Detailed Summary of Professor Shonku and the UFO

Detailed  Summary of Professor Shonku and the UFO

Satyajit Ray’s Professor Shonku and the UFO is one of the most exciting adventures of the Bengali scientist, Professor Trilokeshwar Shonku. The story, written in 1961 but set in diary entries from 1967, mixes science fiction with mystery. It tells how world monuments were destroyed and how an alien spacecraft was misused by a human being, Rodolfo Carboni.

The story begins on 17 September. Professor Shonku writes in his diary about many news reports of UFOs and also about meeting Dr. Rodolfo Carboni, an Italian scientist, at an international conference in Geneva. Shonku’s paper on contacting extraterrestrials through radio signals in Giridih is greatly praised. Carboni privately admits that his research is very similar but says he did not present it because he feared ridicule. He even claims he has spoken to beings from the Alpha Centauri star system. Shonku is doubtful but curious.

Shonku later learns about Carboni’s past from his friend Dr. Saunders. Carboni was once an architect. He designed a sports stadium in Turin with the help of his uncle, who was a cabinet minister. But when a crack appeared in the structure, the design was rejected, and his reputation was ruined. Carboni lost his career, tried to commit suicide twice, and only after eight years returned as a physicist. Out of sympathy, Shonku even wrote to Carboni, offering to stop his own work and help Carboni with writing, but Carboni never replied.

On 25 September, Shonku describes his remarkable friend Nakur Chandra Biswas (Nakur Babu). Though he looks very simple, Nakur has strong psychic powers. He can read minds, see events from the past, and project visions so that others can also see them. Shonku respects him deeply, as Nakur once saved his life in Brazil. Nakur usually reads history and travel books in the large library of Mr. Chintaharan Ghoshal, which helps him understand his visions. To demonstrate his power, Nakur Babu makes Shonku witness an ancient Chinese water clock from the 11th century, built in Kaifeng in memory of Emperor Tsen Jung. Shonku clearly sees the image projected like a vision, proving Nakur Babu’s ability to recreate past scenes for others. 

When Shonku showed Nakur a newspaper about a UFO, Nakur said he too had seen it in a vision. He described a spaceship in a desert, with snowy mountains in the background. He also warned Shonku that he might face danger and even imprisonment in the future.

Meanwhile, strange events happened. On 25 September, the Parthenon in Athens was destroyed. On 5 October, both the Eiffel Tower and Angkor Wat were destroyed. Shonku then received a letter from his German archaeologist friend Wilhelm Crole, who was working in a team at Khotan in the Taklamakan desert. Crole said he had seen the UFO twice and invited Shonku and Saunders to join him. A Chinese archaeologist, Dr. Sheng, also joined, as the Chinese government wanted to protect its ancient treasures. Nakur Babu also went with them, though his powers had become weak after an accident at Makorda railway station. Shonku treated him with a herb called Cerebrilliant, which slowly restored his strength.

On 10 October, the team camped near the desert where the spacecraft landed. On 11 October at 9 p.m., they entered the ship and were amazed by its design. On 12 October at 6 p.m., a commanding voice ordered them to throw away their weapons. Shonku had even brought his specially designed Annihilin gun, made to defend against harmful aliens, but now he and his companions were made immovable by an unknown force. A hole opened in the floor, and they were forced to drop all their guns inside, leaving them powerless.

At this moment, Carboni appeared. He proudly explained everything. Long ago, three aliens from Alpha Centauri had visited Earth with friendly intentions. They trusted him and taught him communication using mathematics and signs. Carboni even dreamed of teaching them Italian and English so he could boast of being the first man to talk to aliens. But soon the aliens caught influenza. Though Carboni had medicine that could cure them, he refused to help. Out of pride and selfishness, he feared they would leave without giving him full credit. As a result, all three aliens died.

Before dying, however, the aliens gave Carboni the knowledge to operate their spacecraft. He buried their bodies in the Taklamakan desert but kept the ship. From then on, he began using it for his own ambitions. He could also communicate with Alpha Centauri, but unlike Shonku, who saw this as knowledge-sharing, Carboni saw it only as a way to gain power.

Now Carboni used the alien weapons for revenge. He claimed that corrupt officials in Italy had ruined his career, and therefore he wanted to take revenge by destroying world monuments. With the spacecraft, he destroyed St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome before Shonku’s eyes. He next planned to destroy the Taj Mahal. But when the ship reached Agra, Carboni saw the Taj not as it is now, but as it was being built in the 17th century. This confused him, and he could not destroy it. This was actually a vision created by Nakur Babu, who used details from Tavernier’s travelogue to create an illusion of the past.

Angry and confused, Carboni pressed switches wildly. Crole and Saunders tried to stop him, while Shonku guided the ship upwards. In the chaos, Carboni accidentally pressed a yellow switch. Immediately, a transparent robot with six-fingered hands appeared. The robot caught Carboni and strangled him within half a minute, ending his destructive mission. The robot then piloted the spacecraft. The group—Shonku, Saunders, Crole, Sheng, and Nakur—returned safely to camp. Finally the rocket left Earth, creating a crater as it flew away. The crater revealed another Buddhist monastery that Dr. Sheng and his team had been searching for, similar to the one earlier discovered by Sir Aurel Stein at Tun-huang.

In the end, the UFO mystery was solved. It was not an alien attack but the misuse of alien knowledge and technology by Rodolfo Carboni, a man destroyed by pride, bitterness, and ambition. Shonku’s compassion, Nakur’s powers, and the bravery of his companions together saved humanity from further destruction.

Satyajit Ray’s Handling of Mystery in Professor Shonku and the UFO

Satyajit Ray builds the mystery in Professor Shonku and the UFO gradually, keeping readers curious from the very beginning. The story opens through Shonku’s diary entries, where he records reports of strange UFO sightings and the sudden destruction of world monuments like the Parthenon, Eiffel Tower, and Angkor Wat. These unexplained incidents immediately set a tone of suspense.

Ray deepens the mystery by introducing characters with hidden sides. Rodolfo Carboni at first appears to be a serious scientist, but his strange confession about speaking to beings from Alpha Centauri makes Shonku doubtful. Only later, through Saunders, we learn of Carboni’s tragic past, which adds both pity and suspicion. The real twist comes when Carboni is revealed as the man behind the UFO’s destructive acts, having misused the alien spacecraft for revenge.

Ray also uses Nakur Babu’s psychic visions to heighten suspense. His cryptic warnings, glimpses of spacecraft in deserts, and the illusion of the Taj Mahal under construction create a blend of science and mysticism that keeps the mystery alive until the end.

The climax of the story is both shocking and satisfying: the spacecraft’s strange voice, the surrender of Shonku’s weapons, Carboni’s arrogant confession, and finally the robot’s sudden act of strangling Carboni. Even the ending carries mystery, when the departing spacecraft leaves behind a crater that reveals a hidden Buddhist monastery.

Thus, Ray skillfully mixes science fiction with detective-like suspense. He uses diary entries, sudden revelations, character secrets, and unexpected turns to handle mystery, making Professor Shonku and the UFO one of his most thrilling and enigmatic adventures.