Dr. Vinay Malhotra, was very tensed and curious as he drove quickly from his hotel to the base camp in Jatinga, a forest situated in the north eastern Indian state Assam. It was difficult to drive as the roads were all washed away by the monsoon rains and it was pitch dark, a moonless night. Earlier that night, Dr. Vinay had got a call from his colleague, Dr Pathak who had given him a strange message.
Jatinga, in Assam is a mysterious place where lots of migratory birds die every year. At the end of monsoon months, this mysterious behavior of birds takes place. During moonless and foggy dark nights between 6 p.m. and 10:00 p.m., flying birds come crashing to the ground with no prior warning whatsoever. The local tribes first took this natural phenomenon to be spirits flying from the sky to terrorize them. Earlier studies indicate that weather conditions make changes in the magnetic qualities of the underground water in this area. These changes disturb the physiological rhythm of the local birds and they start behaving abnormally towards the sources of light. During these foggy moonless nights when the wind blows from the south to north, the birds in this place remain dazed and inactive. The birds disheveled and dazed do not try to fly as if they are half dead. May be all these birds behave peculiarly because of the shock they get due to the peculiar weather conditions of this period in Jatinga. This phenomenon is not confined to a single species but occurred among the hundreds of species of birds which are found and die here are some of the rare species like Pond Heron, Kingfishers, Tiger Bittern, Black Bittern, Little Egret etc.
Jatinga, in Assam is a mysterious place where lots of migratory birds die every year. At the end of monsoon months, this mysterious behavior of birds takes place. During moonless and foggy dark nights between 6 p.m. and 10:00 p.m., flying birds come crashing to the ground with no prior warning whatsoever. The local tribes first took this natural phenomenon to be spirits flying from the sky to terrorize them. Earlier studies indicate that weather conditions make changes in the magnetic qualities of the underground water in this area. These changes disturb the physiological rhythm of the local birds and they start behaving abnormally towards the sources of light. During these foggy moonless nights when the wind blows from the south to north, the birds in this place remain dazed and inactive. The birds disheveled and dazed do not try to fly as if they are half dead. May be all these birds behave peculiarly because of the shock they get due to the peculiar weather conditions of this period in Jatinga. This phenomenon is not confined to a single species but occurred among the hundreds of species of birds which are found and die here are some of the rare species like Pond Heron, Kingfishers, Tiger Bittern, Black Bittern, Little Egret etc.
Last year, Dr. Vinay and his team had discovered that the reason for the Jatinga - phenomenon could be something different. After several tests, held over the period of two years, it had been found that the 2 sq. km. of the forest, named as "Death Zone", had recorded the maximum number of bird deaths. This year, not 2 months ago, Dr. Vinay had himself observed that there was something wrong at that place. All the leaves had different color as compared to the rest of the forest. He conducted a simple test, took a ₹1 coin from his pocket, tossed it 10 times. The results were shocking, all ten times he had got a head. To confirm, he performed the test again. The results were same. He concluded that laws of physics were not working there. He immediately ordered his team to start taking radioactivity readings. The tests resulted in high amounts of radioactivity readings. Since then, the focus of the team was to find the source of radioactivity. Surely, they had discovered the cause of bird deaths.
The source of radioactivity had not been found yet. The Death Zone was exhibiting a peculiar behavior. The amounts of radioactivity recorded was same everywhere in that 2 sq. km. zone, ruling out the chances of a single radioactive source. So what was it?
Dr. Pathak had just said "Come here, you have got to see this." and he hung up. Dr. Vinay was almost there. He was amazed. Even his scientific mind could not find an explanation for what he was witnessing. For the part till the road entered the buffer zone, it was pitch dark, but after that, it was daylight. He traveled on foot to the camp,as the vehicles were not allowed inside, simply gazing at the sky, there was no sun and it was like a hazy foggy morning, when suddenly he bumped into someone.
"Have we time traveled?" he said to Dr. Pathak with an anxiety like that of a child.
"I have no idea. This happened just an hour ago. There was darkness first, but just as it is, it was dawn. You should look at the radioactivity readings, they are hiking to dangerous levels. And just look there." Pathak pointed towards a point in the sky.
"Oh my god." whispered Dr. Vinay.
It was a bird, alive and flying.
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