Discovery in Distress

“CAPTAIN!”, I yelled.

“No, Louis. I’m not getting off this ship. A real captain never abandons his vessel in times of trouble.”, Captain said in an eerily husky tone.

“Stop spouting crappy dialogues from awful movies, you old man! Just give me your hand!”, I raged. This guy was insane! The thunderstorm was relentless in its onslaught, and the ship nicknamed, ‘The Hispanic’ in which we had been travelling, had been tossed around like a toy caught in the hands of an excited toddler. For the past week, the roaring waves and the strikes of thunder battered the Hispanic, and finally the ship couldn’t take it anymore. As one of the side hulls of the ship cracked, it spelt only one word - DISASTER.

Captain was an old friend of mine, and the reality of him drowning along with the sinking ship didn’t hit me until I woke up on the shores of an unknown island. Well, inspite of all his drunken brawling and uncouth behaviour, I knew that Captain was a man with an abnormally stupid sense of self-pride. And I also knew that if I saved Captain against his wishes, he’d probably commit suicide to save his so-called dignity. If only you had something like that, Captain, I would’ve pushed you into the sea myself, I thought.

I walked around groggily, the salty sea water meddling with my senses. As I got the water out of my system and calmed down after a few deep breaths, the realisation of my pitiable predicament dawned upon me. I was shipwrecked, and lost to the world on an unexplored island. Alone.

I walked into the untouched flora and fauna of the island realising that all of my belongings were lost in the shipwreck. To add fuel to the fire, my stomach started growling for food. I trudged into the woods, hoping to find some form of vegetation which looked safe to eat. Surprisingly, I found an apple tree in the middle of the forest. I got a few bruises and scratches from falling down while trying to climb the tree, but as soon as I got up, I plucked all the apples regardless of whether they were ripe or not.

After washing my mud-stained shirt and trousers, I walked back to the shore and settled down on the cool sands, gorging on juicy apples. As I sat there musing, depression overtook me. What happened to the other people who were aboard the Hispanic? Did they get aboard the life boats on deck? What happened to Captain? Why was I the only one saved? And I certainly wasn’t expecting Master Oogway to jump out of the ocean and say, “Because you are the chosen one, my child.”

“HURRY UP AND SAVE ME ALREADY!”, I yelled to no one in particular.

I drew a humongous ‘SAVE ME!’ sign on the wet sands of the seashore, hoping that guys travelling on helicopters would notice it and save me. Then I waited. Running into the woods with a newfound passion, I wasn’t going in search of food or lodgings. I was going in search of something new. Something unexpected. If I was to be stuck in this godforsaken place until I became an old geezer, it would be better to blaze away rather than fading into the darkness.

As I walked through the cool shade of the woods once again, I could feel the inquisitive gazes of the animals on me. I could almost read their thoughts, which went like, “What is this oversized monkey without a tail doing here?”. At first, I marched on, oblivious to these judgmental animals, but when a monkey decided to pull off chunks of my hair, I became cautious.

As fatigue wore me down, I looked up at the sky. The sun was setting, giving the horizon a red-orange hue. And that’s when I caught sight of the magnificent gopuram in the middle of the woods. I bolted through the thick foliage, and found myself staring in awe at the architectural brilliance of the structure in front of me. A temple of ancient origins, it stood majestically against the backdrop of the setting sun. I walked in without hesitation, going straight to the central part of the temple where the deity was consecrated. I prostrated myself in front of the massive linga and prayed for Captain and all the people aboard the Hispanic who were missing or had lost their lives in the catastrophic disaster. As I walked out of the temple, I found a marble obelisk in the outer part of the temple. I peered closer to read the Ancient Tamil script.

“The All-Powerful King Rajendra Chola I took control of these areas - The Eastern Islands - in the fifth year of his Highness’ coronation - the year 1020.”

I was dumbstruck for a few seconds. This temple was a thousand years old! Words refused to come out of my mouth as I processed the information. A thousand years! I ran all the way to the shores again, jumping for joy.

But by this time, night had fallen, and the surroundings were pitch black. I couldn’t move without placing my foot on thorny bushes or a monkey’s tail, and hence fell into an uneasy slumber.

................................

“-like he’s dead.”

“Idiot, can’t you see? The guy’s not dead. Not yet.”

I woke up, my adrenalin production on overdrive. I was supremely relieved when I learned that the guys were fishermen returning after their nocturnal business trip. I pitched a deal with the guys and rode away with them, the island with the ancient temple etched deep into my mind.