Fish Fury

Mommy why do I need to go to school? Why can’t I swim with you?

Cloe darling, the sea is beautiful but it is also a dangerous place. If there are wonderful corals and weeds, there are big, predator fish and other creatures too out there to kill you, to eat you and, even if you survive the wrath of the sea monsters, there is the ever-growing fear of the men in their fishing trawlers who will hunt you down and make a meal out of you. The school will help you become stronger and show you ways to survive in dangerous waters.

How will the school help? Our Teacher Han is not even a fish. How will he tell us fishy tales and tactics?

Don’t underestimate Teacher Han. He is a very experienced chap. His father helped me and my friends when we were young. And now it is your turn to be groomed. While I go hunting for food for you, Cloe, stay here with the other kids in the school. Don’t go out of the ring. Be good, do as taught and you will never regret it.

Mama kissed little Cloe as she swam into the HanFinSchool where the young fish had already assembled for the day’s sessions. There were the small fishes and not so small ones, and then there were large, baby fishes….there were numerous, colourful fishes and not so colourful fishes, there were gentle, sweet looking little ones and there were sharp teethed, dangerous looking little ones too…. all were welcome at the HanFinSchool while their parents were out in the seas searching for food.

Good Morning Finos. Today, we will do something new. It is called the One for All and All for One drill. This is a must learn technique which involves all of you to act as one solid unit. So far all the survival techniques taught were for individuals and playing to one’s strength. This is where we present a unified face to the enemy and fend off an intruder who may be much larger and stronger than any one of us.  Are you ready?

Yea…Yea…Yea!!

Make two triangles back to back. The fastest amongst you should come to the front. The bigger and sturdier ones go to the sides and back. The others fill the box in between. Cloe, since you have the sharpest voice, you take the absolute centre. All of you should face in front. Stop pushing around… go slow and listen to my instructions. Ok now smoothen the sides and make a curve in front and rear as I am showing you on the sand below. Yes… yes…yes… very good.

So now instead of you being just a small fish, you have now given an appearance of a huge fish… even bigger than blue whales.

The exercise does not end here. The person in the centre has to be like the captain who will direct…. Go straight… go right… go left… turn around and if required command all to attack the enemy. So depending upon how you fare in your different tests in my school, the leadership team will be decided. It is not just prestigious but carries with it a lot of responsibility… the safety and protection of our community lies in fighting battles of survival together. We will pick a few of you during the course of your grooming and give some extra leadership skills.

A few more things that you need to keep in mind.

You need to trust one another. The whole strategy will work only if you all time your moves together in the manner commanded by the captain in the centre. Even if one of you misses a step, the structure will fall because the fish by your side will also get confused and start making more mistakes. Once that happens, then you will become easy prey for the intruder who will see through your big fish bluff and destroy not one but kill many of you in one big swoop.

The ones in front will have to be the fastest. They will constantly change place with the leader in front because while swimming fast, you tend to get tired and the speed of the one in front will determine the speed of the pack. A slow fish in front will become a liability. So the next fish quickly takes the lead and the one earlier in front will get breathing and resting time. This will ensure the speed of the group will remain constant.

Now, coming to the ones in the sides and back. They have to be the strongest for the attack by the intruders will be at these points. So I need the bravest and strongest of you to take the wings and the tail. These are the real fighting heroes and in case of a war, will have to be ready to sacrifice for the safety of all.

I shall work to give each of you kids all that I know and also enough time to practise your skills here before you launch yourself into the big blue seas. So now let us practise the Big Fish game a couple of times now.

Cloe found this game pretty interesting. Han would often come up with games which made learning so much more fun. No wonder Mommy has so much trust in him.

Cloe and her friends were having fun making the formation and then moving together. They were all making mistakes… wrong signals were going from the centre, the switchover of speed makers in front was quite a disaster and the biggies who were in the wings were quite amused. But Han was not! He was furious…

I have taught so many fish in the past and your batch seems to be the dullest of all. You just cannot function in unison. If you do not master this technique you are dead… enjoy your next lives inside the stomach of the giant fish!

The kids kept trying and trying…. Slowly things started taking shape and movements were happening as Han had taught. The teacher wanted perfection and was not impressed with little improvements. The little ones kept on repeating and each time got better. How much they craved for a line of appreciation from their teacher but, alas, it didn’t happen so easily. The kids were tired but Han would not let them rest. Rest now and die next, he would say… life in sea does not give you time to rest and relax. It is do or die!

Just when the kids were perfecting their new survival game, Flashy’s mother came rushing to Han….

We have a problem?

Yeah, what happened?

Cloe’s mother was caught in the net of a trawler just now and she has been pulled up from the waters.

