The moon's a balloon

Or it's a bird, it's a plane, it's Superman! 

No wonder, the flying objects continue to captivate us and our imagination; in songs, in movies and in our writings.

I have borrowed the title from the 1971 bestselling novel written by David Niven. 

David Niven was an officer in the Royal Army and rose to the rank of a Lieutenant Colonel. But he rose to stardom through his acting career in many epoch-making films like the Separate Tables, which earned him an Academy Award. 

The Moon's a Balloon is a memoir written by the soldier-actor. From the very title to the content, the book records his life and career, full of day to day human feelings, follies and  failings, humour in uniform, albeit very often with salacious description. 

But it's the balloon that is in context today. All of us have been playing with and flying the balloons for fun and entertainment. 

Flying balloons are a normal scenario in almost all cultural, social and sports events all over the world.  

On a more productive level, balloons are used by meteorologists for gathering weather data, including wind speed and direction. Even in these days of sophisticated weather satellites, radars and a click on the CNN to get a Weather Report of 10,000 Cities, weather people still have a kind of infatuation with the conventional balloons.

Infatuation or not, balloons have become the bone of contention between two superpowers of our time. 

One says the wary, harmless balloon went wayward on its own, while the other says that the apparently wayward movement can be controlled through sophisticated data link and guidance system. 

Thousands of satellites are scouring virtually every inch of the planet Earth to gather information regarding a myriad range of interests including agriculture, weather phenomenon, minerals, and of course, for defence.

It is claimed that some of the satellites are so sophisticated and powerful that they can read the license plate of a car on the ground!       

There's something special about this balloon. Being the size of three school bus, this helium filled balloon is capable of flying rather joyfully, drifting in the skies across the continents at heights from sixty thousand feet to one hundred and twenty thousand feet, beating its cousins, the modern day jet airliners flying around thirty six to forty thousand feet, and the fighters normally climbing up to around fifty thousand feet. 

Besides height, it also enjoys almost unlimited endurance and has an all-round view of all things under and around. 

More on the positive side, balloons don't need any propulsion, no burning of fossil fuel, they are eco-friendly. 

While the debris from the balloon is undergoing tests at the laboratories, one only hopes that the playful device wasn't meant for any mission to harm anyone. The anger and the war of words would soon be turned into meaningful dialogue that was on the agenda of both these nations. 

But, but …. While the debris was being investigated upon, three more similar but smaller objects were detected in the skies over North America and successfully taken down by the raptors and sidewinder missiles. At this writing, those are found to be not benign. 

Let's finish this with an anecdote.     

This is the story of an ancient, oriental empire. The powerful Emperor loved to raise horses, so did his Minister. They were both proud of their possessions. Once while being  in a jaunty and jovial mood, the Emperor proposed to his Minister about arranging a competition among their horses to determine whose stallions were the best.

So be it. 

Three horses were chosen from each side; the Emperor's No.1 horse was stronger than the Minister's No.1 horse; the Emperor's No.2 horse was stronger than the Minister's No.2 horse and so was the arrangement for the No.3 horse of the Emperor and the Minister.

Then came the time of competition. 

No tossing of the coin was done. Instead, the Emperor invited the Minister to field his horse first. The wise and cunning Minister very politely refused the offer telling His Majesty that how could he be so audacious,  and, indeed, it was the privilege of the Sovereign to field his horse first. 

Pumped up with pride, the Emperor fielded his No.1 horse. The humble Minister fielded his No.3 horse and acceded to a defeat. 

What followed next was the result of the strategy. The Minister's No. 1 horse defeated the Emperor's No. 2 horse and the Minister's No.2 horse defeated the Emperor's No.3 . It was the best of three matches.

Muhammad Zakiul Islam is a retired Air Commodore, Bangladesh Air Force. He can be reached at [email protected]

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions and views of The Business Standard.