Mainak Dhar - Vimana

***

On 1 January 2013, New York was getting ready for an extraordinary meeting at the United Nations. The leaders of all the world's countries were there, as were representatives of almost every major newspaper and TV channel. The proceedings were to be broadcast live to every home in the world. For the last week or so, many people had been increasingly getting an idea that something quite out of the ordinary was about to happen. There had been leaked news reports, interviews with US pilots who spoke on condition of anonymity about a bizarre battle over the Bermuda Triangle, accounts posted online by hundreds of people who spoke of having been rescued from an alien demon's underwater base. And above all, reports that hinted at the fact that far from being alone in the universe, humans were not alone on Earth. Intelligent beings from another world had been sharing the world with them for millennia. All of this had been a carefully orchestrated plan by Narada, to try and ease the shock people would feel when the Devas finally revealed themselves.

But nothing he could have done would have prepared them for the sight of a half dozen strange looking craft suddenly materializing in the skies over New York. Someone mentioned the word vimana and the press jumped on it. Anybody in the world who had access to a TV was now watching these mysterious craft as they descended over New York City into a specially blocked off area where no cameras or people other than a few officials with top secret clearance were allowed.

The session was opened by the UN Secretary General. He spoke eloquently about what a historic day this was, about how the greatest question of all time had finally been answered. About how close man had come to losing everything that was cherished, but had prevailed thanks to the help of the beings who had remained shrouded in the mists of myth and legend. As well as he spoke, nobody really wanted to hear what he had to say. They wanted to know who these mysterious aliens were. There was almost a palpable sigh of disappointment when a dignified looking old man, more like a college professor than an alien from outer space, took the podium.

Aaditya and Tanya gripped each other's hands, watching the live telecast on the TV. They realized that they were witnessing a moment that would change everything; just as the incidents of the last few months had changed their lives.

Brahma looked at the delegates crowding the room, at the cameras that ringed the podium where he stood. He smiled, and Aaditya wondered what it must be like to finally deliver a speech at least 15,000 years in the making.

'People of Earth,' he began.

A pin-drop silence enveloped the room.

'My name is Brahma.'