UFO Day for Earthlings

 UFO Day for Earthlings

These lifeless mechanical mice that navigate the computer can sometimes give the impression of having a brain. They may accidently open random sites on the internet which can be effective tools for purposeful pursuit of topics unknown to us or the exact opposite and devour your minutes and hours purposelessly. So, when I accidentally clicked on the date tomorrow, what do you think opened?

Tomorrow, July 2, is the World UFO Day.

If like me, you too thought that UFOs are mere feathers in the air imagined decades ago by writers like H G Wells, and should be left in some unknown space, forget that and read ahead.
The objective of the World UFO Day is to create awareness among the residents of planet earth so that we study the skies for unidentified flying objects or UFOs.

The story is short that in July 1947, personnel at the Roswell Army Air Field, USA, found metal and rubber debris from a military balloon. They then told newsmen that they were in possession of a flying disc. Several years later, conspiracy theories claimed the debris was of an alien spaceship and that the government had covered it up. How those propounding this theory reached this conclusion, I do not understand.

Naturally, there was a powerful game of ping-pong of theories and counter-theories on the subject, followed by silence for a few years. But like in Michael Jackson’s Thriller, these ghosts lying quietly in their graves, came to life. Several claims and counter-claims were made again, and the World UFO Day Organisation (WUFODO) declared that every year July 2 is going to be the World UFO Day. Not only that, UFO researcher Haktan Akdogan earned a place in the list of world who’s who for being the first to celebrate the World UFO Day in 2001.

Roswell too found a spot of respect on the tourist map with its International UFO Museum and Research Centre (a non-profit organisation).

For those interested in memorizing trivia facts to shut others up on the topic, US Air Force officer Edward Ruppelt gets the credit for coining the expression ‘UFO’ i.e., Unidentified Flying Object.  

Fox Mulder's desk in X-Files

As always happens after a historic event, the idea proved to be a seed for creative endeavours, various commercial enterprises and source of livelihood for thousands of people connected with them, on this planet.

The events lit the creative fire in Melinda Metz who wrote Roswell High, a ten-book series on aliens and naturally it was made into a television series ‘Roswell, New Mexico’. And you should yourselves be happy recalling and counting several books written/read and films made/seen on the subject of UFOs, aliens and extra-terrestrial life.

Believers have no doubt that people exist beyond Earth. They celebrate the day through discussions, events and workshops on how we human beings are not the only ones with brains in the Universe.  

Now for most of us, dealing with our fellow earthlings itself is a major challenge, so imagine if strange-looking inhabitants of other stars also try to peek into our lives, curious about the mundane going-ons in the 24 hours assigned to us every day, and land in our backyards.

Anything that I write here cannot in any way compete with the fantastical objects and creatures that writers and film-makers have conjured up in the name of UFOs and aliens. But always the one for celebrations, I say, participate. Do not waste your time watching Avatar, Extinction, Max Steel, E.T. etc., cooped up inside the house or flipping the pages of a book on similar themes.

If it does not rain tonight in your area, drive out of town into wilderness, spread a sheet somewhere quiet and dark, throw a welcome to Earth party to entice aliens landing in their uran-tashtaris (flying saucers). I get the impression that no living human being while conscious and with the two peepers stuck on top half of our faces wide open, has seen an alien. Can anybody describe their appearance, language, behaviour anything with certainty or measure their level of intelligence? So, you are allowed free expression for your imagination; design your own costume, think up food, even drinks for sustenance, gaze up the stars, discuss scientific discoveries and NASA’s space age technology. Who knows you might be the one to have ‘a close encounter’, a ufology term for the one seeing a UFO, and come up with your own original theory on extraterrestrial beings.

I feel that the non-believers though, have a better option. Now this day also celebrates anisette, an anise-flavoured liqueur which is sweet yet, strong enough in alcohol content so as not to be taken neat. Popular in the Mediterranean region, this one is not only real, but also said to be in use for about 200 years. I am told that there is mention in the Bible of use of anise as herb and medicine in Egypt as far back inhistory as 1500 B.C.

Being a little extra-considerate, I would also like to boost the (idiomatic) spirit of parents of extra-energetic young children. Remember, tomorrow is the last day of summer vacation in most of the schools in north India. It is daily dose of freedom for you from the following day.

Now, whether you pronounce to the world ‘I want to believe’ like Fox Mulder, the X-Files hero or say cheers, pick up your glass of Anisette and have a great July 2.

                                                                  -Anupama S Mani