Ritvik was sketching an alien in his drawing pad.

“Hello,” came a voice behind him.

Ritvik whirled around. A boy stood there.

“Who are you? Where did you come from? What are you doing in my room?” Ritvik demanded.

Boy from Mars

‘I’m Aly N. You know, from Mars.’

“Seriously? You? An alien?” scoffed Ritvik.

The not-so-little and not-at-all green boy looked puzzled. “Why’s that so hard to believe? I mean, if you’d crashed one of your strange flying thingies ...”

Ritvik was quick to take offence. “What’s so strange about our flying thingies … erm, I mean our planes?”

“Where do I even begin?” said the boy. “They’re not the right shape, for one. They don’t have twinkling lights, for another. And don’t even get me started about the in-flight meals.”

“Now look here,” said Ritvik crossly. “I’m sorry you crashed your UFO, but...”

“UFO?” The boy gave him a blank look.

“Unidentified Flying Object,” explained Ritvik.

It was the alien’s turn to look offended. “Unidentified? That’s what happens when you have outdated technology.”

“Excuse me! We have cutting-edge, state-of-the-art, hi-tech technology.” Ritvik had no idea what any of those words meant. He just knew they sounded smart and cool and grown-ups used them. A lot.

Surprise! Surprise!

“Well, can your hi-tech tech do this?” The alien blew his nose and lo! The worksheet on Ritvik’s desk started filling up. With the right answers. Written in a neat hand. In record time. In a nanosecond, all his holiday homework was done! Ritvik’s mouth fell open. “No way!”

The alien smirked and sneezed loudly. Boom! Ritvik’s messy bed got made, his dirty laundry flew into the wash basket, the papers strewn all around the room whizzed into the waste basket, the mess on his desk arranged itself, his clothes got sorted in neat piles, and the doors of his overflowing cupboard closed for the first time ever.

Ritvik looked around, delighted. “Yowza! Is that my desk? I’d completely forgotten what it looked like.”

“You’re welcome,” said the alien.

An exciting idea formed in Ritvik’s brain. “Tell you what. You help me out every day with my chores. At the end of my summer hols, I’ll help you go back to your planet.”

The alien hopped on to the freshly made bed. “But I can’t go back to my planet.”

“Why not?” Ritvik asked, startled.

“For that, I have to crack this.” Aly N handed him a chit of paper.

Ritvik read the message aloud:

“Come home, stay out of trouble.

Think B-L-U-R-P-L-E! Watch the light bend.

Count from the inside, it’s second

Spin around the sun, grab as many ...

The magic number, the last one.”

Ritvik frowned, looking up. “What is this?”

Aly N shrugged. “A puzzle, what else?”

“Well, it’s too tough,” grumbled Ritvik, in no mood to solve puzzles.

“Think about it. Neat bed. Tidy desk. Spotlessly clean room,” Aly N coaxed.

Ritvik stuck a hand out reluctantly. “Every single day. Okay?”

The alien took Ritvik’s hand and shook it. “Okay. Oh, and, call me Aly N.”

For the next two weeks, Ritvik impressed his dad by “cleaning his room” every day. He charmed his mom by finishing his homework every day. He mesmerised his sister by baking her delicious cupcakes. And he delighted Aly N by trying to crack the puzzle.

“Watch the light bend. It obviously means the rainbow.”

Aly N clapped his hands. “Yeah! Why didn’t I think of that?”

Ritvik puffed up. “Because humans are the most intelligent life form.”

The alien rolled his eyes. “Back to the puzzle. Count from the inside. Quick, which is the second colour from the inside?”

“Indigo!” Ritvik shouted. “Spin around the sun. The Earth takes 365 days to orbit the Sun.”

The alien rubbed his hands gleefully. “Own the magic digit, the last one. What does that mean?”

“365. Last digit: five,” said Ritik. “I think the code maker wants you to get five indigo things.”

The alien looked troubled. “Where on earth will I get five indigo things from?”

“Come on.” The two life forms (it was too early to call them friends) dashed to Ritvik’s parents’ room.

Ritvik rummaged through the closet. Sure enough, there it was: A blurple (indigo) t-shirt. Ritvik darted inside the washroom and came out carrying something. “Dad’s mouthwash!”

“Let’s see. What else is blue and purple?” Ritvik yelled.

“My nail polish!” shouted his sister from her room.

“My sapphire ring,” called mom.

“We’ll take pictures of mom’s sapphire ring. That’s four things,” said Ritvik. “We need one more.”

Aly N looked at Ritvik’s desk. Indigo blue, said the label of the ink bottle. He picked it up at once.

Ritvik gave him a high-five. “I’ll miss you buddy. But now you better run along.”

Aly N closed his eyes and thought of Mars. That’s all he needed to do to get back home (after cracking the code). But when he opened his eyes, he was still in Ritvik’s room. Still on Earth.

“Oh no! We got something wrong,” said Ritvik. “What could it be? … Wait a minute! How long does it take for Mars to go around the Sun?”

“687 Earth days,” replied Aly N.

“Ah! We need two more things.”

“Will blueberries do?” cried Raju Bhaiya from the kitchen.

“I was planning to gift this to your Mom, but you can have it.” Dad brought out a bunch of bluebells from behind his back.

“I don’t know how to thank you,” said Aly N, moved.

He took the seven things. Then, he squeezed his eyes shut and thought of the red planet. When he opened his eyes ...

“Where were you?” asked Mr. N.

“I was beginning to get worried,” said Mrs N.

‘Missed you so much, bro,’ said Ms. N.

Aly N smiled at his family. “Long story,” he said.