Evening Waves by Kalai Selvi Arivalagan (books to get back into reading txt) 📕

Every Sunday kids living near the sea shore gathered together and spent the evening playing in the shore. They had a nice time gathering shells, building sand castles and chasing small sand crabs. Sometimes Jane played with the sand crabs which came out of their holes and vanished in seconds into the other. Jane and her friends always love to have fun by throwing the wriggling sand crabs at each other.

Last week, Jane’s father presented her with a beach kit. Jane was proud to show her kit to her friends. Unfortunately, none of her friends were there on that day and Jane was left alone to play.

Being alone, she preferred playing in the waves with her ball. The rolling waves came with a rhythm and touched the sea-shore. Jane kept on tossing the ball on the waves that carried her ball in their arms and then tossed it towards her. None other than the waves can be a better company to play. They never fought with her or broke up with the game they were playing.

“Nice friend” Jane murmured to herself.

“Jane, Jane” Susanne called her daughter. “It’s time, we will go”

“Please mom, some more time” Jane wanted to play some more time in the company of waves. The evening was setting in, so she reluctantly returned.

Jane sat near her mother and started to play with her beach kit. She decided to build her dream castle on the sands. Her artistic hands started to ruffle among the sand and within half-an-hour she finished her dream castle. After giving a final touch to the castle, she started to dig a deep moat around the castle. Her hands suddenly felt something that resembled the shell of an egg. Carefully she removed the sand. To her surprise, there was a clutch of eggs.

“Wow, mom, look here” Jane shouted.

Putting away her paper, Susanne looked down. “They are the eggs of the turtle, dear”

“Turtles”

“Yes, sea turtles. They are called Olive Ridley turtles”

“Why are they here?”

“This is their breeding season. They lay their eggs in the seashore. These eggs will hatch with the help of the heat from the sunlight. When the babies hatch, they come out and walk into the sea”

“Shall I take one with me?” Jane asked her mother with a request. She wanted to show that to her friends in the school.

“No, leave them there. If you take it home, the baby turtle will not grow inside”

Half-heartedly Jane placed back the eggs in the nest.

“Do you remember the turtle show we went last month?”

“Yes, Mom”.

“These are the eggs of a turtle like that”.

“Oh!” Jane was still having the egg of the turtle on her hand. Susanne took it from her hand and held the egg near her left ear.

“Can you hear inside?”

“Yes” Jane was excited. “What is that mom?”

“It is the baby turtle inside. It will hatch out next week and walk to the sea”

“Now place this egg inside the nest and cover it with the sand. We need to inform the local club and they will take care of them”

“Shall I pour some water into the moat?”

“Don’t go to the water once again”

“Please, mom”

“It is getting dark. Let us start. You need to complete your homework”

“Mom” Susan continued to walk as if she had not heard Jane.

Suddenly, people who were standing near the waves started to shout. Some of the people who were sitting on the shore also started to run towards the water. Susan thought it must be as usual, the life guards were rescuing someone who got drowned.

“Mom, Look there” Jane screamed.

Susan was surprised to see the huge creature. She could not believe her eyes.

“What a wonderful sight! It looks like a whale”

“A whale! What is that mom?”

“Have you seen a dolphin?”

“Yes. Last week daddy took me to the dolphin show”

“Fine. The dolphins are friendly. But these whales are dangerous. Whales are warm-blooded, air-breathing mammals who spend their whole lives in the ocean”

Before Susanne could follow Jane, she was pushing her way to have a glimpse of the whale. Though it looked huge, it was a baby blue whale.

Susanne remembered what she read last week about the life of blue whales. A baby blue whale is called a calf. At birth, the calf is 6.3 to 7.5 meters long and blue-gray in color. Markings and spots develop as the whale grows older. The baby blue whale needs its mother for the first year. Since whales are mammals, the calf will nurse for about 7 months. The calf will not become an adult until it is 5 to 6 years old.

The baby blue whale was panting for its breath. The baby whale had lost his mother’s trail and had come ashore. The baby whale was “high and dry” and was unable to move.

The life guards and the workers of the local zoo were there. They were discussing loudly, which made the baby whale shudder with fear. He was helpless and wanted desperately to move into the sea and find his mother. The baby whale could hear the searching song of his mother afar. He wanted to move his flippers and made an attempt to move. He was hungry and with low energy and so he could not do so.

Jane’s neighbor, Dr. Stephen who had also come for an evening walk was examining the baby whale. He was a well known Veterinary doctor, who enjoyed working especially with animals living in the sea. He asked everyone to bring in as much of sea water and pour it on the baby whale to save him from going dry.

Jane ran and brought her small bucket from her beach kit. She was the first one to dip her bucket into the sea and bring some water. She poured it on the whale. Within seconds everyone was busy pouring water on the baby whale.

The zoo keeper started to feed the baby whale with the biggest bottle that he used to feed the baby elephant at the zoo. The baby whale was now able to open his eyes and look around.

Dusk had set in. Bright lights lit up the area.

At last, they were all able to push the baby whale into the waves, and were happy to see the baby whale swim into the sea. Silhouetted against the dim moon light, the baby whale blew a 10-foot jet spray into the night sky as it swam 100 feet ahead of the bow. The water vapor sparkled like Christmas lights in the rays of the moon. The snorting noise rolled like thunder across half-a-mile of ocean. He breathed twice more at 10-second intervals. His mother, who was all the time kept swimming at a distance, came and took him along with her. Then he lazily lifted his fluke and slide into the sea along with his mother.

The mother whale used its body to keep the baby whale close to the surface. Whenever the baby whale seemed to struggle for air, the mother whale provided the support as they swim on and on to their destiny. They would travel 70 to 100 miles that night, maintaining a steady speed of 4 to 5 knots for 20 hours.

Though Jane was feeling very tired, at heart she was feeling happy.

Text: Kalai Selvi Arivalagan
Publication Date: 11-05-2010

All Rights Reserved

Dedication:
Waves that touch the sea shore