Thursday, January 29, 2015

ARE UFO STORIES REAL?

A definitive evidence of the extraterrestrial invasion in India in the modern times is the red rain phenomenon. Before investigating the unnatural event that left many guessing about its true cause, it is important to make ourselves comfortable with the intellectual data available to support the fact that there has been contact from intelligent beings from outside of our plant.           
                           
A reader asks: “Are UFO stories real?”
Image Courtesy: nationalgeographic.com

The answer to that question is, yes. Most of the reports and stories circulating around UFO sightings are real. However, there are a certain percentage of UFO sightings that could not be validated based on solid proof or evidence. I am not overlooking the fact that there are many hoaxes and fake videos as well as reports out there.
                                                    
Lack of tangible proof or the so-called ‘smocking gun’ used to be the greatest impediment the mainstream media propagated in order to hide such news or information as the contact with an Unidentified Flying Object or its occupants.

Image Courtesy: www.futureofmankind.co.uk/
There are eyewitness testimonies, verifiable technical data, photographic evidence, and results of chemical and radiation analysis that stand out as stalwart evidence for the truth in UFO “stories”. Much like any other news story though, the accuracy of many of these studies and evidences could be questioned. However, the weight and ingenuity of these evidences are similar to what is required to convict a man for a lifetime sentence in our present day courtrooms. Still, the society does not seem to care much about these overwhelming signs.

One of the similar instances comes to my mind. The 9/11 incident, according to some conspiracy theorists, is a hologram projection that befooled the public and media, and not a real terror attack. They argue that it was a planned event and the planes were just a ploy to divert attention to saw the seeds of hatred. There are no definite answers. This, perhaps, is the nature of the reality of this world we live in. Albert Einstein called it relativity. I would like to call this crisis, the earthly paradigm.
                    
Image Courtesy: wikimedia.org
According to the ‘earthly paradigm’, definite and accurate truth is impossible. There exists, however, a chance to see and experience the truth, through Faith and Believing in God. However, one must also understand that such a concept as God is essentially ‘extraterrestrial’ in nature. This is not to argue that what our ancestor’s addressed as God, the power that is the source of all being is essentially an alien. I do not take that version for granted. I do believe that God is not of this earth, but still, God is inclusive of the earth too. God created everything with His essence. Therefore, he is the creator, independent of his creation and part of all his creation at the same time. This state is an impossibility for any alien being to achieve.

Although Roswell crash, New Mexico is one of the most popular UFO stories, there are other, more reliable and significant UFO encounters across the world. A UFO crash occurred in USSR is one such example that provides evidence that these phenomena are not territorial-bound. Mount Izvestkovaya is in Russia. On January 29, 1986, an Unidentified Flying Object crashed in Dalnegorsk, Primorsky Krai. Mount Izvestkovaya, also known as Height 611, is a hill located on the territory of this town. Later investigators found that “the ground looked like it was affected by very high temperatures. The rocks at the impact site were covered with a black film, and remains of a burnt tree were found within the landing ground. The remains were not typical for a forest fire.”

I used this example above to say that UFOs don’t crash down on American soil alone. Another instance that piqued my attention is the incident with Robert Lee White aka Bob White. In 1985, Bob White witnessed a UFO ejecting a hot substance. He came to possess a metallic cone-shaped object, apparently not made of any known metal upon the earth. Bob White continued to appear in several documentaries and magazine articles dedicated to finding the truth about UFOs, until his death in 2009.
Image Courtesy: http://www.greatdreams.com

In the previous chapter, I attempted to give an introduction to UFO sightings in India. It seems that by day, the evidences are mounting up, and as I investigate into this matter, the amazement and surprise tend to blow out of all proportions. Here is one example to the increasing number of unclassified cases that are flooding the internet.

Wednesday, January 14, 2015

ALIEN SKY: An Introduction to UFO sightings in Kerala



Unidentified Flying Objects are always part of a mystery that has not yet found its much awaited conclusion. No one has been able to convince the media, or the mainstream society of the truth behind these flying objects, which perform unseen-before stunts in our skies. Is it possible that these flying objects are actually vehicles or machines in which beings from some other planet or dimension visit our planet? Although there exists several solid evidences to prove this hypothesis true, our mainstream media does not seem to buy into that state of affairs.

In the first chapter of this series, you have already seen that “On 30 October 2014, during a rainy day, just after sunset, the people of Kochi were said to witness an Unidentified Flying Object (UFO) in the sky”.
  
