In a mid-sized galaxy somewhere towards the centre of the
known universe was a rocky planet that spun on its axis and orbited around its
sun with unfailing regularity in the process experiencing day and night and
four distinct seasons. This was Planet P and it had plenty of water and a
sufficiently dense and stable atmosphere to support organic life. It was
teeming with a profusion of life- plants, insects, animals, birds, and marine
life. The most evolved form of life was a four-limbed animal that walked
upright on its legs, lived in homes that it built on its own, and moved around
in vehicles it had built itself that let it move on land, water and air.
The name of this intelligent species of beings or people was
Pingolians and they lived a good and happy life as their planet was well
endowed with natural resources-rivers and oceans to fish in and travel on,
extensive forests to gather fruit and hunt animals for food and vast expanses
of farmland to grow grain and vegetables.
The Pingolians lived on four different continents separated by the ocean
but were in close touch with each other by way of trade, travel and often
marital and family ties.
There was peace between the people living on the four
different continents as there wasn’t any reason to detest each other or covet
what anybody else had as everybody lived pretty much the same kind of life. The
only time the Pingolians ever competed against each other would be in the
annual sports contests between the people living on the four continents. The
games were organised alternately in one of the four continents and were run
according to very strict rules and regulations which were scrupulously observed
by all the participants.
Though there was a healthy rivalry between the four continents
and the annual games were a very important part of the people’s lives and
culture there was never acrimony involved. The participants in the games were
free to join the team of a continent other than their own, the only condition
being that they should start living on that continent along with their families.
That was the way things were on the idyllic planet P with
its inhabitants living a largely peaceful and serene life till there was a
tumultuous event in their lives which would threaten to alter their way of life
for good. It was the arrival of an alien species of people from a far-away
planet Earth who while they appeared quite similar to the Pingolians in the way
they looked, were very different in the way that they thought.
When their spacecraft first crash-landed in one of the thick
jungles of Planet P, the earthlings were amazed to find a planet so much like
their own and with flora and fauna quite similar to what was found on their
home planet Earth. They were even more
amazed when they came across the Pingolians, a species that was almost
identical to theirs. Soon the earthling visitations became quite frequent on
the planet and a regular discourse between the Pingolians and the earthlings
began.
The Pingolians were quite amazed by the technological
advancement that the earthlings had achieved, which the latter readily
demonstrated by showing the Pingolians how to hunt better with their weapons or
fly and travel across their four continents in a matter of minutes in their
technologically very advanced vehicles capable of moving very quickly on land,
sea and air. The earthlings established a permanent station on Planet P on land
granted by the government of the continent of Zwinga which grew to 10,000 men,
women and children with time. They lived in homes that the humans built and
ate food that they grew themselves or hunted in the nearby forests. From time
to time they would sample the locally grown produce in the shape of grain,
fruit and vegetables and found that it quite suited them.
Once every month the commander of the Earth station would
meet with the highest personage in the continent of Zwinga, who went by the
title Chief Benefactor. His name was Twa and he held an elected office for life
which required him to rule and administer the continent with the help of a
similarly elected council of ministers. Twa lived in a grand house made of
timber, stone and mud bricks, neatly plastered over by some kind of glossy
material made by mixing a kind of sand and orange-coloured crushed stone, bathing the building in a dull orange light.
He welcomed his guest from the Earth Station in a large
spacious compound with a wooden floor and a gazebo-like structure overhead also
composed of wood. There were four comfortable reclining wooden chairs in
the middle of the room, each with a pair of cushions to support a person's hips
and back. The chairs formed a kind of
circle and in the middle, there was a table laden with a variety of fresh
fruit.
Twa was seated on one of the chairs and beckoned to Roy
Gordon the commander of the earth station and his assistant Rahul John to make
themselves comfortable on the seats. Twa’s chief confidant Ingpuk was seated on
the chair next to his boss.
“ So I trust, everything is fine on the Earth Station, my
friend”, he said with the easy familiarity of someone who is an old friend.
“Yes, indeed, it is Your Excellency. We are all quite
comfortable and well settled here on Zwinga, thanks to the incredible
hospitality of you and your people. We cannot adequately express how grateful
we are to the people of Planet P, particularly those of Zwinga for allowing us
to be a part of your lives,” replied Roy, deferentially, but confidently.
The answer seemed to please Twa who replied generously,
"The pleasure is all ours. We on Planet P have learnt much from our
brothers from Earth and are grateful to you for teaching us how to hunt better
and grow more food. Even though we always had enough for everyone's needs, it
does give us more time for leisure, now that we can obtain more food
faster."
“Exactly,” said Roy. “You even have a surplus which you can
trade for goods that might be more readily available on the other continents
and thereby better meet each other’s needs.”
“Hmm, I see what you mean. But to what end? It’s not as if
we want more.”
“Well,” said Roy, “There’s no harm in having more. It makes
you happier.”
“Hmm, I am not sure I agree with that. You know when your
people first appeared on our lands in your fire chariots with all your
incredible weapons and amazing vehicles, many of us believed that you were the
gods themselves. You showed us many wonderful things which made our lives
easier, but I wonder if this is really what we want,” said Twa.
A frown creased Roy’s brow, who replied a little tersely, “Have
we by our actions or behaviour done anything that would be considered even
remotely not in the interest of your people, Your Excellency?”
"Well, no Roy. But there has been an increase in
quarrels and petty crimes throughout the four continents, on account of people
having more time on their hands, because of the faster means of producing
food that have been deployed by our people across the planets. Also, the excess food that we
produce these days requires us to invest in building granaries where the stored
grain often goes bad. In fact, many people have fallen sick eating such
grain."
“Your excellency, I assure you---.”
“Wait”, there is more said Twa dismissively. “I have been
reading the history of your planet which your people very kindly translated
into our language and presented to us in the shape of those reading documents
you call books. It has been a very depressing account of how because of incredible short-sightedness and greed the earthlings destroyed the ecology of
the very planet that fed them and sustained them. You are technologically very
advanced, I grant you that. Some of you could leave the dying earth in
spaceships and go and populate other planets, where you repeated your
perfidious behaviour.
We will not let you do to Planet P, what you have done to so
many other planets across the universe. In fact, your forebears had paid us a
visit a thousand years ago and we have the records of that time with us. We
made your ancestors leave and it is time for you to leave as well. You may be
technologically our superior but are too few and too far away from your home to
be much trouble for us. This was understood by your ancestors and I am sure you
understand it as well.
Roy looked like a thunderbolt had struck him.
"Your Excellency, I don't—
Twa interrupted him with a smile.
"You have the right to be perplexed and
amazed, I grant you that. You must wonder how a savage and backward people like
us can see through your game. My answer to you is that technological progress
does not mean that you have evolved very highly as a species. We let you live
amongst us all this while to see if you had evolved to the stage where you
could live in peace with others. But alas, you have not. Your people may kindly
leave over the next few weeks. We will help you with your preparation in
whatever way we can. Perhaps in the future, we will truly be able to live as
one family with our human brothers who come in peace."
