Just for the sake of fishing

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’.