A winter night. The road was completely deserted. The palash bushes had curled up, hiding from the cold. Mr. Dolgobindo walked briskly. Dead winter leaves had piled up, covering the road. Now and then, thorny weeds pricked his feet.
Even in the darkness of the night, he didn’t have much trouble walking. The road was almost memorized. He traveled this way twice every day, so he knew exactly where to turn, which bush to walk past.
As he walked faster and reached halfway, out of habit, he slipped his hand into his kurta pocket to find a matchbox. After searching both pockets and finding nothing, he threw away his unlit cigarette towards a bush.
From where the cigarette fell came a muffled yet sharp cry of pain. In an instant, the bush glowed with red light. The red light quickly changed into a bright green glow. The light did not spread far, forming only about a five-meter circle. The other side of the bush remained as dark as before. Mr. Dolgobindo froze in shock within the half-circle of strange light and that painful cry. His legs had stopped moving without his notice. He did not have a torch with him either.
He was quite frightened by this mysterious light, though he also felt a strong curiosity. It seemed to him that he might have thrown the cigarette like a stone and hit someone, and that the scream came from that hit.
But he did not have much time to think. He saw the green light move rapidly towards its source, like water flowing downhill. The light did not vanish completely. In that dim glow, he noticed it was not a bush at all. It was two large round objects, like footballs, made of light blue metal or something like it. The lower one was slightly smaller. On the upper part, several small antenna-like rods, like incense sticks in a holder, were touching and sparking continuously. The sparks gathered into a larger antenna at the top, scattering light like a fountain. From tiny glass-like windows on the upper ball, thin transparent shutters were moving, sometimes fast, sometimes slowly, creating a continuous, unsettling humming sound.
Mr. Dolgobindo stood staring, astonished. “What is this doing here? Who could have brought it?” He looked carefully around. The green light dazzled his eyes so much that he could see nothing else.
Darkness covered the bamboo grove like a thick blanket. If he had a match, he could at least light it for courage, to feel he had some kind of weapon. It was getting late. Ten o’clock had already struck a while ago. It was time to go home. He took off his muffler and wrapped it again around his neck.
Just as he was about to start walking home, that same cry came again. This time, between fear and curiosity, he also felt a strange amusement. He took another cigarette from his pocket and was about to throw it at the strange object when it suddenly spun upward at lightning speed and stopped motionless right beside his head. The small windows started shaking violently.
Mr. Dolgobindo’s throat went dry from fear. Even in the winter cold, sweat dripped from his face. Soon his legs gave way, and he sat down on the ground, weak. The object hovered still, right in front of him. Only the top antenna glowed, and by that light he could still see it. His chest kept trembling with fear.
“Is this machine heavy?” he thought. “If it had hit my head, it would have smashed it flat. Why is all this happening? I can’t make sense of anything.”
After a couple of minutes, he heard a faint sound. To hear better, he removed his muffler. Then he saw, near one of the small windows of the ball-shaped object, the face of a strange creature about a foot long. When light came on inside, its whole body became visible.
“Kolrevo noisiv radorob... lesesev sodothim mesilan tesnes...”
Mr. Dolgobindo listened intently, though he couldn’t understand a word. He kept staring at the tiny, odd creature.
“Eratin enewt sient...”
It seemed as if the words were coming from far away. Soon the sound stopped. A few seconds later, Mr. Dolgobindo’s head began to spin. It felt like a mild electric shock. But within moments, he felt normal again.
“Sorry Mr. Dolgobindo. Please don’t be afraid. We are guests from the planet Visit. We have come from billions of light-years away.”
He widened his eyes and saw that the small creature had already come down and was standing right in front of him. “Strange,” he thought, “how do they know my name?”
The little being said, “My name is Singvit. My friends and I arrived on your planet a few minutes ago. And yes, just a while ago, we radiated your brain to learn all the information inside it. That’s how we know your name, your language, and even about your country’s new two-thousand-rupee note. We also found out that today you made a small mistake in counting money. Please do not be afraid. You will not be harmed. Think of us as your friends.”
In clear Bengali, exactly in Mr. Dolgobindo’s accent, the creature spoke. Somewhat calmer now, Mr. Dolgobindo said, “So, you’ve done a brain wash or should I say, a brain theft?”
A faint smile appeared at the corner of his lips. He gathered courage and stretched out his hand towards Singvit.
Singvit said, “You were weak in mathematics in school, weren’t you?”
Mr. Dolgobindo replied, “That’s right. But I was good in Bengali, you must have seen that while digging through my brain.”
“This place is called Palashboni, isn’t it? Did you name it yourself?” asked Singvit.
“Yes, Palashboni field is my favorite place,” replied Mr. Dolgobindo warmly. He continued, “I’m busy with business all day. There’s no real leisure in my life. This field full of palash trees feels like my own. In spring, when the flowers bloom red, it looks so beautiful. And those you see over there, those are bamboo trees.”
Singvit said, “Over the bamboo grove, the moon...”
He stopped midway through reciting the line and asked, “The moon is your only satellite, I understand. But who is the old woman spinning yarn?”
Mr. Dolgobindo replied, “Ah, that old lady lives inside the moon, well that’s what the story says. She spins yarn there. My grandmother told me that story. It’s been stored in some corner of my brain for ages. You stole that too, didn’t you?”
Singvit said, “Please don’t be upset. We once thought no other planet in this universe had life. For many years, we have searched from planet to planet, finding no trace of living beings. Finally, following the advice of an old scientist, we set out in search of a planet named Misit. We don’t know if life exists there. But today, meeting you here in this Palashboni field, we have learned about Earth. We now know that you humans have already discovered the God Particle. That information too, we obtained from your brain.”
Mr. Dolgobindo said, “That’s just something I read in the newspaper.”
“Of course, our ship realized there was life here as soon as it touched Earth’s soil. Later, we also received many signals from your green trees, signals you cannot detect,” said Singvit.
“No, we can’t. I mean, trees can’t talk,” said Mr. Dolgobindo hesitantly.
“Kolrevo noisiv radorob...” The strange distant sounds floated again. Mr. Dolgobindo still heard the creature’s voice saying, “Thank you very much, Mr. Dolgobindo. Our long search has finally succeeded today. The people of our planet Visit, especially our scientists, the Vashras will never forget you. We will now take all the knowledge we gathered from you and return to our world. Perhaps someday, we may come back to this Earth again...”
Saying this, Singvit slipped through the tiny window and disappeared within seconds.
The strange visitors from Visit were gone.
Mr. Dolgobindo stood alone in the empty field, staring at the sky in wonder.