Endless Voyage
Rise and fall of humanity
by
pradipkumar raol
&
prakash vaidya
Part - 17
His wife Laxmi was running and she was wearing yellow sari which was floating like waves in the winds. She was breathing heavily. One menacing looking dog almost the size of a donkey was chasing her with long strides. He was standing on a small hill with a stick in his hand. He shouted a lot to divert the attention of the running dog but in vain. He called out to Laxmi to run fast and moved his stick with rapid action and threw it targeting the dog and his arm struck the alarm clock lying on the bed side table. The clock fell on the ground with a big bang. The noise and the pain in the hand woke him up. The bad dream came to an abrupt end. He wiped out the sweat from his face and neck with a thick napkin. Very recently he was quite used to having such terrible dreams, but they were of different kinds, like dreams of villages, town and cities, people starving and getting submerged etc... However, this was getting personal.
His wife Laxmi had died a long back. Yes, he remembered it was ten years back that he had lost his wife. He loved her too much; she was so gentle and charming. When he was in London she had suddenly fell ill and died. Remembering this, tears swelled up in his eyes.
The phone rang; he got startled for a second. It was Mehta from the office; he was saying that the activity in the seismograph has started again. He quickly got ready and went to the Tsunami Warning Centre.
He saw all the data and got worried. ‘The epicenter’ was located near Madagascar in the Indian Ocean. The needle was moving fast. A big quake at bottom of the ocean now seemed very likely fact. Everyone at the centre was worried and concerned. After half an hour signals of Tsunami warning started coming from the ground stations. Far away in the depths of the ocean much trouble was brewing. The entire instrument (DART) came to the event mode and started sending information every fifteen seconds. But nobody knew that Tsunami will come or not. Mr. Unnikrishnan knew well that many Tsunami warnings in past proved to be false in countries like Japan and Indonesia. There is nothing wrong in that but these were unusual circumstance, a false alarm can create havoc with the lives of people. They were already suffering heavily and it would be similar to kicking a fellow who is already falling. People’s lives would be totally disrupted and they would go mad with fear.
He sat at his desk and started analysis of the coming data using all his experience & knowledge and according to that it was evident that Tsunami was imminent. Its wave length was about 250 km. and its speed 700 km / hr. However, this much wave length would need about twenty to twenty five minutes to complete its cycle. Its height was estimated to be 2-5 feet. This was quite high.
This was the situation at the middle of the ocean. There because of the less height nobody can make out that Tsunami is approaching. Thus when such waves come near to the coast its wave length decreases to less than 15 km. and its speed also decreases. It advances at the speed of 75 to 80 km. /hr. The height of such Tsunami waves increases and damages coastal cities and regions.
People cannot run faster than the waves. This results in loss of lives. He decided to inform the different sources and give out necessary instructions.
Deputy Prime Minister immediately called an urgent cabinet meeting. Food storages were opened. Orders were given for immediate necessities basically for food items. It was predicted that Indian western coast line, partially Madagascar, western Australian coast line, Sumatra and some nearby small islands were going to be affected heavily.
Personal Secretary to Deputy Prime Minister Spoke as he put a file in front him, ‘please, sign it. This file is for giving contract to arrange for rescue materials.’
He took the file in his hand and went through it briefly and said, ‘this is an old file, it was meant for rotational disaster of Earth, why is it not finalized till now?’
‘Sir, there was opinion difference as regards to the different agencies and rates that is why it is still pending with the Food and Agriculture ministry.
‘What do you mean?’ Deputy PM retorted angrily. Then he calmed himself and studied the file carefully and understood what had actually gone wrong. Cabinet Minister Raviprasad Malavia’s relative had wanted to get this contract for obvious reasons. Deputy PM threw the file and said angrily, ‘In this times when the whole mankind is under danger you are not forgetting your dirty tricks to earn through corruption. God will not forget you.’ And he gave contract to the reputed four companies for providing materials and food items. Then he also passed orders to call military to assist in Tsunami rescue operations. All ‘going to be’ affected states were alerted to vacate the coastlines. Fishermen were warned to stay away from the sea. All such states were also provided with machineries and man power like boats, helicopters etc.
At the Tsunami Centre L Unnikrishnan was determining the possible damages & intensity of waves for Indian coastlines. As the waves were moving forward its velocity was decreasing. It took three hours to come around this from the epicenter. Sun was still not ready to go. At this rate it will take two days (48 hrs) for sun to set, after that a very long night. It would be cold night; temperature may reach up to -12°c or more. This would create history for this part of the world. People of this area were just not used to this kind of extreme low temperatures. Severest winter weather was just round the corner. It is said that when trouble come they come from all directions.