Image Courtesy: Google
How many of you know that even before, Kerala’s skies have witnessed an intervention of the extraterrestrial type?

One of my personal experiences with UFOs dates back to my mother’s childhood days. I came across this experience in one of our casual talks on unexplained phenomena during my early teen. I was and still am very much interested in topics that usually escape rational explanation and scientific understanding.

Mother described to me once that during her childhood days, she and her siblings were taken to watch a play staged at their local church compound.

Back in those days, staging plays in the church compound was a way to celebrate festivities and church anniversaries. Most of these entertainment shows happened in the evening, well after sunset.

As they were watching the play, my mother recalls, a bright light appearing in the sky. Although she has forgotten the details now, she is certain that the light disappeared without a noise, after a few moments. It was a clear sky, otherwise. It was not just she, who witnessed the sighting, but the whole community did, and most of them, including her, were dismissive about the UFO. In fact, they didn’t have the notion of the UFO in their cultural lexicon back then.

Image Courtesy: Google
A general attitude of the Indian public towards UFOs and other unexplained phenomenon is that their either rationalize it or worship it. The church UFO was thus rationalized into some airplane or falling meteor. However, the reason why my mother still remembered this event astonishes her own sense of rationality.

The possibilities are endless. However, if one never dwells on furthering the studies on these phenomena, there may never be an answer to these questions that are never asked. Who is preventing such questions from being asked? Is it the government? Or is it the collective consciousness of man itself?
Image Courtesy: Google

The positive side of these series of articles that I write on UFO experiences and anomalies of a paranormal nature in Kerala is to bring this discussion in the collective psyche of the culture. The census, taken in 2011, shows that in Kerala, the literacy rate is 93.91 percent in India. This percentage was almost 100 a decade before through a massive literary campaign. However, a very strong leftist trend swept the land through the fifties and seventies and transformed the culture into a rationalist utopia. The problem was that the people learned to reduce everything, every phenomena and every event into a political occurrence. I still remember a professor from Europe, who visited Kerala for some official purposes making a remark for journalists that Kerala is the most politically educated place he had ever seen.

Image Courtesy: www.theepochtimes.com
Perhaps, this reductionism is one reason why the minds of the people aren’t open towards the possibilities and threats involved in instances of UFO appearances and alien contact. In 2001, Kerala witnessed an extraordinary phenomenon that was reported as mildly as possible by the news media. One must remember that they are the same news media that runs after every other sensational story they can catch. The phenomenon I am referring to here is Red Rain. But what makes it more eerie is the location where the most red rain was recorded. It was in Kottayam district. Aren’t you surprised? Didn’t you get the clue yet?


Sunday, January 11, 2015

BREACH BY AMRITA CHOWDHURY: A Young Nation’s Crooked Finger

“Especially in a country with five hundred million below poverty line. That change in price meant life and death for many of them.” (13) Breach, Amrita Chowdhury.

Amrita Chowdhury: Image Courtesy: mid-day.com
Breach is a cyber thriller set in the heart of the growing IT industry in India. The novel unfolds life and times on the narrow edges of technology and hope. In her second attempt at fiction, author Amrita Chowdhury has a remarkable contribution to Indian fiction in English. A few years back another book came out, which I remember, was about India’s new industrial growth and its aftermath on people. The book was The White Tiger; released in 2008.  

India, as a nation, is relatively new to the world of technology. However, this same nation is now called the new champion of cyber world. India has overtaken not just the USA or many other European counterparts; she has overthrown many despotic success makers across the world in the rate of her growth in cyber industry. Thanks to the dedicated IT professionals and engineers, a group that comprises of many of my friends and relatives. In Breach, we will see the dark side of this new moon. It is surprising how a number of books written by different authors mirror the social, economic, and cultural realities of a nation. I also feel that the realities portrayed by Aravind Adiga in The White Tiger, and the one in Breach are representative more of ethical dilemma than a mere mirroring of social realities. Thankfully, these Indian authors do not adhere entirely to the Soviet practice of churning out social realism. One might find a subtle connection between The White Tiger and Breach in this regard.

Going through author Amrita Verma Chowdhury’s writing journey, I am surprised to find that she has done a great job with her first novel, Faking It, which in some way reminds us of Ken Follet’s art thriller Modigliani Scandel. Amrita Chowdhury’s debut novel, Faking It is an art crime thriller about fake modern and contemporary art. Educated in Kanpur and Berkeley, she currently works in publishing. Breach analyzes the terrifying question of how safe our privacy is, in the Internet era. In the virtual world, where anyone or any information could remain a secret only at the mercy of a careless hacker, the drama of human life is taken to another level.

