Bombay

22:00 25/12/2008

It was a hot humid night, the crescent had cast its dull grey spell on the sea making the coast look like a dark long silhoutte. It was past midnight & the tide was low. With no sign of a storm, the sea seemed as clear as a lake. It was the best time to set forth fishing. The crew of 5 had assembled on the docks, the nets were ready , the vessel was filled with diesel & supplies to last 2 months.

They intended to travel deep in the sea where the fish were at abundance but they had to be aware of the maritime border, not to wander far off & cross the border. Not so long ago a boat had done exactly that and it never returned for years. The captain held the map, the tricolour was fluttering up the mast majestically. The engines whined themselves on & the boat sailed along seaward as the crew bid adieu to their families. As the night grew longer, they let the helmsman keep watch at the bow while the rest of the crew took a cozy nap in cabins within the stern.

02:00 26/12/2008

Sometime later in the night, the helmsman saw the silhoutte of a boat & he could make out a blinking light coming off it. Was it meant to be a signal? The signals were coming on & off precisely 3 seconds to each other. It often meant a signall of distress. The wireless radio showed no signs of activity either. Strange..! Worried and frantic, he woke the rest of the crew. As they clambered up the cabin to the bridge, they could make out the signal more clearly. It was a fishing boat. Silhouttes of men waving hands were visible. But no one noticed that the flag on the mast was missing. The captain signalled back with the same pattern, a sign of approaching assistance.

As they drew level with the other boat, they observed the crew speaking a strange language, like that spoken in the neighbouring nation. They then assumed that it was another fishing boat that had drifted off the border and got stuck somehow. They helped the stranded fishermen aboard their boat. They then salvaged some of the equipment from the other boat that consisted of a few boxes, a few sacks & a black rubber inflatable dinghy. There was no sign of any nets. Were they really fishermen after all? Or smugglers? To reassure themselves one of them opened a box, to their surprise it was full of ammunition, grenades, assault rifles, RPG's etc. They knew that weapons were smuggled aboard dhows across the coastline, but never had they heard of someone hijacking a fishing boat. Eyebrows raised and tempers flared.

Before they could react, guns were pointed at them. The hijackers were not regular smugglers but someone more dangerous. They were asked to sail inland & drift close to the shores of Bombay. As they moved inland, the hijackers decided to catch some shut eye. The fishermen decided to act. The motherland that had fed and nurtured them was more important than their families & the nation's fate was at stake. It was time to act now.

They tiptoed stealthily to where the boxes were, opened them & armed themselves with the assault rifles but as they were loading the magazines, the commotion woke the hijackers who swiftly tried to subdue them. Overcome with a sense of patriotism & determination, they attacked back swinging the butts of their rifles. The standoff was short, they were overpowered and subdued in no time. The hijackers were better off without them. Their throats were swiftly slit and their bodies were thrown into the mighty sea where no one could find them.




The hijackers were none other than the 10 terrorists who attacked Mumbai on 26th December 3 years ago and killed around 200 innocent people, an event which shook the world. However this epic struggle & sacrifice of the fishermen seems to be forgotten in the pages of history. But heroes are heroes whether they are soldiers or fishermen & this is an attempt to redeem their sacrifice. Jai Hind.