Our lives don't depend on the waves of the sea but his entire life stands on those waves.
While we are sleeping in our warm beds, he is awake at 3 AM in the morning. The whole village is asleep. A father, with his torn net on his shoulder and a lantern in his hand, walks towards the sea. No one is with him, only his shadow and the sound of the sea.
He doesn't know the weather report. He doesn't know the scientific reason for a tsunami. He knows only one thing - if the wind blows to the east, he will get fish, if it blows to the west, his life is in danger.
When he pushes his boat into the sea, his wife stands on the shore and prays to God. That prayer doesn't stop until he returns. Because she knows the sea is both a mother who gives and a demon who takes away.
Do you know what is in the one basket of fish he brings back? One day's meal, his daughter's new uniform, his son's notebook, and the interest on a loan that can never be repaid. He has never eaten the big fish he himself caught. Thinking, "If I sell this, I will get 500 rupees, I can buy books for my daughter," he smiles even on an empty stomach.
We bargain for 50 rupees in the market. We loudly say "too costly." But we never calculate the 12 hours of darkness, hunger, and fear of death behind that one fish.
He doesn't want government promises, he doesn't want big awards. He wants only one thing - his children should live happily on the shore, they should never have to fight with the sea for their whole life like him.
That is why he is still fighting with the waves today. He is a real hero. Not a hero from the movies, but a real hero who fights with the sea every day for our food.
Apeksha R. Tandel
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