Island In The Sun

ISLAND IN THE SUN


Yes, she remembered. It all passed by in slow motion, those days filled with laughter , joy and the pure innocence of childhood.

The island of Serendip was a glittering jewel poised delicately on the ocean waves. Jaya and Priya were children growing up together in a small fishing town in the East coast. They played hide and seek between the lush groves of coconut palms and the encroaching verdant green jungle. They swam together in their cove , drank sweet water from green coconuts and dreamed together.

On school holidays , Priya and Jaya would go out fishing in outrigger canoes or catamarans. They were inseparable , more than sisters , more than friends. Their souls were bound together with the spirit of the island , the spirit of the sea and serendipity. Some days they would go with Priya's father and brothers ,while on other days they would go out with Jaya's. It really didn’t matter. On good days they would bring back a large catch. The slim dark bodies of the males , muscles rippling and shining in sweat, would pull in the large nets and hundreds of fish would jump and leap.
Skipjack, herring,mullet ,pomfret ,amberjack and seer were in abundance. They would get king lobsters and prawns from the lagoon. There was enough for everybody. There was ready demand in the market and they had all that they needed.

"Jayu , you'll drown" , Priya shouted in joy while trying to balance the speeding catamaran as it cut through the ocean.

Jaya was trying out the feat she had recently mastered. She was in the water on her back ,looking up to the blue sky, hands spreadeagled while her legs clasped the catamaran outrigger. Her long hair flowed into the ocean while she sliced through the water with the speed of the catamaran .

"No I wont" , Jaya giggled." Why don’t you try it on the other side?"Jaya's brother had taught her the trick , but she still hadn't mastered it.

Now he nodded, "go on Pri, go down on the left outrigger."

Priya managed reach the outrigger on a violently wobbling catamaran while the men laughed and cracked jokes at her expense. But she did it. She held on to the outrigger with her legs and let her body into the sea , hands spread out, the wind and salt water in her eyes as she looked up to the blue sky above..

The two girls shrieked and screamed at the top of their voices. The thrill of speed , the waves and the wind were to be savoured as they glided through the water. The catamaran, the ocean , the waves , they and their family had become one entity as they moved and danced together. All the spirits vibrated and syncronised in the happiness of two little girls.

On other days Jaya and Priya went hand in hand into the luxuriant undergrowth decorated with giant fern and tall majestic trees of the tropical forests. Sometimes during the summer vacations , they would travel with their parents to the highlands , to the dark Rhododendron forests wreathed with Spagnum moss . The numerous fowering trees like the fiery Poinciana Regia and the cherry blossom like Tabebuia would burst into bloom. The flowering Wesak orchids and Daffodil would laugh with them.

Her brothers taught Jaya the art and science of diving in the ancient way of the pearl divers. She learned to dive free without any equipment, holding her breath for as long as she possibly could. They didn’t care for diving gear, wet suits and oxygen tanks. Her people had been diving since time began. She learned the art of deep breathing which tranfered oxygen to the muscles where it would be needed during deep dives , reducing air in the lungs.

At first she learned to dive in the warm shallow waters of their lagoon. Over time she got familiar with the underwater caves and the seabed and acompanied her brothers in search of oysters. With each dive she learned to stay down longer and longer. She marvelled at the refracted rays of the sun gleaming through the surface as it lit up her sea garden. They were always on the edge of mortal danger , but her brothers kept a watchful eye on her. They made sure that their precious little sister was within eyesight and did not reach the level of excess nitrogen in the blood. It wasn’t a pretty sight if you lost consciousness in the depths.

This was a whole new world of discoveries and barriers to be crossed. Jaya embraced this new world on her own terms. Nothing was to be taken for granted and living on the edge was fun. Each day was full of discovery and growth. But there was one cave the brothers left alone. It was home to a monster electric eel, nearly eight feet long and which jealously guarded its kingdom. It was long , brown with black spots on its head and eyes that seemed to be staring at everyone at the same time. They respected its space and swam by without disturbing the creature. In time Jaya grew familiar with Elo the electric eel. Elo seemed to be grinning all the time and lived in peace with the divers.

"Pri , do you know what I found today?" Jaya asked, as she walked home after school with her hands around Priya's shoulders .

