Ayaz Rasool Nazaki
Dr Speilberg called his students to attention and then began counting 10, 9, 8, 7, . . . . 3, 2, 1. He pushed the button on the panel in front of him. Ajab Malik closed his eyes and searched his memory for something to produce here. The excitement was so intense that he was unable to pick up anything for a while. The screen remained blank. Then it began, first a haze, slowly a blur and then a picture. The entire group watched with bated breath as a beautiful crystal clear lake surrounded by snow-capped mountains appeared on the screen. A small boat materialized on the placid waters. A man, a woman and a little boy sat on a thick mattress. The man looked taller than the mountains around him—serene, calm, composed, lost in his own world. The woman played with the little boy and brought out a candy; the little boy removed the covering and hastily put the candy into his mouth, played with the wrapper and then tossed it into the lake. The woman reprimanded him, warning him by gesticulations. The lake became turbulent, waves and waves all around the little boat. The little boy clung to the woman’s bosom as the boat rocked, turned and tossed; the man sat calm, quiet and serene. Ajab Malik opened his eyes. Dr Speilberg pressed a button. The entire audience came alive. The doctor hurried towards Ajab and putting his hand on his shoulder exclaimed, “Congratulations Ajab Malik, we have done it. We have done it.Wait, I will play it back to you.” He walked back to his panel, pressed a key and looked up at the screen. It remained blank. He waited. The entire audience waited. Ajab Malik waited but nothing happened.
Dr Speilberg checked his gadgets. He fiddled with the keys on the control and a caption appeared on the screen “Disc is blank.”
“Oh my God! I didn’t connect the recorder.” Everybody watched in disbelief. But never one to give up or give in, Dr Speilberg said, “Never mind boys, we have done it. We will do it again. Ajab Malik, do stay awhile.”
The doctor again went through the entire exercise. Ajab again closed his eyes shut as the doctor pressed the key. The screen came alive with a lush green meadow. There appeared a backdrop of a dense forest and a range of lofty mountains. A big bird of multicoloured plumage descended from the skies and landed on the outstretched palms of Ajab Malik. Dr Speilberg and his students watched spellbound. The screen froze and Ajab opened his eyes. Dr Speilberg pressed a key. The screen went blank. He got up and moved towards Ajab. He felt concerned. “What is it Ajab Malik. Are you well?”
“Yes, doctor, I am alright.”
“Then, remove your helmet, come out and join us, and we will play back now.”
Ajab abandoned the chair and joined his friends.
Dr Speilberg headed for his panel and played back the sequence. Ajab watched and as soon as the bird appeared he ran towards the screen calling out loudly, “Noshlab, my Noshlab! Noshlab, my Noshlab! Where are you? Where are you?” Dr. Speilberg and his students ran after him. As they came near, he became dizzy and numb, and mumbling incoherently fell on the floor in a heap and passed out.
Dr Speilberg heard Ajab Malik with full attention. When he finished his tale, he tried to rationalize the entire sequence of events. “Look Ajab, it could simply be a case of autosuggestion. You have lulled your senses into believing that a charm was thrown at the young lady and she was transformed into a unique bird. Your mind has not only given it a shape but also provided it with wings to fly so that it has gone away. What you need is psychiatric help. We will arrange that. But before we do that, let us be certain about one thing. This bird of yours,” he pointed towards the large screen where a bird stood projected, “needs to be tracked. We can do that. I will feed it into our super computer, establish a link through satellite and scan entire Germany. We will try to locate any bird resembling this one. That shall satisfy you?”
Ajab Malik heard the good doctor with patience. At last he replied, “I am not mad. If only you knew what I know, and if only you had seen what I have seen, you would believe every word I spoke. But I do agree, it is hard to believe in such seemingly impossible stuff. I will gladly submit to a psychiatrist but as you said, “Let us go for the scan.”
“That is fine my boy. Here we go.” Saying this the doctor got up and so did Ajab. They headed for the super computer chamber. Once inside, the professor began his elaborate exercise of feeding the data into the computer. Ajab watched in silence. Turning towards him, the doctor said, “Let us begin with the entire planet. Let us issue a command. Is this type of bird a native of the planet?” He fiddled with the keyboard in front of him and typed out the command. In a few seconds the screen went blank and Ajab Malik’s heart lost a beat or two. The screen came alive and in bold words, he could read, ‘Yes.’