Image Courtesy: Google
Action in Breach takes place in Mumbai, Washington DC and Suzhou. In an intriguing attempt, the author has combined the elements of the medical thrillers with that of cyber thrillers. In Breach, pharma-giant Acel is about to file a global patent application for Colare, a wonder drug for pancreatic cancer. However, their India office that works in Mumbai is hacked. Dr. Udai Vir Dhingra, the charismatic, Ivy-educated young leader of its Indian business, receives the blames for the devastating turn of events.

The protagonist, Vir has to go through a long line of bureaucratic maze, and relationship turmoil to come out of the long tunnel of darkness he finds himself in. Can technology be saved from reaching the hands of ethically devolved individuals who are too keen to gain riches rather than serve a just purpose? Acel’s India office is Vir’s ambition. Can a man save his dreams from being demolished by an unseen enemy?

Hachette India and Amrita Chowdhury has answers to these questions in Breach.

About The Author:
Anu Lal is the author of Wall of Colours and Other Stories, Book-1 in the Hope, Vengeance, and History Trilogy. He resides in India. His upcoming book is Clenched Hands, Bloody Nails. His second book You Should Know How I Feel has been a bestseller in Amazon India.
Author Page: Here
Twitter: @Anulalindia

Saturday, January 3, 2015

BIRD-FLU: Biological Weapon or The Contact?

The UFO that appeared in Kochi on 30 October 2014 is reportedly “needle-like” and has many of the characteristics, usually reported in similar cases. A needle-like object could also indicate rockets or any similar types of destructive flying machines, made by man. Does this prove that in Kochi, Kerala, we compromised our aerial security?

Image Courtesy: www.lib.utexas.edu
China is India’s closest residing superpower, and a constant military threat. Pakistan’s recent attempts to help terrorists to infiltrate on boarder territories also add significant political weight to the situation. However, surprisingly, the authorities seem very much ignorant of even the occurrence of the UFO event in Kochi. The fourth estate also seems incapable of bringing it out into public attention. The only way such a situation can be overcome over come with clarity and answers is to bring it into public attention. One positive aspect of the contemporary UFO research in the US is the increased number of people participation. Thanks to the many television channels that run successful shows on aliens and UFOs.

For someone who closely watches these television shows, one thing would be evident; these shows are not just moneymakers and top of the chart hits in popularity surveys. They are also infusing into public awareness the necessity of asking questions about those answerless puzzles. The awareness about UFOs and the Contact with another intelligent species is slowly being part of the collective consciousness. However, these popular shows, in the race to monetize everything that comes into their hands, disclose information that is often misleading. For example, the abbreviation UFO only means, Unidentified Flying Object. In other words, if an observer could not identify a flying machine or object that one spots in the sky, this object could be addressed an Unidentified Flying Object, or a UFO. Once the flying object is identified as a kite, or a Chinese lantern, or an airplane, it ceases to be called a UFO, because it is no longer unidentified. This simple and rather naïve logic escapes most of us, when we talk about UFOs, and immediately associate the term with people coming from other planets, visiting the earth.
Image Courtesy: Google

In fact, our culture is increasingly modified and shaped by our media. In such a situation, there is no escape from being affected by such cultural motifs, as “all UFOs are alien vehicles.”     

Is the Kochi UFO a Chinese intervention into our airspace? Or was it a Pakistani intervention? A drone sent to secretly map the territories of Kochi, one of the most important ports on planet earth, by one of these two unruly neighbors?

If that has already happened, one thing is as clear as daylight. A connection exists between the presence of the Unidentified Flying Object in our skies, and the bird flu. As a result, could the bird flu eruption be explained as some form of biological warfare?

Image Courtesy: mashable.com
If this is true, why hasn’t the Indian Defense Ministry responded yet? Indian army is one of the best in Asia. Considering India’s recent relationship status with the US, one of the elite warlords in the world, a threat from Pakistan or China could be easily confronted using the help from the US. Often, it is seen that war-related news never escapes the media. Arguing from this stand point suggests that what transpired in the skies of the ancient port-city of Kochi wasn’t a spy drone from Pakistan or biological weapon from China. It may not even be a manufactured intervention. It could be much more fantastic, extraterrestrial. This is not unusual or unheard of. Perhaps, to the common public, it is unheard of news, but to the scientific community in Kerala, extraterrestrial contact is not new!

How many of you know that even before, Kerala’s skies have witnessed an intervention of the extraterrestrial type?