Tsunami in Bay of Bengal - A short story authored by me

Raj and Sanjeev, were two brothers who lived in a small village in coastal Bay of Bengal. Their dad was a fisherman who had perished in one of the many cyclones that lashed their coastal village so very often. They only had their mom Chandra, who lovingly took care of them. They lived in a small hut made of dried palm tree leaves and dried up wood. The village was one happy close-knit group and everyone made sure that they took special care of the two boys.
Life was fun for the two boys, but not so for Chandra. Chandra, with the help of the villagers just grew enough rice for the family. It was still hard work for her to do that. Chandra, painstakingly ignited a new fire everyday, that they had to keep burning till the evening cooking was done. Chandra would go to the Sunderban jungle to collect wood to keep the fire burning and she was always wary of the Bengal tigers that roamed the jungle. But she was brave, knew her way in the jungle and even got back firewood for some of their neighbors.
The two boys hardly helped her though. They enjoyed playing at the beach and jumping into the cool waters of the Bay of Bengal. They played pranks on the villagers and other kids. They spent hours showering in the cool waters of the Ganges river. Sometimes they would swim all the way down to the Bay of Bengal from the Ganges. Life was fun and they didn’t seem to have any responsibility or care for the rest of the world. Unfortunately, they never understood the pains of their mother, nor did they think of the future, they just enjoyed being in the present.
The villagers were kind, always helped them out and even shared their meals. Sometimes, they would drop off fish they had caught and Chandra would put some home ground spices on it and put it on the fire. Raj and Sanjeev would wait eagerly for the fish to be done and enjoy every morsel, taking very tiny little bits with the rice and dipping it in the gravy that Chandra prepared by grinding a few leaves into a paste. They would then take a nice nap under the palm trees by the sea, with the sound of thrashing waves.
One day, Raj and Sanjeev were playing by the beach. It was a bright sunny day and monkeys were jumping from tree to tree. Raj and Sanjeev loved imitating the monkeys and today the monkeys were imitating Raj and Sanjeev. Suddenly, they saw the monkeys scampering away from the beach. They looked at the sea and now noticed that the sea was in low tide. They had never seen the water this close to their home. Sanjeev said, “Wow, that’s so cool. Lets go swim”. Suddenly, the sea went into high tide. They had swam a few hundred yards into the waters when Raj saw a huge wave coming. Raj squealed in delight. “This will be fun”, Raj shouted. “Look at that giant wave coming at us. Let’s go jump into it”. As the wave got closer, they realized that the wave was much taller and unlike any wave they had seen in their lives thus far. Little Sanjeev got scared, “Big brother Raj, let’s go back to the shore. I am scared”. Raj readily agreed. They swam as fast as they could back to shore, but alas, it was too late.
They were completely engulfed by the giant wave as it crossed them and headed for the village. Raj and Sanjeev were shrieking at the top of their voices, “Maa, run. There’s a giant wave coming”. But their voices were drowned by the sound of the giant wave. There was white froth everywhere around them. Raj and Sanjeev were really scared now. They looked for Chandra and they saw her being swept away by the giant wave. They could see the huts breaking down like a pack of cards with the ferocity of the giant wave that lashed against them. They saw bits and pieces from what used to be their home floating away. The boys were almost at the shore when the giant wave started receding and the boys were being carried away. Raj shouted to Sanjeev, “Try to hold onto any tree.” Luckily, they got entangled onto some branches of a palm tree.
Sanjeev asked Raj, “Where is Maa?” Raj didn’t have an answer. He had a heavy heart and his eyes peered into the water. Raj said, “Let us pray to the Goddess of the Sea. She will help us find Maa”. Sanjeev tried to, but all he could do was look into the horizon just as Raj was.
The sea had gone back to its original distance and some more. The world seemed to have stopped in its tracks, there was a deathly silence that was suddenly broken by the wailing of Sanjeev. “Where is Maa? I want her now”. Raj held Sanjeev in a tight embrace. Tears welled up in his eyes. “Maa is gone. The Goddess of the Sea has accepted our mother and she is finally with our Baba”.

