Just for
the sake of fishing
The story was inspired when I saw
people fishing leisurely in the canal running through Beijing city- Shirish
Ravan (shirishravan@gmail.com).
I was awake as early morning sunshine illuminated my little water kingdom. Aha!!!!!!! It was cheerful morning. I flicked my fins and started swimming; meandering around… I swam across the streams, along the stream, through the tiny tunnels formed by rocks, and through the net formed by planktons. My other friends soon joined me. With ample food to eat and beautiful habitat to live, life was wonderful. But sorrows do touch our lives once a while.
Occasionally
we see our friends suddenly go missing. Where do they go, why do they disappear
suddenly? We never understood this. But once I saw how it happened…. My friend
swallowed something that appeared from nowhere and I could see he started
moving upward…. as if somebody is pulling him forcefully. I saw he was
suspended above the water. His body was trembling viciously as if he was
struggling for the life and death… I could not see more as my vision faded.
I was so
sad. I did not understand why it happened. Where did my friend go missing? Why
did he go missing? As days passed, my sorrow lessened. I again started living
happily in my community, not knowing that anyone of us may have similar fate to
that of my friend.
It was
another beautiful morning…… and I noticed something near me. Definitely it was
delicious food. Without thinking, I grabbed it in my mouth. In a moment, I
noticed that I am dangled to something. I tried to throw away what I swallowed,
but I was unable to do it. I wanted to go downward, but something was pulling
me up, towards a surface. I remembered what had happened to my friend. I shivered.
A wave of pain passed through my body.
In a moment,
I was pulled out of the water. I desperately wanted to jump back. With all
force, I moved my fins to throw myself back in the water… but it hurt me more.
I felt I am unable to breathe well. I was restless. In a short while, I felt
somebody grabbing me ruthlessly. I was frightened. I was in the hand of a man.
I noticed a smile on his face… an evil smile of winning over me. My breath was
getting shorter and shorter… I was full of pains. With pitiful eyes, I looked
through eyes of a man. I wanted to show him how much it is painful when one
dies. I wanted to tell him I am suffocating. I wanted to beg him to put me back
into the water.
Instead, he
put me on the floor. I was longing to get back into the water. I started
jumping frantically to get back to my little kingdom. More I jumped, more I
exhausted. I started to realise that it is an end of my beautiful life. I was
unable to jump anymore… I lied down there lifeless, waiting for my death. As I was
dying, I watched my killer. He was busy in attaching another bait to get one
more catch.
I did not
harm anybody… then why did he take my life? For the last time I looked at
bright sun… and then it all became dark…. I knew… I was dead.
I was killed
for pleasure of a man… all he wanted to do was just kill his time… I was
sacrificed ‘just for the sake of fishing’.