"You fought with three great whites, swam faster than the porpoise and discovered a new cave ? " teased Priya.

"I was taken to the outer cave for the first time by my brothers. They thought that I wouldn’t make it".

"And of course you did", Priya laughed. "Was there any doubt?"

"Nah , down there in the bed of the outer caves there was warm water from underground fresh water springs. On the bed lay oysters . We found five good ones yesterday. I wasn’t allowed to touch even one", rued Jaya.

"They are very precious", aren't they?" Priya asked. "I'm sure you'll get to pick your first one in no time. Did you find pearls?"

"My brothers found a big one in the lot. You'll get to see it. It’s the biggest natural pearl that I've seen and I was actually allowed to touch and feel it", Jaya exclaimed.

Jaya's excitement was infectious and Priya was drawn into the wonders of Jaya's sea garden."What oysters are these?" she inquired.

"Ah ! This is what I know more than my brothers, even though they have not allowed me to pick one myself. Yet. Found out at the Aquatic center yesterday after the dive", Jaya said. "These natural white pearl bearing oysters are called Pinctada fucuta".

"Pink what", Priya was intrigued .

"Pinctada silly. And the oysters which have black pearls in them are called Pinctada margaritifera", Jaya announced seriously.

"You'll top our biology class I am sure. But will you ask your brothers to take me diving to the caves?"Priya pleaded.

"You stay ashore and play with the frogs, my good friends the Rana Tigriana", Jaya teased.
"Sure you should come down with us. You should get some proper diving gear from the Aquatic center. I've learned to deep breath and hold my breath. You'll need training and practice to master it. I'll be tested by my brothers on the dive to catch octopus in clay pot traps that are left on the seabed. That’s in much deeper water".

"I want to see your underwater garden and write about it. That will give my writing project work some authenticity". Priya understood that to do her task well she had to experience and be part of the world she was going to write about.

"And I will save you from the hypnosis of Elo the electric eel". Jaya quipped as they parted ways to go home. "See you in school tomorrow".

A week later Jaya found Priya on the peer having diving gear checked.

"I've taken a crash course at the Aquatic center. So when can I come? Ask your brothers , will you?" Priya was excited and bubbling with enthusiasm.

"No need. The sweethearts won't say no to me. We dive for pearls tomorrow ,ok? " Jaya asked.
"I wont be able to sleep tonight. I'll be waiting", Priya replied.

Jaya dived with her brothers in the usual traditional way without diving equipment. Priya hired gear from the Aquatic center and joined the team. She told herself to be careful and tried to remember all the safety rules she had been taught.

Jaya intoduced Priya to a world she did not know existed. It was a world so close to where they lived and yet so far. It was more beautiful and colourful then she would have ever imagined. They swam through the wonderworld of light and shade, through schools of fish radiating color. When the divers went up for air , Priya followed them. They took deep breaths and dived back again. Priya had her supply of oxygen and her curiousity got the better of her. She swam off to see the wonder of the sea garden.

Jaya gestured and asked her to stay with the group but Priya , for probably the first time, wanted to reach beyond the boundaries set for her. She veered off to explore the cave to her left. She thought she saw oysters lying on the floor. She went in further and suddenly she was facing the huge eyes of a monster fish which jealously guarded the way.

This was his territory , his space and she had no right there. Fear gripped her and she couldn’t think straight. She hit the cave wall and cracked the torch in her head gear. In the glow of light coming in from the opening of the cave , she saw the brown monster slithering towards her , jaws open, eyes staring .

Then she saw Jaya swim in and move in between her and the fish. They stared at each other for what seemed to Priya like an eternity. To Priya it seemed that Jaya was silently communicating with the fish. The monster slowly moved away into the deep recess of the cave and into it own world. Jaya took her hand and pulled her out of the cave and to the surface. Priya was pale , gray , tired and shivering as she lay on the boat. Jaya gently held and comforted her. She held back her urge to lecture her. She knew Priya had learnt a lesson that day and Elo the electric eel had been her teacher.
***

"I want to become a doctor when I grow up" , Jaya said , while they both looked at the droplets of water on the spiders web on the fern. They were playing on their private beach where the sand was the softest and the waves calm and clear. The monsoon rain had brought in freshness and life blossomed.