The boys descended from the tree and the sight was a disaster. The village had completely disappeared, as if it never was. Not a soul was in sight. They started looking all over for survivors, shouting loudly, “Is anyone there?” Raj considered swimming back into the Bay of Bengal thinking they could rescue someone. Sanjeev, just held Raj’s hands tightly not wanting to let go. Their hearts were numb as they walked around in the rubble that the wave had left behind.
Sanjeev suddenly felt a rage rise within himself. He shouted, crying at the same time, “Why did such a tragedy have to fall upon us? Why us?”. They didn’t get an answer. Raj spoke, “There is no point crying. Why don’t we seek some help. I am sure there are people who still need help. The neighboring villages must be hit too”. Raj remembered Emperor Ashoka who he had never seen but heard good things of. The Emperor was known to be kind, just and caring. “Lets go find Emperor Ashoka”.
They had to cross the Sunderban Jungle in the dark, but urgency was the key. Raj remembered Chandra telling them not to ever venture into the jungle. Raj felt himself tear up when he remembered how Chandra had gone into the jungle all by herself to fetch firewood for their cooking needs. “Our Maa was a brave woman”. Sanjeev just knew what Raj was saying and nodded his head. This just increased their resolve to be brave and help others, just like Chandra would. As they got deeper into the jungle, it grew very dark and ominous with many animal sounds. They had never been this far into the jungle.
Suddenly, they could heard something slithering in the foliage right in front of us. “What’s that?” Sanjeev shouted, his heart beating very fast. Raj abruptly stopped, “Shhhh!” he said. They hid behind a rock. They could see something moving and coming towards them. Sanjeev said, “I think it’s a tiger, can you see it?” Raj’s mind was racing, thinking of what he could do. All of a sudden, there was a huge commotion. There were drums and conches blaring and people shouting very loudly. The tiger turned and looked around and darted away into the bushes. The boys were saved.


Raj came running out and saw Emperor Ashoka’s men, the familiar saffron flag of the four-lions of Ashoka. “Please help us, there was a giant wave that came from the sea and took our village away”. The Commander-in-Chief walked up. “I am Senapati Shatragupta Maurya. Don’t worry, you are in safe hands. We would have killed the tiger easily to save you, but our Emperor has vowed to not kill. What are you two doing here anyway?”
Raj explained the situation. Ashoka’s army rushed back to the site of the giant wave. The soldiers spread around and managed to find a lot of injured people, who were still alive. Many doctors called “Vaidyas” arrived with their magic potion and paste. Emperor Ashoka’s men knew what was needed in a disaster like this.
The next day, the boys were woken up when they heard a lot of noise. They got up when a soldier arrived and asked them to follow him. Raj said, “Where are we going?”. The soldier curtly said, “Emperor Ashoka is here and wants to see you”. The boys were awestruck and afraid. They were going to see Emperor Ashoka.
There was no need to be afraid. Emperor Ashoka was a calm, generous face. They were instantly at ease. Emperor Ashoka said, “You boys are heroes! You have saved many lives. Here is my diamond necklace as reward for your bravery. I also want to adopt you two. Our kingdom needs brave boys like you”. The boys nodded dumbstruck.
The next day found them at the Vibhajjavada school of Buddhism. Raj realized that a tragedy can have some positives too. They had lost Chandra, which was an irreplaceable loss, but the Goddess of the Sea had opened new doors for them.
The boys moved on and put their troubles behind them as they embraced their new life. They missed the beach and the carefree life, but had discovered an inner energy and a new bounce in their attitude with the tragedy. They exhibited lot of passion, hard work and intelligence. They learnt the official language of Magadhi, Sanskrit and the Brahmi script. They learnt about the Bhagvad Gita, the holy book of the Hindus. They got to learn mathematics, medicine and metallurgy.
Raj and Sanjeev impressed the Emperor enough that when Raj finished his education he ended up as the Prime-Minister of Emperor Ashoka’s Kingdom and Sanjeev the Chief Accountant. They were good citizens of the Maurya empire and did a lot of good for the kingdom.