The Kolebira Incident.

It is a cold winter morning of the year 1999, in Ranchi and I am sitting in the Hatia-Patna Express. I haven't slept last night, but there is not even a trace of sleep in my tired eyes.Through the window of my train I am looking at the forest which is rapidly being left behind as the train is moving ahead.

If you ever come to Jharkhand you will see these dense mystical forests which are standing since centuries, hiding in their wooden hearts the secrets of time itself.

You must be wondering by now that why am I telling you about these forests.There is a strange chain of events behind this,which were set in motion last evening.I had come to Ranchi to do some research for the book I was working on. Having completed my work by evening I had an urge to stroll around the streets of Ranchi. I left my Hotel and went to the Mahatma Gandhi road. It was a pleasantly cold evening and there was a little fog also,but it didn't have any effect on the hustle and bustle of the street. I was enjoying the lively marketplace and had reached the Firayalal Chowk.

Suddenly an old man trying to cross the road grabbed my attention. He was around 6 feet tall, with white hair and a stoop in his gait. He was wearing a long brown coat. I held his hand and helped him cross the road. While crossing the road I noticed a weird silver colored band on his left wrist. It had three small dials. I didn't pay much attention to it and helped him cross the road. He thanked me in his baritone and for the first time I noticed the otherworldly dark green colour of his eyes.

He was going towards the street behind the marketplace so I offered to walk with him.He readily accepted my offer and we indulged in small social conversation.

It was late evening and the road behind the marketplace appeared quite desolate. Suddenly we were surrounded by four people who were carrying knives. They demanded money from us. I looked around, but there was not even a single soul who could help us. I was about to give them my wallet, but in a lightning fast strike, the old man grabbed one of the crook's arms and snatched his knife! I was stunned! One of the miscreants tried to stab him with his knife, but I couldn't let it happen and pushed the offender to ground. But we were outnumbered. One of them inflicted a wound in my back with his knife. I fell on the road due to the intensity of pain. With my blackening vision I saw them running away and the old man approaching me and sitting by my side. He did something in the band on his wrist and it started glowing with a green light. It slowly turned into a blinding white light and engulfed us. I was feeling nauseated.

When the white light dampened and I was able to open my eyes,I found myself in a forest. I was still feeling nausea and vomited despite all my efforts of not doing so.

"You'll be fine.I have teleported you here with me and that is why you are feeling nausea.'' said the old man.

I didn't understand even a word of what he had said and asked him,

"Teleported me? What are you talking about..and..and where am I..?"

''In my home!'', said the old man and pointed his finger behind me.

I turned around and my eyes widened with sheer astonishment. What lay in front of me in all its enormity was something that belonged to the world of rumors, conspiracy theories and legends! It was a UFO!

''Are you an alien?'', I asked in my trembling voice.

The old man smiled and answered,

''Yes I am an alien in your planet.''

It was truly an overwhelming moment. I was talking with an alien, standing in front of a flying saucer which was surrounded by an endless jungle. My mind was refusing to register this reality.

''Have you brought me to your planet?", I asked the old man, who now I knew was an alien.

''No, you are on your planet itself. In fact you are just a few kilometers away from Ranchi, in the dense forest of the place you call Kolebira", replied the alien and helped me climb into the UFO.

I had forgotten the sharp pain in my back and was looking around with amazement. Everything inside the UFO, even the floor, was glowing with a soothing white light. There were many control panels and many screens on the walls in front of them.I could see four doors which lead to other chambers. He made me sit on a table and dressed the wound in my back.

''Are these medicines from your planet?'', I asked.

The alien laughed and said,

''No! I bought these medicines from the medical stores at Ranchi. By the way your wound is superficial only.''

I realised the stupidity of my question and grinned.

I now noticed that his complexion was turning green slowly.

''Are you from Mars?'' I asked him.

''No, I came from a much farther place. From the other side of the universe.The name of my planet was 'Ora'.

We had established our colonies in the nearby planet 'Ork' of our solar system. With the help of our high speed spaceships we could cover the distance between the two planets within a few Earth days. We had lost a few spaceships during this travel. We used to think that they may have suffered some unfortunate accidents and were lost in space, but it was my destiny to find the truth.

One day me and my five other friends were travelling to Ork in our respective spaceships. Suddenly in the middle of the journey our ships suffered some malfunction and started getting shocks. Our monitors went black and our ships started shaking violently. I thought it was the end, but then after a few minutes my ship stabilized and the monitors came back up. I looked at the monitors and thought they were still malfunctioning. The monitors were indicating that the distance of my ship from my planet was billions of light years! It was not possible.I couldn't have traveled billions of light years away from my planet in my space ship in such a short span of time.

I was trying to figure out what has happened when my ship started shaking again. It was entering the atmosphere of the Earth. I crash landed in this forest of Kolebira. I could see in my monitors that the ships of two of my friends had also crash landed in different places on Earth.

Then a thought struck me and I understood everything. Our ships must have entered a 'worm hole' which was situated somewhere in our path. Worm holes can be explained as short cuts in our universe which can connect two extremely far away places,even billions of light years away.Theoretically the scientists of our planet were not able to prove their existence,but now I knew they existed.

