Scientists at NASA were surprised to find an image of a human being on the screen. How could this be possible!?! They looked at each other with question marks all around their faces. Some of them were not just surprised, they were scared.
The image was that of a human who was smiling into a camera. He sported a huge mustache and all he had was a piece of cloth around his waist.
What’s so scary about the image of a human?! Nothing. But if the images are being transmitted by Curiosity rover, a robot exploring planet Mars, you will sit up and take notice.
Not knowing how to respond, one of the lead scientist spoke into the mike “Hello…”. The voice was carried over space to the speakers on the rover. On Earth, the team of scientist could see the human looking surprised at the rover’s introduction.
The unknown human on the screen now folded his hands and said “Namaskaram”.
Most scientists on the ground could not make head or tail of what was said. But one scientist of Indian origin jumped up from his seat and said “He is speaking something in an Indian language. Namaskar in Hindi means salutations.”
“How do I respond?”, asked the lead scientist.
“Say Namaskar in return”, replied the Indian origin guy.
“Namaskar”, said the lead scientist switching on his mike.
The team could now see the unknown human raising his eyebrows. A smile soon appeared on his face as he muttered, “Aiyyo, idh yendhoru adhishyam!”
The whole team on Earth had now clambered onto the Indian origin scientist table who was however holding his head on his hands in despair.
“What is he saying?”, questioned the lead scientist.
“Martian”, continued the Indian origin guy, “I cannot figure out the meaning. But, but, but….I think Aiyyo is a Tamil word. We should get a Tamil interpreter to figure this out.”
The lead scientist pressed a few keys and a Tamil scientist appeared on the adjoining screen.
“Sivaramakrishna, please interpret that sentence for us. I’m told this is your language Tamil.“, ordered the lead scientist.
Sivaramakrishna now re-winded the dialogues and countered, “This is not Tamil, looks like Malayalam to me. Get Srini online. He is the right guy.”
Richard, the leader of the team once again pushed a few keys and a Srinivasan came online. Once again all the scenes were re-winded and Srini responded, “Boss, what he meant was ‘Oh my God, this is a surprise!’. But, why is he surprised?”.
“Ask him in his language. But before you do that, put it thru the language interpreter so that we can follow what you guys are saying.”, Richard’s ordered Srini.
The team could see Srini getting ready to converse with the unknown human.
(Rest of the conversation took place in Malayalam, but has been interpreted here.)
Srini : "Namaskaram (Hello)"
Smile on the unknown humans face turned into a frown and he said, “This device is designed to keep on repeating ‘Hello’. Must be like one of the mantra repeater device that you get in market now-a-day’s. But how did it land up on Mangal (Mars)!?”
Srinivasan and his entire team were flummoxed. This guy was referring to the planet by name! He was also referring to an electronic device which keeps on repeating mantras. Unbelievable.
Srini gathered all his wits and continued, “You are on Mar’s?”
The unknown human now smiled and said, “Oh, so you can speak. Of course, I’m on Mars, so are you. I was surprised to see a moving object on this barren piece of land. That’s why came over to investigate.”
A huge round of applause was heard across the control room. This was historic.
“Where have you seen this device which repeats words?”
Richards raised his hands to show his thumbs up on the question.
“Many places, including the Connemara Market.”, replied the unknown face.
“Is Connemara Market on Mars?”, asked Srini.
“Of course not. Connemara is on Prithvi (Earth).”, said the unknown face.
Srini could feel his stomach churn. But he continued, “You have been to Earth?”
“Yes, many times. In fact, I was on Earth a few weeks ago. ”
Richards could not help but shake his head in disbelief. He noticed that half his team were also shaking their head. Here he was putting all scientific knowledge collected over so many years to build a robot which could travel in space only to find that an unknown human talks about doing the same very casually. Disgusting.
“When did you last visit Earth?”, Srini quizzed.
“Few weeks ago. That’s when I visited Connemara in Thiruvananthapuram.”
Richards could not believe his ears. This guy was even naming places on Earth! What on Earth was going on?! He turned to his team mate sitting next to him and pinched him. His team mate yelled in surprise.
“What was that for Boss?”
“Sorry man, I wanted to check if I was dreaming.”
“Aren’t you supposed to pinch yourself in such cases, rather than going around pinching your neighbours?”, complained his team mate.
Srini, in the meantime had opened Google maps to check out if Connemara was indeed a market in Thiruvananthapuram.
Having located Connemara, Srini , turned to the unknown face once again.
“How many days were you on Earth?”
“Around 10 days.”
“Where else did you visit during you visit?”
“I was travelling the length and breadth of Kerala having a feast of a time.”
Srini could now feel his head reeling. This is not how he wanted an encounter with an alien to unfold. He found his boss, Richard, standing next to him fuming.
“Ask him his name, dammit. This is serious stuff.”
“Do you have a name?”, Srini asked with all politeness he could muster. He now felt great respect for this alien who spoke his language.
“Maveli (Mahabali)”.
