Dusky grey wings. Black overalls. Flaming red and bright orange – yellow paints by the wingside. And as it moved against the light of the sun, the flashy red paints and the bright orange – yellow mix looked like the wings were on fire. The tail piece had a silken smooth finish with smaller rudders bearing a cylindrical seepage device that jetted out sparkling fluorescent blue flames. It was these flames that made craft cut into wind at unimaginable speeds creating violent cracking sounds. Thunderbolts were put to shame. Sitting in the cockpit wearing a full black outfit and a cape was me in my Indra Dhanush. The pilfered airforce style Ray Ban that I had borrowed from my father without his knowledge had come in handy. I might have put the dubbelosevens to shame as well.

The Indra Dhanush (at that time, the super fictional tv soap “Indra Dhanush” was a big hit amongst us kids and so the name was a pretty easy search) was no easy machine to create. It required high levels of creativity, ingenuity and a tremendous will power to make. Each part of the sonic aircraft (that could float on sand as easily as an air filled balloon on water and could cut in and out of water as the swiftest of dolphins could) had been worked to detail. For instance, if an enemy were to have attack me from the behind, all I had to do was press a button and the tail piece of the aircraft would change places with the front portion. Even though I would be flying in the same direction, I would be facing the enemy and there he would be thinking how in god’s name would he be able to avoid the head on collision. Pretty silly, it would have made him feel. But then when you are a super hero, all tasks are easy done than said.

It was 12:30 hrs by hand held space-time describer (I called it the STD). This was a unique device that could predict the time and location of a possible enemy attack with a precision that would put to shame the current bunch of black belts and six sigma enthusiasts. I stepped into the aircraft. And as the door slid by, silence could be heard.

“May we have your identification please?” (Silicon Graphics, they said much later, couldn’t have done it that well). And I held both my palms face to face together and close to my chest. Face and neck forward and facing downwards a bit (modern day folks call it the “Kow Tow”) and eyes closed for a whiff of a second. Inside the human body, this position draws the energies of the mind and heart together. The energy flows so smoothly and transcends outwards that can be trapped to a energy meter and measured.  This energy is specific to each individual and as a security measure, is far safer than a retinal scan.

The craft then lit up inside. Bright crimson hues arose from the cockpit side while the tailside drew up multi coloured incense smokes. Aroma comes from the organic term Aromatic meaning “drawn from aromatic compounds”. A resonating voice calmly greeted –

“Welcome aboard the Indra Dhanush. Please take your seat.”

The sleak leather upholstered seater mechanically railed to where I stood. I moved in a step and sat down. Seat belts moved across my torso automatically and strapped me to the seat. And then I had taken my rightful place in the cockpit.

A second barely passed when my std chimed resonatingly – ching chang. The multihued glass panel displayed a red dot moving across 23° 26′ 21″ N. My mind tracked down the math faster than chacha chowdhury.

Ψ = arctan(cos (ξ)^2 tan (Ø)). (or to simplify to the laybrain it is just
\psi=\arctan\|\|\left(\cos(o\|\varepsilon)^2\tan(\phi)\right).\;\|)

OK! So it was in the tropic of cancer. My chronometric mind did a little mapmaking and I found out that it was on the H-4.

The ignitions switched on, the engine smoothly fired. I backed a bit and turned to the left to get a clear run-way.

My head started counting in tandem to the resonating digital voice.

10                     -                       Ten
9                      -                       Nine
8                      -                       Eight
7                      -                       Seven

What was that? Something disturbed me. I was not alone.

6                      -                       Six
5                      -                       Five
4                      -                       Four
3                      -                       Three

I could definitely listen to whispers and murmurings that kept growing in decibel counts. Whatever it was, was very close to me. Suddenly, there was a sense of chillness enveloping all around me.

2                      -                       Two
1                       -                       One

Thwaack? And something hit me on the back of my head ....                       

                                                                                  tbc ...