“Good,” said the Doctor. “Now our next command.” He began keying it in.
‘Is it a native of Europe?’
Again the screen went blank and again after a few moments it brightened up and a definite ‘Yes’ emerged on the screen. “Good… Good,” said the doctor. “Now my boy, I am going to frame a critical command!” He began keying in again. ‘Is this bird a native of Asia?’
‘No,’ the computer readily replied. The good doctor turned to Ajab Malik. “There you see. If it were not a native of Asia, how come you saw it in Kashmir?”
Ajab Malik’s face lit up. His story was beginning to gather evidence. He shrugged his shoulders. The doctor looked back at his desk. “Now let us go for the scan, or wait a bit, let us get some more information.” He began keying in the command. It read ‘What is the total number of this species in Europe and how is it classified? What are its characteristics?’ Both men waited for the computer to process the information and come up with answers. It took some time. Ajab fixed his gaze on the little screen in front of him. By and by, the words emerged.
‘There is only one bird in entire Europe that is unclassified. Not in store.’ Dr Speilberg almost fell off his chair. He turned towards Ajab Malik. “It is a great mystery. I am beginning to believe you. Come let us go to the scan. We cannot leave it at that.” They rose from their seats and proceeded into an adjoining chamber. It housed the great marvel of scanning technology. A set of innocuous machines was capable of scanning the entire globe for the minutest of things. This was one of Germany’s prestigious creations.Within a fraction of a second, the person sitting behind the panel could locate the tiniest of villages, streets or buildings situated anywhere on the globe. Dr Speilberg took his seat behind the panel. He switched on the unit and a screen flashed in front of them. He was so preoccupied with the idea of locating the bird that he almost forgot Ajab Malik who stood behind him. The doctor fed the complete data pertaining to the bird and commanded the unit to scan Europe for it.
The scan came to life and began working immediately with a buzzing sound. The doctor waited and Ajab Malik’s heart began pounding in his rib cage. His sixth sense told him that Noshlab was at hand. He could smell the fragrance of her hair in the still environs of Dr Speilberg’s laboratory. For him time stood still. He remained at the threshold of a new dawn. Deep inside him he knew that all his dreams were going to come true. The scan continued to roam over the vales and dales of Europe, over soil and sea, over forest and meadow, over rock and bush, over busy highways and waterways. It was an eternity for both the men sitting behind the panel. At last the buzzing sound stopped and the screen came to life. The camera took a shot of a thick forest with green, tall, beautiful trees, against the backdrop of high snow-capped mountains. There was a lush green meadow in the foreground with flocks of sheep busy grazing. The camera zoomed onto the trees and continued to hover over them, scanning almost every tree. “Jesus!! It is there! Yes, it is there,” Speilberg burst out having spotted the bird perched on a tree. Ajab could not believe his eyes, “Yes, yes, there’s my Noshlab, there…. He could not complete the sentence. He was totally overwhelmed. His voice choked, tears streamed down his cheeks.The doctor put his hand on the keyboard and commanded, ‘Exact location of the spot.’ As soon as he wrote, pat came the reply: 12 miles NE Lat….
The doctor issued another command.
‘Zoom in on the object. Full view all angles.’
The scan began to operate but the camera seemed unable to project further. The doctor repeated the command. Again the buzzing sound came on but the cameras refused to go beyond a point. “What is wrong?” the doctor murmured to himself. Ajab Malik’s gaze remained glued to the screen where he could see his Noshlab perched on a branch. At last the answer to the doctor’s command appeared.
‘High energy field around the object—not possible—further progress not advisable—damage to system apprehended.’
“Oh my god! Ajab Malik, your bird is really mysterious to say the least.You talked of a charm or something?”
“Yes she was transformed into this shape by a wicked Baba. I told you that.”
The doctor thought for a while. Then he again began typing out a new command.
‘How to break the energy barrier?’ Pat came the reply.
‘Fire high energy beam in the outer ring of objects energy zone’
Dr Speilberg was not sure now. How could he fire a high-energy beam from his station? Ajab Malik was now on edge. He did not want to lose Noshlab again. He began pleading with Dr Speilberg. “Please do something for God’s sake, please.”
“I can understand your situation. I am beginning to believe in you, let us see. We will try our best.”
An excerpt from Ayaz Rasool Nazki’s book SATISAR, THE VALLEY OF DEMONS published by Vitasta Publishing and the book is available on www.vitastapublishing.com