There was a loud thud and Richards found Srini lying on the floor unconscious.
The image was that of a human who was smiling into a camera. He sported a huge mustache and all he had was a piece of cloth around his waist.
What’s so scary about the image of a human?! Nothing. But if the images are being transmitted by Curiosity rover, a robot exploring planet Mars, you will sit up and take notice.
Not knowing how to respond, one of the lead scientist spoke into the mike “Hello…”. The voice was carried over space to the speakers on the rover. On Earth, the team of scientist could see the human looking surprised at the rover’s introduction.
The unknown human on the screen now folded his hands and said “Namaskaram”.
Most scientists on the ground could not make head or tail of what was said. But one scientist of Indian origin jumped up from his seat and said “He is speaking something in an Indian language. Namaskar in Hindi means salutations.”
“How do I respond?”, asked the lead scientist.
“Say Namaskar in return”, replied the Indian origin guy.
“Namaskar”, said the lead scientist switching on his mike.
The team could now see the unknown human raising his eyebrows. A smile soon appeared on his face as he muttered, “Aiyyo, idh yendhoru adhishyam!”
The whole team on Earth had now clambered onto the Indian origin scientist table who was however holding his head on his hands in despair.
“What is he saying?”, questioned the lead scientist.
“Martian”, continued the Indian origin guy, “I cannot figure out the meaning. But, but, but….I think Aiyyo is a Tamil word. We should get a Tamil interpreter to figure this out.”
The lead scientist pressed a few keys and a Tamil scientist appeared on the adjoining screen.
“Sivaramakrishna, please interpret that sentence for us. I’m told this is your language Tamil.“, ordered the lead scientist.
Sivaramakrishna now re-winded the dialogues and countered, “This is not Tamil, looks like Malayalam to me. Get Srini online. He is the right guy.”
Richard, the leader of the team once again pushed a few keys and a Srinivasan came online. Once again all the scenes were re-winded and Srini responded, “Boss, what he meant was ‘Oh my God, this is a surprise!’. But, why is he surprised?”.
“Ask him in his language. But before you do that, put it thru the language interpreter so that we can follow what you guys are saying.”, Richard’s ordered Srini.
The team could see Srini getting ready to converse with the unknown human.
(Rest of the conversation took place in Malayalam, but has been interpreted here.)
Srini : "Namaskaram (Hello)"
Smile on the unknown humans face turned into a frown and he said, “This device is designed to keep on repeating ‘Hello’. Must be like one of the mantra repeater device that you get in market now-a-day’s. But how did it land up on Mangal (Mars)!?”
Srinivasan and his entire team were flummoxed. This guy was referring to the planet by name! He was also referring to an electronic device which keeps on repeating mantras. Unbelievable.
Srini gathered all his wits and continued, “You are on Mar’s?”
The unknown human now smiled and said, “Oh, so you can speak. Of course, I’m on Mars, so are you. I was surprised to see a moving object on this barren piece of land. That’s why came over to investigate.”
A huge round of applause was heard across the control room. This was historic.
“Where have you seen this device which repeats words?”
Richards raised his hands to show his thumbs up on the question.
“Many places, including the Connemara Market.”, replied the unknown face.
“Is Connemara Market on Mars?”, asked Srini.
“Of course not. Connemara is on Prithvi (Earth).”, said the unknown face.
Srini could feel his stomach churn. But he continued, “You have been to Earth?”
“Yes, many times. In fact, I was on Earth a few weeks ago. ”
Richards could not help but shake his head in disbelief. He noticed that half his team were also shaking their head. Here he was putting all scientific knowledge collected over so many years to build a robot which could travel in space only to find that an unknown human talks about doing the same very casually. Disgusting.
“When did you last visit Earth?”, Srini quizzed.
“Few weeks ago. That’s when I visited Connemara in Thiruvananthapuram.”
Richards could not believe his ears. This guy was even naming places on Earth! What on Earth was going on?! He turned to his team mate sitting next to him and pinched him. His team mate yelled in surprise.
“What was that for Boss?”
“Sorry man, I wanted to check if I was dreaming.”
“Aren’t you supposed to pinch yourself in such cases, rather than going around pinching your neighbours?”, complained his team mate.
Srini, in the meantime had opened Google maps to check out if Connemara was indeed a market in Thiruvananthapuram.
Having located Connemara, Srini , turned to the unknown face once again.
“How many days were you on Earth?”
“Around 10 days.”
“Where else did you visit during you visit?”
“I was travelling the length and breadth of Kerala having a feast of a time.”
Srini could now feel his head reeling. This is not how he wanted an encounter with an alien to unfold. He found his boss, Richard, standing next to him fuming.
“Ask him his name, dammit. This is serious stuff.”
“Do you have a name?”, Srini asked with all politeness he could muster. He now felt great respect for this alien who spoke his language.
“Maveli (Mahabali)”.
There was a loud thud and Richards found Srini lying on the floor unconscious.