The spaceships we had lost in the past during the travel from Ora to Ork must have entered that worm hole and came to Earth. And may be the rumors of the sightings of the UFO's and flying saucers on Earth from time to time had originated due to those lost spaceships of our planet!

They must have found some place to hide the spaceship and may have lived among the people of Earth,just like I did.

''But why did they hide? I mean why didn't they go to our governments for help?", I asked.

The Alien replied with a weak smile,

''One of my friends who crash landed on the western half of Earth was found by the government.They hid him and his space ship in some military facility in a desert. I heard they even performed some experiments on him and in the process killed him. I can't understand what knowledge they obtained by killing him, which they couldn't have obtained by interacting with him. May be our language was different, but as I have learned your language by living among you, he could have too. They just needed to have some patience.

How could I trust your government after this? We didn't have any way of returning to our planet as our ships were beyond repair. We had just one option left, to live among the people of Earth.There was no structural difference between us and the people of Earth other than the green colour of our skin.NWe had the ability of changing color of our skin so, it was easy for us to mingle with the people of Earth.

There was only one problem.After the sunset the colour of our skin slowly turns back to green and I have to return to my ship in the evening.''

I was saddened by his story.''You must hate us Humans."

''I have so many reasons to hate humans.You lie to each other.You betray each other.You kill each other in the name of cast and religion.You give more importance to money than people.But do I hate humans?No.''

I was surprised by his reply and asked him,

''You don't hate us? After what we did to your friend and what we do to each other? Why?''

He smiled and replied,

''May be because of a few humans like you.Today you tried to save my life without caring for yours. Some humans like you help others selflessly.They try to make other people's lives better.They feed the hungry.They treat the sick and sometimes help an old man cross the road.'' He laughed.

''These good human beings remind me of the people of my planet and make my pain of being so far away from my home a little less.''

It felt good and a bit strange too that an alien can see beyond the flaws of humans and find goodness in us,but we humans can't. May be his alien heart was bigger than humans in size and emotions.

I asked him,

''How do you survive on Earth. I mean how do you arrange your food and other requirements?"

He replied,

''I work and earn money. Right now I am working as a salesman in a garment shop. I used to travel long distances with the help of my wrist band, but now its power is decreasing. It can teleport me to only a few kilometers from my ship.

I have spent 62 years on Earth, but now I am old.This ship is also old. Now it is not able to show the locations of the ships of my friends. May be they grew old and died.

Every night I look at the stars in a hope that the people of my planet find out about that worm hole and somehow find a way to take me home. I will hope till my last breath that at least they take home my body after my death so that I can rest in the soil of my home Ora.''

I could see a deep sadness on his green face. He was looking at the old pictures of his planet on the screen. Pictures of green people like him. May be of his family and friends.

He was an alien, but I could feel his pain. May be the language of pain is same even in the other side of the universe.

In that moment the excitement of seeing an alien and being inside a UFO was lost. Why should i even call him an alien?He was just like us.There was just the difference of color. We humans have a tendency to differentiate on the basis of colors. We differentiate on basis of black and white color of skin.We differentiate between green and saffron.

There was a painful silence in the atmosphere.The pain of losing everything.The pain of a world left behind.

He turned around. His ears had turned red, was it his way of crying?

I couldn't ask as my eyes were filled with tears too.

He asked me to come out of the ship with him. I could hear the chirping of birds.The sky that could be seen through the dense trees was turning light blue in color. It was dawn.

He asked me where I wanted to go.I said I have to catch the train at 6:30 am from Ranchi railway station. He smiled and did something again in his silver wrist band and held my hand. It again glowed in a green color which turned to a blinding white light and I felt nausea again.

When I opened my eyes I found myself in front of the SERSA stadium which was situated in front of the railway station. I vomited again.

The old man patted on my back and said,"You'll be fine.''

''Hey! When can I meet you again?", I turned around in a hurry only to find a white afterglow. He was gone.

I looked at my watch.It was 05:10 am. My hotel was near the Railway station. I went there, took a bath and checked out of the hotel for the railway station.

I took a pain killer as I could now feel the pain in the wound of my back.

Now I am sitting on the train and looking at the forest through it's window. Who would,even in his wildest dream think that a flying saucer is hidden in these dense jungles.

Was it a dream?

I am thinking about the Alien and his friends.They are living among us and we are not able to recognise them. May be one of them is travelling in this train. May be that man who is reading a newspaper. May be the one who is listening to radio with earphones or may be the old man who is sleeping in his seat.

What can we do for them? We can pray for them that their people learn about that worm hole and take them home soon enough so that my alien friend can rest in the soil of his home planet.

There are some other things we can do for them. We can start helping each other. We can stop killing each other in the name of cast and religion. We can feed the hungry and treat the sick. We can start giving more value to people than the money or we can help an old man or woman cross the road.

Because may be those aliens are around and watching us doing these good works.

This can give them one more reason to love humans and we may be able to make their pain of being billions of light years away from their home a little less.