In my point of view, the
only thing that makes my journeys stand apart is the “Surprise factor” and its
subsequent effects! So here I am again
in such a situation.
By the beginning of this
March, we were assigned to Palk Bay, the historic bay which acts as the
International maritime boundary line (IMBL) between India and Sri Lanka. Now, that IMBL happens to be an imaginary
line drawn which can only be ascertained with some pretty good GPS sets. And those who doesn’t know it eventually ends
up in a prison in Jaffna in Sri Lanka for a high degree reason; INFILTRATION!!
So, we manoeuvred carefully
within the limit as not to disturb our friendly neighbour and anchored off the
light house of Point Calimere. Every
hydrographic ops starts from a point which we call as Bench mark, which
subsequently paves the way for setting up of a tide-pole for the observation of
high and low tides and a couple of our crew to carry out that for the duration
of the survey. Being in this act for
some pretty time I was ‘nominated’ for setting up the Tide-camp in a place
called “Kodiyakkarai” which is in the South-Eastern edge of Tamil-Nadu
state.
In total, each and every
nook ‘n corner of the Indian peninsula has been surveyed since 100 years (or
more) but it requires constant updating of the details which are (technically)
called as bathymetry which in turn keeps us hydrographers employed. So, me and my crew along with a surprise
member; my logistics officer (which was highly unlikely), were dropped at
Kodiyakkarai by helicopter for the setting up! The stay and accommodation for my crew was
arranged in a nearby support-station, but the observation post was around a
kilometre and half from the base.
To begin with some history,
the Tsunami which hit the coast way back in 2004 December in its own way
altered the geography of that place, for example the old harbour jetty is now
on land , the old fish landing centres were completely wiped out and new ones
are further inland….hence the area is a kind of secluded and is a smooth
combination of peace and spookyness……and so on and so forth!
By the time we completed our
setting up of camp I was informed that we wont be picked up by the chopper as it
was already nearing sunset. As a
blessing in disguise my Logistics officer whom we call as LOGO proved to be
worth his salt! He managed an all-exclusive get-together a.k.a party a.k.a camp
fire for us!! While me and my chaps were busy with setting up I could see our
LOGO was having some serious conversation with the local fishermen and that
bugger managed to get some fresh catch and bartered it with some simple things
, for example, fresh fish for a packet of coffee powder, the preparation of the
fish for a couple of cigarettes.etc.
The observation post as I
coined earlier is far away from our support base in the premises of a
salt-water pump house which pumps the sea-water to the nearby salt pans which
extends about 3-4 Kms inland. The added
advantage being none is gonna come there except the pump house operators. Altogether six of us, contributed a small
amount and ‘deployed’ one of our crew to fetch some ‘essential’ things for the
night. Meanwhile everyone was searching
for firewood which was gathered in less than an hour.
The messenger came back with
some Malabar ‘porottas’, scrambled eggs, extremely spicey-fried fish and the
Master of Ceremony a Brandy named “Morpheus”
to which I almost imagined that Morpheus from the movie Matrix who
greets Neo with his epic dialogue “Hello Mr.Anderson, we meet again!!”
The camp fire was
inaugurated and Mr. Morpheus entered into our veins and the only thing which
could save us mortals from this matrix world was a phone call in our
mobiles. Honestly, it was one great
bitching session about everything, and everyone was pouring their hearts
out. The old wood from those de-commissioned
catamarans found its salvation in that camp fire as they were being engulfed
into the fire! Actually the catamarans
got its name from the Tamil term “Kattu-maram”, which means boat made of
tied-up-wood, which eventually found its way into the English dictionary and
was seasoned with some pepper n salt and spices and made it as
Catamaran!!. As the night moved on the eye lids were
slightly heavy and we all were in the Matrix and yes in between we attended our
phone calls but preferred to get back to the Matrix asap!
The camp-cots were arranged
next to the fire and the semi verticality became complete horizontality. All our conversations died down, now its
silence all around except the waves breaking, winds screeching and occasional
howling of foxes somewhere far! All my
attention was in the sky, as sleeping outdoor is still a once-in-a-blue-moon
opportunity. The faint appearance of the
milkyway and just wondered that these were the extravagant scenes which I
wanted to share with many somewhere in the past, and that times are gone but still
the stars and heavenly bodies are still there ….somewhere in between that
matrix I let myself remove the pin from my brain and slept off!!
As the twilight emerged
everything was back to normal except a spider bite on my neck to which I secretly
worried that I might become spider-man within no time. Bid adieu to those pump house watchmen and
rest of my crew who were to stay put at that camp for another fortnight. While we were transiting at fairy-5 in a
helicopter I was just wondering about the last 24 hours because I never asked
for it, but that time searched and found me….and I was supposed to be there,
perhaps it must be the games of nature or destiny or karma…all I could remember
that I was there…with all my heart and soul…I was there.
I smiled at my LOGO who never
fails to fix a wide smile and nodded with courtesy....
*The chopper cruising at 90 knots and an emerald green
sea down below, with small fishing boats heading to the sea ….and back to
reality!*
No comments:
Post a Comment