I slowed down a little and stopped.
“Why stopping? Are we going somewhere? Why are we doing this?” She said intriguingly.
Natasha guessed something strange; something peculiar was about to be noticed. It was true. Reeds were crumpled down and stems of bushes were flattened. Grass immersed in mud was crushed in clockwise curves and burned at places. Tracks had appeared on the soggy earth. She moved those overgrown crumpled down weeds with her hands; making a rustling sound and stepped a little further; hastening herself to find out the rare phenomenon. Then she stopped suddenly at the place what looked like a crop circle.
Yes! It was none other than the landing site just used for that flying saucer. Natasha gazed at it in astonishment. A faint smile crossed her radiant countenance. Sweat gathered on her brow reflected rainbow colors as she tossed her head against the brilliant sun rays. Then she hurriedly walked along the circle; looked up; stopped a little; laughed; jumped and started to run in circles in amazement like a little girl. Then she took her mobile phone out and began to photograph it with delight. I heard shutter sounds from various corners.
“Wow! What is this?” She exclaimed in merriment of discovering the unknown.
I did not reply or move a single step forward. I waited arms akimbo; looking at the landing site as if an enchanted wanderer observing a newly conquered land. A magnificent joyful feeling possessed me as I squatted on the crushed grass. Justice has triumphed. Natasha looked at me astonishingly. She so disbelieved me, or failed to understand me. She was right. It was indeed peculiar. Physical evidence was all what I wanted.
Distant sun was covered by her beautiful face. Part of the sun came out of a floating cloud in the sky. She swayed her head a little. I was perfectly sure I saw the shimmer of gilded sunlight; which seeped through the dangling strands of her beautiful hair.
__END__