"And I want to become a journalist", Priya nodded."Yes that’s what I'll become. I'll write about you and your deeds. I'm sure you'll be a great doctor".

"We'll both have to go away you know", Jaya was reflective. "Well have to go to the city and later on to other lands to study , who knows".

"Yes you're right" , agreed Priya. "We'll have to leave as soon as we finish school".

Priya shifted her focus from the droplet of water on the spiderweb towards Jaya. They look into each other's eyes through the spiderweb , realising the inevitable. All they really wanted was each other and their paradise. Forever.

"Someday we must go to the pink quartz mountains on the highlands , just you and I ", Jaya mused.
"When we grow up", Priya nodded ," it'll be our jewel".

They passed high school with flying colors and then it was time to move on. They had moved to different cities and kept in touch only through letters. Sometimes they would meet when they went home on vacations to their parents who still lived in the fishing town. They still had their private beach on the cove. The sand was still the softest and waves calm and clear.
***

A tempest of a different kind blew in from the South. The Southern Lions claimed the entire island for themselves. The language of the Lions was to be the only official language. Everybody else had to fall in line or face the consequence. It was decreed that the way of the Lions was the only way . This was the revealed truth. The purity and priviledges of the Southern Lions had to be maintained. All the others, had become second class citizens in the emerald island of Serendip.

The peace and serendipity of the emerald island was shattered. The Lion King had let out a monster that he himself could not control. Rumours started floating about the misdeeds of other islanders who had refused to live like the Southern Lions. The monster mutated and grew and drew the innocent into its deadly vortex. From the Northern forests , Tigers emerged to counter the monster unleashed from the South.

"Jayu , you're wearing glasses" , Priya exclaimed as she inspected the new Jaya .

"Do I see lipstick , yuck,.. and some war paint too. Whats with you Pri"? Jaya and Priya embraced each other . They had really missed each other.

"How are your premeds?" Priya asked ."Are they as tough as they all make it out to be?"

"Yes and no ", Jaya replied. "But I've met this interesting guy and..."

"Stop stop! You’ve met your guy and you haven't told me", Priya smiled.

"He's not 'my' man Pri, not what you think". Jaya was serious. "He's a Tiger. The Tigers want to preserve the homeland . Don’t you realise we are loosing our paradise? Our way of life".

"I know". As a budding journalist Priya knew and had written about about them."What will they preserve? They are fighting among themselves and killing each other. Watch out Jaya, stick to medicine. You do your medicine and I'll do my journalism and well get back our paradise. We still have a quest together. To go to the pink quartz mountains in the highlands".

"I'm fine Pri. They are not playing around too much with our medical studies. But they didn’t let my brother into college", Jaya said quietly . Suddenly her tone had changed and her eyes flashed with hidden anger.

"Why, for heaven's sake ? He is an ace student and a terrific athlete, isn't he?" Priya immediately detected the sudden change.

"Because he is not a lion and a Southerner . The rules of admission to the Universities have been changed. He will have to leave the island if he is to follow his dreams". Jaya was flushed and indignant. "Where will he find the money?"

They let it pass. They talked about the old days and their childhood into the night. The winds had changed and they could feel the humidity in the air. Dark nimbus clouds were fast approaching . They could feel a storm brewing. They picked up their things and ran towards their home before the rain came crashing in.
***

The year rolled on followed by another. Priya was putting in long hours of study and project work . Then she became a journalist with the Island Stream. She heard from Jaya less and less as the days went by. She graduated with honours and joined the Stream .

The Tigers had unleashed their own monster . The quiet and beautiful jewel that was Serendip ,was overtaken by a bloody civil war . Wave after wave of Tigers crashed into Lion strongholds. The Lions were greater in number and brute force and cunning was employed to smash the rebellion. On both sides the monsters mutated like lethal virus.

As a journalist , Priya covered the developments in the urban areas. The green jungles were out of bounds for her. From the depths of the Northern jungles a Tiger King emerged, as brutal if not more brutal, than the Lion King . Priya wrote about the power struggles and the factional politics of each side. She witnessed the imposition of draconian new laws. Unbriddled power was given to the police and the military by the Lion King to do as they pleased. Her lead story on the new laws was suppressed by her editor.

