Summoning India: Bhaarat Samman

Chapter 2- Adbhutha

January 1, 2000

Off the Coast of Kerala

India.

It was a warm morning, with the sun beating down on the fish trawler, as the clock board struck six. Murgan, shielding his eyes with his hands from the sudden flash of sunlight, stepped onto the deck.

It smelt of seawater, fish and sweat, as four other men, all dark-skinned like him, and ages varying from twenty to forty-five. The older men were still sleeping off the alcohol from the new year's feast.

"Anna!"

Murgun turned towards the source of the voice. Standing there was his younger brother, though still a child, was brought along for work as their parents decided he should work when school was off.

"What is it, Suriya?" Murgan was already helping one of the men as they were laying nets into the water, preparing to catch the day's fish.

"Do we even have to do this today? Like we could have just taken a few day's rest instead, plus the harbourmaster said we aren't supposed to be out at sea because of yesterday's storm!" Suriya whined, a habit which was cute at first, but had started to become annoying as the boy grew.

"The same thing you want to do later is what puts food on our table. You better get used to it, as the last thing I want is for you to be a lazy bum." Murgan scoffed at his kid brother, trying to discipline him.

"Bu-but the storm warning is still up! What if something were to happen to us! Will anyone come to save us?" Suriya kept on nagging, while he helped his elder brother at the same time.

"Don't you know? The early bird gets the worm." Murgan enigmatically replied, walking to the back of the boat to check the engines.

"What do you mean worms anna? We are on water, not on land." Suriya was completely confused as what Murgan said flew right over his head.

"Ayyo, I think I would have been better off going to school instead of you, numbnut. I already gave you all the clues, so figure it out." Murgan rubbed his forehead as if he was going to take some time to teach his brother about life outside the text books.

"I still don't get it?"

"Aiyoo, look, now that we are here and early before the others, we can go to the good spots, and quickly get the best catch before the others." Murgan explained.

Nonetheless, Suriya had a point with his sulking. Last night, the coast had been struck by a storm that was massive, sudden and bizarre, and the port authorities, Coast Guard and the local police's Marine units had raised a storm alert, forbidding anyone from venturing out to the sea.

But in Murugan's defence, the sea had already calmed down by the time they were all up today morning. And considering the port authorities were all still probably asleep, and the Coast Guard and Police Marine units were probably resting their sea legs on land as well, fishing would be far easier in the morning with little to no competition and they all could earn a tidy profit by selling them off. It seemed like a very good decision.

But what nagged Suriya the most was the government radio broadcast he heard from the radio at home before he went to sleep last night. It clearly stated that similar kinds of storms had struck all across the coastal regions of India, with heavy thunderstorm rain occurring in the border regions while the rest of the country showed no sign of even a single drop of rain.

It was as if the gods had formed a storm barrier around his country for some reason.

While the two were busy talking, one of the men began to hoist one of the fishing nets from the water, to inspect the catch.