“Prayers all over India for Amitabh’s recovery. As we all knew, our beloved hero Amitabh Bachan met with an accident on the film set of ‘Coolie’. All over India, his fans are praying for his fastest recovery, and from the sources we have, it seems like their prayers are working and he is recovering from his injuries. Other news include, Indira Gandhi’s government is facing a lot of opposition from the people in the country, the separatist movements in Punjab are increasing, and the management of the economy is getting a little difficult but the government assured us that everything is going to be well and good in a few days; ISRO’s new satellite INSAT-1B is ready to launch, ISRO Director Satish Dhawan is very confident about this satellite, they are telling that it’s main aim is to provide better telecommunication and meteorological services to our country; the ship our government sent for scientifical expedition ‘The Arundhati’ led by Dr. Gopikrishnan Panicker has gone missing since 17 days, no communication from the ship has been received, the government is sending search parties for the investigation and the ship is yet to be found.”

The radio is turned off by a man who was holding his spectacles in his other hand. He rubbed his spectacles against his shirt cleaning any temporary stains on em, rubs his sweaty face with a kerchief, and puts his spectacles on again. He comes out of his cabin onto the deck to observe what everyone is doing. A group of people trying to construct sails from the deck floor and use them to move by using the direction of the wind, another group trying to figure out what went wrong with the engine, another group depressed seasick, and ready to die, a group of people trying to treat the sick, but all of them scared. A middle-aged man from the sails team saw the cracked spectacles standing and observing everyone. He rushed to him,

C:  “Oye Doctor, can’t you do anything regarding the engine?” 

G: “As I’ve told you a million times captain, if I can do something, I would’ve done it already. I am not able to do anything here, I don’t even know how the engine works.” 

C: “You have a doctor in your name, but you can’t treat anyone. You say you are well educated but can’t repair a stupid engine that our shore boys can do in no time. What kind of a knowledged jackass are you?” 

G: “I am sorry but my expertise lies in a different field. I don’t know how to do anything here. My work is completely offshore. Anyways, if you’ve seen your boys repair the engine all these years, you can’t even pick up some skills to repair the engine? All you did was break the ship even more by removing its deck floor and making people uncomfortable by removing your clothes and using them like sails. How come your ship doesn’t even have an option of a backup sail?” 

C: “Cuz we aren’t bloody professional sailers, are we? We are fishermen, we only come into the sea for fishing, your government can’t even afford a fucking ship for your stupid expedition and asked us for help. Show some gratitude towards us as we are the only ones that agreed to help you.” 

G: “And then got us stuck and lost in the middle of the sea.” 

C: “It was an unforsaken mistake, you bastard. You think I planned….”

The conversation is interrupted by a woman, “Stop your silly arguments. You’re grown men, act like it. People are dying here because of sickness and you men are having stupid arguments with each other rather than doing something about it. You idiots.” “Don’t you dare call me an idiot you stupid woman”, the captain shouted at her. “And you (pointing to Gopikrishnan), you and your useless mouth can suck my....” he is interrupted by Gopikrishnan as he pointed his finger somewhere out of the ship. The captain turned around to watch the point and shouted in excitement, “Get ready boys, pull the sails up and get down to the rowing cabins, position your asses, and start rowing on my command.” Everyone on the ship started to move somewhere as Gopikrishnan just stood there staring continuously at where he pointed the finger. “Raise the sails, you filthy buggers. Start rowing, you muscled shitpiles. The sea may be a harsh mistress but trust ‘The Arundhati’, she is strong and can take us anywhere we want. Put your lazy asses to work. We have an island to reach and a life to live.” 

The ship roared into the sea in the starters but as the material isn’t good, the clothes started to fall off the sails. The sails started to tear down slowly and their pillars start to fall. “No matter what happens today, we are going to reach the island. Don’t stop rowing. Don’t stop rearranging the sails. Don’t stop her again!", the captain kept yelling at the crew. A huge rain started in their way and the clouds covered the sun. “We may not have the full support of our Suryadeva. But he does keep guiding us from the midst of the clouds sending light rays for us to see. Keep moving, don’t stop!” As the rain increases, Gopi goes down into the ship cellar to rest for a bit. “All these people are sea sick sir, they’ve never been near the sea in their lifetime and the sudden movement of the ship and its harsh movement through the storm doesn’t seem to agree with these people. Can we slow down?”
“I am sorry Nandini, if we slow down we’ll all die.” “But if we don’t, all these people will.” “I am sorry, I can’t do anything here.” He left into his room and sat on his bed covering his eyes as everyone in the cellar is sick and he can hear them vomiting and coughing continuously. He fell on his bed and tried to sleep amid that chaos. 

“Sir you have to wake up now, please” Gopi heard loud knocks on his door and woke up. 

N: “13 people died here today, 13 good people who came under your leadership. How can you sleep leaving them out here like this?”   (Nandini asked him crying)

G: “What do you expect me to do Nandini, die with them? I am very sorry that they are dead but I can’t…” 

, the captain came into the cellar, 

C: “The sea has swallowed 20 of my good men. When we go back to our country, you better settle all their families and take care of them, or I will kill you with my bare hands wherever you are.” 

G: “I’ll make sure they are taken care of.” “We are going to reach the shore in an hour. Get everyone alive ready. By our Ayyappa’s mercy, maybe we’ll find someone or something that’ll help us get back to our homes from this wretched sea.” 

The ship slowly drifted towards the piece of land they can look on. It doesn’t have a huge port, but it did have a few luxury cruises and stops for them all. “Get the bloody anchor down. Make sure it gets stuck in the sea’s feet.”, the captain yelled. The ship rested near the shore and the boats were lowered. Gopi, a linguist, and a ship crew member went to the island first to investigate who is living there and if they are friendly. They roamed the whole shore but found no person to talk to. They signaled everyone to come onto the island and in a few minutes, almost 15 people who are the only survivors of the journey ended up on the island. “Why did you bring these women ashore too” “Don’t you better think we can’t take care of ourselves out here.” “No, I just wanted you to be safe.” “We can be safe, now where are we?” “I don’t know where we are but this definitely is A LAND, FAR FAR AWAY”