Hmmmm… this is serious but wait a moment. We cannot just accept that Cloe’s mother is no more. The Japanese are the ones who fish in our waters. They do not kill the catch. Their people back home like their fish to be fresh and alive when they buy on land. They usually put the catch in big containers and take them ashore. We have hope and a chance to bring Mommy Cloe back if we act now. And please do not let Cloe know that it is her mother we are going to try and rescue.

I am going with my Kiddo Gang to the rescue. You get the others.

Ok Finos. We have a live drill of what we learnt today. Since we have not practised enough and the core leaders and their calls are not yet ready, I will lead the drill. I will stand outside the Big Fish and give the commands. Those who do it right today will be given a treat at McPlankton Café. So remember all the things I told you and all that we did together. Come on , let us give our war cry….All for One and One for All….

The water around rippled as hundreds of little fishes made a whale of a noise. Then all started moving in a formation of five with smallest ones in front and others following, depending upon their sizes. Teacher Han was moving fast and he looked at one of his hands which held what looked like a round box with needles moving left and right. The school of fish now moved closer to the surface and could hear the sound of an engine…..it was not loud but the tiny creatures could hear the faintest of noise. They looked up to see a big dark portion of the water where sunlight could not enter.

Stop… above us lies the biggest fish of the waters. It is also the most dangerous creature. It is big and heavy. Its body is like no ordinary fish. It is made of a very strong skin that no fish can pierce. We cannot fight it outright but we have one thing they don’t…this is our waters and we can create magic with the waves. Our job now is to stop the movement of this big fish and ensure its movements are restricted. We will now move fast, ahead of this fish and create our Big Fish formation and slowly move menacingly towards the enemy. It is possible that the enemy comes straight at us and showers us with deadly flying teeth. Some of you may get injured…..that I will not let happen. Just follow my instructions and we will be safe and yet accomplish our mission. So let us now get battle ready…. This is our chance to show that we are ready for the big life out of school.

The little fishes moved fast forward and turned quickly…. Took shape of the Big Fish with Han directing them and then he made the direction of moving slowly forward… right in the path of the trawler. The fishermen on board could feel something was not right. They checked through their binoculars and could see a huge dark patch moving in their direction…. Captain… Captain… Danger ahead!

The Captain looked at the approaching dark shadow…. What can this be? I have never seen a fish as big as this in my thirty years of sailing. Is it a nuclear submarine or what? Let me lower the periscope below the water to check.

Oh my God! This is a Giant Fish… much bigger than the blue whales we have seen. We have to avoid hitting it or our ship will collapse.

Sir, we do not have time to manoeuvre it to the right or left. Our only chance is going reverse.

Then do it… full speed in the reverse… all hands-on deck and get your weapons ready to fight the sea monster.

Han saw what was happening…. Finos… we are doing good. The enemy is retreating and this will give our biggies to come and do the final act.

No sooner had Han spoken than a huge flotilla of big fishes arrived. Whally, the eldest and wisest of the flock spoke to Han… You have done your job well. Now leave the rest to us. Take the kids to safety.

Han nodded and asked the little ones to break the Big Fish formation and create the size wise line… they quickly got into the lines and started swimming a little away from the action site from where they could now witness the Big Fight. Whales, sharks, piranhas, dolphins, squids, sting rays, octopuses…. You name it and they were there… they surrounded the trawler and all started flying out of the waters and diving back. The Japanese fishermen were bedazzled and mesmerized. They just could not see what was happening…. They were stuck on a vessel and the fishes gathered around were showing as if they were attacking them, yet not confronting them directly. The men with firearms stood frozen and couldn’t move their fingers on the triggers. This went on for some time before the Captain spoke to his men….

Hold your fire, boys! This is not a war but a sign from the fish to us. They think we have captured their friends and want us to release them. They do not want to fight with us but want us to let them live in peace. We have enough firepower to fight the fish but as Buddha said…. Non-violence is the way to peace and God. We will not fight unarmed fish and we must accept their wishes. Release all fish in the tanks immediately.

The mechanical cranes lifted the huge containers one by one and opened the lids. The captive fish along with the water in the tanks splashed into the sea. As the last container was emptied, the sea went calm. They fishermen could no longer see the flying fish. What they now saw were a hundred thousand tails come up the waters and shake from right to left as if waving to them to say thank you and good bye and then they all disappeared into the waters.

Down below Cloe’s mother kissed her little baby and all the fishes went away to their peaceful abode and lived All for One and One for All.

SS 

PS. Each year, around the same time of the year, a bunch of Kiddos from 10-C of 1980 batch, SCS, Delhi, come together from different parts of the globe to celebrate and relive their childhood memories and friendship of over half a century. This is My Shoal of Fish and My Band of Brothers...All for One, One for All. Happy Children's Day.