"Lie low ", he advised . "Now is not the time for bravado. Nothing concrete will be achieved if the Stream closed. Well live to fight another day. For the moment, the pen is not mightier than the sword. You will have your say Priya, trust me".

As she became more involved with the Island Stream , Jaya receded to the back of her mind. She assumed that Jaya would be preoccupied with the final stages of her medical studies and exams. The medics were nearly grey haired by the time they qualified. They probably also developed medical problems of their own trying to read the massive tome of Greys anatomy.

"Take a break , go see how your parents are doing", her editor advised. "Cool off young lady and come back, well be waiting for you".

She arrived by bus into a quite town. Most of the shops were closed and the streets were deserted. The walls were covered with grafitti, the streets were covered with dirt and there was a smell of stench everywhere. The laughter was gone. There were no kids playing street cricket. It seemed that the guardian spirits had fled their land.

Her parents and brothers were waiting for her. Her mother had cooked her favourite meal. She hadn't had lobster cooked in coconut milk in a long time.

She heard the news over dinner. Jaya's youngest brother had been killed by the Lion police. An encounter , they had called it.
Priya stopped eating. "But he was only twelve for heaven's sake!"

"He had gone to get groceries from the bazar. Got rounded up with some others and ..." her father trailed off unable to continue. "He was like my own son". He was overwhelmed with sadness and his eyes reflected the hurt.
They ate in the silence of teardrops shattered only by the barking of pariah street dogs.

She missed Jaya. She thought of all joy and fun of the vacations they had shared. Only the dreams remained. They would go , hand in hand , to the pink quartz mountains. That was a promise.

Soon , the holiday was over and it was time to return to her desk at the Stream.

"Priya, go cover the Presidents address at the stadium , will you" ? the editor instructed as he passed by her desk. "Saki hasn’t got in yet. Fill in for her".

"Sure boss, I'm on my way", Priya picked up her duffle and drove off to the political rally at the stadium.

She got in through the crowds and made her way through the crowd and television crews to the main stand. There were at least twenty five thousand people gathered to listen to the Lion King and his solution to the island's problems.The loudspeakers were blaring. Paradise had to be regained. The Lion King and his entourage arrived among tight security.

Garlands of marigold were passed on . There was colour and noise and the chatter of a thousand discordant voices . Everywhere one looked one saw people , sardine packed , people jostled with people , people trying to get the best seats, people looking important, people irritated , people calm , people waiting expectantly.

And then she saw Jaya. Very close to the podium. Very close to her. She waved out , trying to catch her eyes. Their eyes met for a moment. They were not the eyes she had known . These were not the eyes of their soul, her alterego. Jaya's eyes stared out and she was not focussed on anybody or anything in particular. These were the eyes of a junky. Was she on drugs? Priya waved out again trying to catch her eyes.

She saw Jaya open her jacket and strewn across her body were what looked like explosives . Priya tried to shout out a warning. Snapshots of her childhood with Jaya passed by in front of her eyes, in slow motion.

Yes,she remembered. It was such a long time ago.

Jaya exploded. Her dismembered hands ,torso and head and sneakers floated by . The crowd erupted in pandemonium , blood and scattered limbs. Then Priya could see or hear no more , her body struck by a thousand thunders. But she felt no pain. There was only sadness in her eyes as her vision closed in and retreated into blankness.

They found her among the forty six lifeless bodies , and the Lion King's dentures. The Tigers roared their approval and dared anyone to try and get them in their hideouts. They would protect 'their' way of life at any cost.

Jaya and Priya had moved on, each in search of a different paradise.

That year, the migratory birds flew in from Scandinavia and Siberia. Saipers, stilts, plovers, terns and cranes came in large numbers as they had done every year. They were followed by storks and herons, egrets and flamingoes. The coconut trees still swayed in the breeze. The catamarans still went out into the ocean. In their beach by the cove, the sand was as soft and the waves as calm and clear as ever.

The majestic pink quartz mountain stood firmly in primordial grandeur. It had been touched by the dream of two little girls and longed to embrace them and feel their footsteps on its slopes. It waited in vain.


*****