I, Alien

As the aircraft approaches its landing, and if I happen to be seated at the window, I start getting strange sensations. I feel like an alien. And I am sure that if ever an alien comes visiting the planet earth, she would feel the same. Various divergent thoughts start appearing in my mind. The Life per se seems to be getting cloudier in my thoughts, denser than the clouds surrounding the descending machine.

At that height I don’t only get a 360 degrees view of the earth but also seem to get a new perspective on life. I see the earth below and the sky around, space actually - if I speak in a non-technical term. If the time is before sunset, the ground shows numerous activities, all suggesting a vibrant habitation below. Post sunset the scene is much more beautiful with lights shining all around, concealing the ugliness of humanity superbly. If Capt. Satish Sharma said “saare jahan se achchha” about India from the Space, which we so naively believe to be true, the same is equally applicable to every part of the world. There is hardly any distinction till the earth comes closer. And I could be landing on any planet in the Universe!

At that distance away from the earth and up in the sky, with the space pervading all around, I marvel at the God for having these marvelous ideas about life! I wonder at Its’ creations which are so consistent in every sense of the term. Simultaneously looking at the fast approaching earth below, I wonder at the significance of our earth in Its’ vast scheme of things! With billions of stars and billions of planets and moons strewn all across the Universe, I wonder about this tiny little speck of mass called earth. The earth, a revolving landmass around the Sun, over which we have been fighting ever since having straightened up! Yes, from a bent cave man to a walking being supposedly with a straight spine!

It doesn’t take an eternity for the aircraft to descend but the time seems to be sufficient enough to let my mind race faster than any conceivable time machine. Amazingly my thoughts remain consistent in all voyages. Once having marveled at the God for creating this beautiful Universe, I also wonder at the loss of control It suffered thereafter, especially in case of humans. The biological Evolution, the pre-historic times, the medieval period and the modern and contemporary history flash in my mind as if I were watching a classic movie in fast-forward! From complicated human behaviors to predictable yet weird human traits cross my thoughts. (Looking at a kid I always wonder what kind of a person she/he would finally be.) The man-made geographical divisions, the numerous nations built within boundaries, the thoughts and traditions and cultures and civilizations and philosophies and ideologies and wars and death & destruction and jihad and terrorism and poverty and pollution and politicians and pollution and police and army and brutality and torture and broken hearts and senseless minds and troubles and tribulations and oil and nuclear weapons and religions and regions and skin colors and castes and creeds and genders and intellect and talent and ambitions and dreams and awards and arrogance and emotions and relationships and fights and arguments and daily living and life … everything, absolutely every aspect of life seems so insignificant …

We never seem to realize that we are not even a full dot in the grand scheme of things in the unending and ever-expanding Universe! And we never ever seem to be ready to believe that like us – the so-called intelligent and the evolved creation! – there would be millions of creations much more evolved and intelligent, and humane than us. It is only a matter of time that they would traverse the space and discover us. So far we have not displayed those capabilities to reach out to them – the Aliens! … The co-existing irony, nevertheless, is that we as humans are yet to discover – understand – ourselves and our fellow humans cohabiting on our earth!

If I look at the Life from up in the sky, and think about the Life in general, I fail to understand the purpose of Creation per se. Why did the God make all what he made? Why did he lose all control over Its own creations thereafter? Does It regret having created human beings? From astronomy to astrology, did Its plans go all awry? I think about all the living beings including the ocean dwellers which include the microscopic beings to the visible souls in the animal and the plant kingdom. I think about the food chain and the social pyramid. And the entire thing looks like a grand “time-pass”! Yes, every body aimlessly busy in doing nothing except for doing the basic things in order to sustain its life within the assigned and designed body so as to be able to pass into the next stage of being in form of soul at a designated time. The life which was created to be simple in existence but it becoming hugely complex in practice. Every thing so consistent and predictable and so routine and repetitive that, from a distance, as an alien, I feel disillusioned!

I know that if the Buddha were alive today, and he would have travelled with me in an aircraft seated in a window seat, post the touchdown he would have embarked on a journey yet again in search of enlightenment – renouncing his theory of nirvana. The Buddha too would have felt like an alien …