Because of things on his mind and continuously looking at the computers Unnikrishnan had a stiff neck. It was paining severely. He called out to Mehta, ‘Please, call Keshav, he would surely come for me. Mehta kept quiet for some time. Unnikrishnan looked at him.
Then Mehta replied slowly, ‘Sir! He has died, don’t you know? Do you remember, last time he came for a Hand Drill?’
‘Yes, I do remember, he was so distraught then.’
‘I am so sorry sir, that same day the poor fellow passed away.’
‘Oh! God! No!’ The scientist gave out a big sigh in grief. He immediately called to MP, ‘I am sorry to learn that…’
‘Sorry, for what?’
‘You know, this Keshav your assistant….’ He was not allowed to complete his sentences. MP interrupted, ‘he was a rogue, useless fellow…. Now tell me what this uproar about Tsunami is?’
‘I have already sent you the message. The collector and the media are also informed. Necessary instructions for evacuation are also issued through proper channels,’ he spoke without a break.
‘Okay! Forget the Government and proper channels, let them do their work, but I have made all arrangement for me I have fitted ten Air conditioners in my living room, strong wiring, Generators, everyday two water tankers, everything is arranged. Tell you frankly I rarely venture out of my bungalow these days’ he told with lot of self-praise.
‘You swine’ Unnikrishnan said with contempt.
‘What did you say?’
‘Nothing, when everything gets over you come to take care of your doomed chair’
‘You do not have manners, I will see you’
Unnikrishnan stopped further conversation with the local MP and thought about the bad luck of Indian public having to deal with such quality of politicians.
People with some courage and strength moved to higher grounds. Some were so weakened by the heat that they collapsed on the way. News had already begun to come on TV Channels, internet and radios. As expected a strong Tsunami came and started taking lives.
Australia’s western coastal areas were damaged heavily. The waves took a big toll of lives and property in Sumatra. Because they could not get much time to escape. Waves reached up to 45 feet of height. It advanced on the opposite end to Madagascar and created carnage there.
Tsunami waves were expected to reach Indian coast line within an hour. Everyone was tense at the Tsunami centre. Fear gripped the people in Chennai, Kerala, Karnataka, Konkani, and Goa and even above that. Media conveniently forgot all the rules and regulations imposed upon them and started creating hype and hoopla. They showed heart breaking and scary footages of suffering and deaths of the people in Madagascar and Australia. Boats harbored at the banks were broken like plastic toys. Big ships were also destroyed. Waves came on to the house roofs. They swept away everything which came into their path. Helicopters were seen flying over submerged areas to save people.
Very dangerous scenes they were even for a stone hearted guy. Finally it affected the coast of Daman. Tsunami then subsided after great damage. Government sources all round estimated the loss of lives primarily to about 203432. The world sighed with relief. All affected nations started the rescue operations if at all it can be termed as such.
Unnikrishanan completed his reports to be submitted to the authorities and came out of the building and looked at the sky.
Black menacing clouds were gathering slowly. Strong winds started blowing. The earth was moving around its axis slowly so day and the night became longer. Due to this oceans were becoming unusually hot and cold on the opposite side. This drastic changes brought about monumental changes in the surface currents, and deep ocean currents popularly known as ‘global conveyor belt’ which is driven by density difference in the water resulting in unexpected storms, rains and cyclones. Their frequency increased like anything. But this seemed a typical tropical cyclone. When it passes over the land its strength weakens considerably but before that it brings rains at the coast. The Rain started and Dr. Unnikrishnan went inside. Seismograph was now calm. He called Mehta, ‘I am going to home.’
‘Where will you go in this rain?’
‘No problems for me.’ he moved forward with his umbrella. At home he prepared a black tea, drank it and then went to sleep.
The wind was blowing very hard. Laxmi was running fast in her yellow sari. He was running behind her and calling her loudly, ‘Tomorrow is your birthday. Where and how we will celebrate it, tell me, can’t you stop. But Laxmi was not looking back and still running ahead. Something obstructed his feet and he fell down. He saw that the dead bodies of dogs had resulted in his fall. He got very angry but got up again and wiped dust offhis pants & shirt.
He thought that they must have died because of his beating. Suddenly Laxmi stopped running and turned back and started laughing, her dark but charming face was looking more beautiful than ever. She called out his name, ‘Unni… Unni… He started running toward her, and increased the speed but somehow he noticed that the distance between them never decreased. He started breathing heavily, but he could not stop himself from running….
On the next day a small crowd had gathered around his house even after such unfortunate circumstances. They were literally crying for him, he was such a nice person, they were thinking. Doctors told them that he had a fatal heart attack in his sleep.
