Nature's Fury-serial story

Nature's Fury:

Dear Ladies,

As I have mentioned in an earlier post, this is a screen play sent to Srepehen Speilberg mainly because I have conceived this as a period story for which I felt only he can give credibility and authenticity. I had sent only the story in nut shell and apparently he wanted the full script. Since I am an ameture writer and other preoccupations such as moving from London to Downunder delayed writing and put it finally in cold storage. Thanks to my discovery of this wonderful forum where mature, knowledgeable and intelligent ladies gave me good encouragement in my other serial stories such as just completed Thanimai and Vigyani, this story is taking shape and I present it to you for your esteemed reading.

Surely, I am not in the class of varalotti or Cheeniya who are the seasoned campaigeners. So, please bear with me in my style and language. As manjula has mentioned I may be thinking in Tamil and translating into English which I can't help. But, I will try to explain in English wherever I may bring tamil manam. If you can post your FB as the story moves along I shall be grateful to you.

Prologue:

The theme of the story is that nature left alone is friendly and enjoyable allowing human beings to harness it for their living. Nature once disturbed unleashes its fury in the form earthquakes, hurricanes and tsunamis. This story is about tsunami the most terrifying and destructive of all Nature's furies. The story is a period story spanning several centuries. The events quoted in the story did take place. But, the characters and some incidents are purely fictional. The details of the events presented are to the best of my knowledge and they are described as part of the story.

Episode 1:

M.V. Nancowry set sail for Port Blair in Andaman & Nicobar islands from Chennai with about 800 passengers including Dr. Raman, the renowned scientist from U.S.

Dr. Raman with his wife and daughter occupied the first class cabin allotted to them.

Dr. Raman wanted to take the regular flight from Chennai to Port Blair. But, his wife and daughter were fond of sailing in the sea especially since the journey takes 50 to 60 hours. So, they wanted to enjoy the sun rise, sun set and other sceneries on the way. Dr. Raman had to yield to their desire.

The first class cabin has four berths. But, the ship authorities did not allot the fourth berth leaving Dr. Raman and his family with full privacy. Raman's daughter was happily jumping from one berth to another. To their delight there was a speaker in the cabin which was connected to Chennai Vanoli Nilayam and they could listen to Tamil film songs being played by the radio station. Mrs. Raman did an exploratory visit to the other parts of the ship and located a library. She happily borrowed some books, brought them to the cabin and sat to read. Dr. Raman was immersed in his thoughts.

Shortly after the ship had left Chennai port, the dinner bell rang in the cabin. Mrs. Raman reluctantly kept her book down and accompanied Raman and their daughter to the dining hall.

As they selected a table and ordered the dinner one of the assistants in the ship came to Dr. Raman and said 'Sir, the captain of the ship wants to meet you'.

So, Dr. Raman got up and went to the table where the captain was seated along with few others. As Dr. Raman approached his table, the captain got up and received him by shaking his hands.

The captain offered him a chair and said, ' Dr. Raman, we are delighted to have you sailing with us. Here in this table I have gathered some other distinguished travellers like you. I saw your name and occupation from the passenger list. Can you tell us little more about you. sir'.

Dr. Raman replied, 'Thanks, captain. I am working as a scientist in the University of California and I am spealising about tsunamis'. The moment Dr. Raman mentioned about tsunami, others in the table came forward eagarly to listen to him.

To be continued....

 

Episode 2:

' How to prevent tsunami from coming?'
' When will the next tsunami come? Can we find out before and protect ourselves?'

These were some of the questions raised by the people sitting at the table.

Bbefore Dr. Raman started answering them, the captain raised his hand and said, 'Friends, I brought Dr. Raman to this table only for introduction. Actually, we are delaying him from eating his dinner with his family'.

Then he turned around and told Dr. Raman, 'Sir, please go ahead and join your family at the dinner table. After dinner if you are free we shall meet in my cabin where we can discuss about tsunami over drinks. By the way, Dr. Raman do you take drinks?'.

Dr. Raman said ' No. I take soft drinks only' to the surprise of others at the table. Dr. Raman then asked, 'What about you captain, do you drink alcohol?'

The captain had a big laugh and said, 'To quote from P.G. Wodehouse, I 'drink like a fish and smoke like a chimney'. Saying this, he continued to laugh.

Dr. Raman said,' Oh, you are a fan of P.G. Wodehouse, then I pose to you these riddles. You can tell me the answer if you know otherwise I will tell after my dinner.

