"God's Eye View", c., 2010 by Ashutosh kaul
Squadron Leader Rakesh Sharma( later Wing commander); first Indian in Space spent eight days abroad Salyut 7 space station many many years ago .Actually he was launched from Baikanour on 2nd April 1984 , aboard Soyuz T-11. In a famous conversation that was televised live and is seared on countless minds; he was asked by the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi how India looked from the space and he replied, Saare Jahan Se Achcha, ("better than the entire world", The opening lines of a famous Indian patriotic Anthem by Muhammad Iqbal).http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0r4FX_z8kM&feature=related
Imagine if he was sent back today what possible answer can he give??? Could he say the same thing again? Luckily he need not answer it ,since he is happily retired now and will be spared the dilemma. So who can answer this question for us ?
A couple of years before that space odyssey ;Muhammad Rafi sang "Khuda bhi aasmaan se jab zameen par dekhta hoga...." (when God gazes on this earth...). God! that's who can answer this for us. God sees it all; doesn't he? So what does God see? Suppose we ask?
I tried and God sent some images. It was not of a green verdant landscape with a cascading waterfall. It was not of well fed, happy ,content and serene faces of people. It was not a little boat lazing in a calm sea. Neither was it of laughing ,shouting and playing children. God did not see butterflies floating in air either or that riot of colours that spring brings to the garden. Missed the sweetly singing bird too.
Instead those images were confused and a little out of focus. There was no India . In fact there was no country anywhere ,just endless agitation as far as you could see. Images were one on top of the other. They were hiding each other and peeping out at places. All very confusing but one could make out flashes of sharp light; billowing grey smoke, congealing red blood on the roads making an ever spreading dark mass. Blue black and pink lacerations on earth and on flesh. Loud noises ;so loud that you can not hear them .You could only see and smell and feel its ominous presence. And there were voices;many many threatening voices ; speaking angrily in an unintelligible language that did not sound human at all. God was also about to say something but then there was another big bang and I woke up. Sorry I did not catch it or I would not hesitate to tell you .
All I know is that the God's Eye View is not the same as our view.