Riddle 1. Between Mr. Bigger, Mrs. Bigger and their son who is bigger?

Riddle 2. Between Mrs. Bigger and Mr. Bigger who is bigger? and

Riddle 3. How did Mrs. Wilson become a widow?'.


Leaving the captain and others pondering over the riddles, Dr. Raman returned to the table where his wife and daughter had already started eating dinner and were fast easting. On seeing Dr. Raman, his daughter said, 'Daddy, look in the lounge area, they have a giant video screen and showing the latest Tamil picture. We are going to watch the movie after dinner.

Dr. Raman was happy that after dinner he can leave his family to watch the movie and he can join the captain and others and continue the discussions on tsunami.

To be continued......

 

Thank you. You are a real Cheer leader and I hope others will follow you after reading the story further.

Regards,

TDU

 

Episode 3:

After the dinner, leaving his wife and daughter in front of the video screen showing the Tamil movie, Dr. Raman reached the Captain's cabin where the same set of people who were there earlier with captain were seated with drinks in their hands.

On seeing, Dr. Raman, the captain greeted him and asked him immediately to tell the answers to the riddles he had posed just before dinner.

Dr. Raman gave a laugh and told the answers, 'The answer to the first riddle is the son is bigger among Mr. and Mrs. Bigger and him since he is little bigger. The answer to the second riddle is Mrs. Bigger is bigger between Mr. and Mrs. Bigger since she became Bigger after marriage. The answer to the third riddle is that Mr. Wilson went for lion hunting and after shooting down the lion, preparatory to taking a photograph put his foot over the lion's head thinking that the lion is dead. But, the lion did not think so and that is how Mrs. Wilson became a widow.'. On hearing these answers all had a big laugh.

Dr. Raman continued. He said, 'O.K. to answer some of your questions regarding tsunami, yes tsunami can be detected and people can be moved to safer places. But, tsunami cannot be stopped from coming. Actually, I have developed an early warning system for tsunami as the coastal California is prone to earthquakes and tsunami. Government of India have asked me to install one such system on trial basis at Port Blair. The tsunami early detection system installed at Port Blair can tell the Indian mainland authorities about the approach of tsunami to the Indian eastern coastal shores one to two hours before it can actually hit giving just enough time for the authorities to warn people and remove them from beaches and other coastal areas'.

'Although, at the present state of our knowledge the formation of tsunami cannot be prevented, it is my considered opinion that tsunami can be stopped if we find out the actual reasons. I consider that nature left alone is very friendly like at this very moment the Bay of Bengal in which this ship is sailing is very calm and we are enjoying the sail without getting sea sickness. In fact, I was warned in Chennai that since my wife and daughter are travelling by ship for the first time may get sea-sick and that will spoil our enjoying the trip. But luckily it has not happened. At the same time if nature is diturbed it will unleash its fury in the form of tsunami'.

'Tsunami is the Japanese word to describe sea-rising. In Tamil we call it as 'Kadal Kondalippu' ( Furious rising of sea). The main reasons attributed for the occurrence of tsunami are earthquakes near or below the ocean floor. There are other reasons like underwater volcanic eruptions and landslides. But, my theory is based on the fact all things like earth, water etc. have their natural frequencies and if it is disturbed it can cause havocs such as tsunami. To give one example, you people might be knowing that the soldiers doing march past with regular beats of their boots will be asked to miss the beats when they are to cross any bridge. The reason being that if the beat frequency matches with the natural frequency of the bridge the bridge may collapse'.

Dr. Raman further said,' In support of my theory I would like to narrate from history two events that happend in the eastern coastal regions of Tamil nadu'.

To be continued.....

 

Dear Malathi,

Thanks for posting your valuable comments about the story so far. I do agree with you that natural disasters are man-made. That is my hypothesis too that the earthquake in Gujarath might have been triggered by the underground nuclear explosions at Pokaran. To give more credence to this is the earthquake that shook Kashmir and parts of Pakistan in 2005 might be due to their nuclear tests. Similarly, the tsunami that hit Asia in 2004 December might be due to many underwater nuclear tests done by France and Japan in the Pacific Ocean. My story is based on my fictional hypothesis that tsunamis can occur due to enormous sound and vibrations man makes on earth which beats with the natural frequencies of ocean water and ocean bed. I have set the climax based on this and few of my close friends to whom I have outlined this have said it is very interesting.

Regards,

TDU