I once did believe that I would never be able to see the world I lived in and enjoyed so much again. Going through such a distressing situation which I wasn't prepared for can really change your life, change your attitude and your way of looking at things. My name is Jay Sharma and I am blessed for being able to tell my story. It all just took me by surprise. Never you imagine that what you feel can be a great time in your life can turn into tour worst nightmare. With terror I remember the day. They were supposed to be vacations that we would all enjoy but it didn't turn that way at all.
We were traveling the Indian south coasts on a ferry . It was a tour i took with my dad and my younger brother Jacob who was two years younger than me. My mom decided to stay home with my brother Chahel, a six year old, too young to go according to my mom so she had to stay and take care of him and besides she always feared to be in a ship in the middle of the sea. I was in no mood to go on the trip with my dad. The idea of being in a ferry with for two days and go Fishing did not appealed me at all. I hated the beach anyways and that was enough reason. Jacob though was excited and well between him and my dad I was convinced and decided that I had nothing to loose. Needless to say I spent most of the time complaining. I would use whatever I could as an excuse for hating to be there and why it was all just a stupid idea. “it smells really bad in here”, “I’m hungry” or simply “I’m bored” were only a few examples.
“would you just shut up and relax?” said
“You shut up, why did I agree on coming?”
“Think about dad, just let him enjoy it. What’s the problem about just spending a week together on the sea? Just try to look the good side.”
“There’s no good side, this sucks, what a stupid idea.”
At that moment there was no way that Jacob or anyone was going to convince me. Yet too busy in my abstinence I hadn’t thought enough about my words and how they could hurt, and to make it worse I hadn’t notice that my dad was listening to them. I then went back to our room and decided to take a nap. I wasn’t tired, it was just a way to avoid my dad, maybe because I was ashamed and regretted what I had said. I was not ready to apologize at that moment so I was going to wait until the next morning to do so. If I was going to spend the next week with my brother and dad in the middle of the sea I had to deal with it and stop being such a queer, at least I was going to try not to complain so much about everything.
The next day I woke up in confusion, not knowing what was going on with my dad yelling at me and everyone else doing the same.
“Hurry, we must get out of here!”
“What? Why?
“Pirates!”
“What!?”
I had no idea of what was happening, pirates? Suddenly when I tried to calm down several shotguns were fired which froze my heart and I was just paralyzed. My dad grabbed me and my brother and we just started running trying to find an exit. Everyone was running for their life, screaming desperately. There were all this men armed with shotguns, machineguns, grenades, and other dangerous weapons. They just grabbed people and fired their guns while screams suffocated the place. I even saw a mother and his baby being brutally beaten by two men. Neither of us knew what to do and it was certainly too late. As we ran three men stood in front of us armed with hateful faces. They had bandanas around their foreheads with ripped wet t-shits. One of them had a big scar across his face that that covered half of his nose ending on a side of his mouth. He grabbed from the back my as I turned around the other way and as I shouted and did whatever I could a saw my dad and brother being grabbed as well taken from me. After a minute or so of resisting against him he kicked my in the ribs. Of course I stopped and remained quiet from then on. At that point I just though I would never be able to see my father, brother, mom or Chahel never again. We were all carried to the dock, he then showed me to one of his companions who nodded. He then tied me with a strap and told me to jump to a boat that was near with other people tied as well. There were about six or seven other boats. There was no choice because it was that or getting killed and thrower into the ocean, to my surprise many people chose that. So I jumped right on and terrified watched how others stupidly refused to be taken and were stabbed or shot. Others decided to jump into the ocean trying to swim but most of them were also shot. I just remained silent not wanting to believe what was happening. I never had been that much of a religious person and neither was my family, but at that moment I just prayed as much as I could and begged God he would protect my dad and brother. I looked around to the other boats trying to find Jacob or my dad, but I couldn’t. Having no idea of what would become of me I just hoped and prayed Jacob and my dad would be alright. The pirates also started to loot the ferry and loading all they could into a bigger boat.
We were then taken to their ship. It was not that big nor very small, big enough to held us all. The ship seemed pretty old and worn out. It was oxidized all around and had broken windows. As each boat was arriving we were carried into the ship. Some people again out of desperation decided to jump into the ocean, regretting not doing it before. They all ended dead of course. I was not going to do anything to oppose, I just prayed to god and begged him everything would be alright. When you find yourself in a situation like this not knowing what will happen to you, suddenly you don’t fear death and nothing matters as it used to The only thing left is your hope and faith. I just hoped my family would be alright and wished to see Jacob and dad, so once in the ship I searched for them once again but it was useless. They were nowhere to be found. Our ferry though was not that far away and shocked I watched how it was burnt down sand slowly sank into the depths of the ocean that reflected the fire sparks.
Me and a group of people were taken into a small room that smelled really bad. We were seven. There was an old man, a woman, a child of about 10 years old and three other men. The room was big enough to keep our distance. The children was crying with his mouth covered and suddenly a pirate hit him with his shotgun.
“Shut up!” he growled, as the kid laid on the floor.
I don’t know what made me do what I did, but I was filled with rage after seeing that scene and no one doing anything that I just got up and tried to hit the man, with my hands tied kicking him. He just raised his gun and hit me as hard as he could. After that I don’t remember anything as I was probably unconscious. Afterwards I woke up just feeling really hungry and tired. The first thing I noticed was that the woman and the child were gone. I didn’t to even think what they could have done to them nor I bothered to ask anyone. So I just laid there silent thinking about all my life. I was just sixteen years old and it seemed it would be all I’d be able to live. I just thought about home and how safe I felt back there with my family. I wished that mom could cook me something to eat but I would probably never eat her delicious meals again. Suddenly I felt anguished thinking on how my mother and Chahed would hopelessly wait for our return. How would she react when she find out we were dead or kidnapped? The thought of never being able to see my family again brought me into tears. The old man then looked at me and asked me what was wrong. I just stopped wiping, dried my tears and just said there was nothing wrong.
“Everything will be alright.” he said.
I appreciated his kind gesture but my hopes weren’t high enough, not even to return him a smile. About three days passed without food, they had only placed a bowl of water for each one of us each day, it was salt water but who cared? So after probably three or four days, I’m not really sure, they placed a raw fish in the room. The three men began to fight for it. I was in no condition to do such thing neither was the old man so we just patiently waited. To my surprise one of them handed me half of what he got and another one did the same with the old man. I was hungry enough to eat anything at that point so rapidly I ate the fish that didn’t taste to anything. Days kept passing like this until I lost track of them. One of those days they grabbed the old man and took him out and never saw him again. Through all this days I kept thinking about what I had said to Jacob about the trip, how it was a s stupid idea and I wish I hadn’t come. Those could have easily been the last words my brother and father would have heard from me and that just horrible feeling of regret just consumed me. The only thing I wanted to do before dying then was to apologize to my father and Jacob for saying those things. I wished none of this would have happen and that we would have enjoyed our trip together. If I could just see them one more time.
One day a pirate came in and with a mop and took me with him. He gave me the mop and ordered me to sweep the dock. I had never swept and so just tried however I could. He yelled at me it was wrong and hit me with it. He then proceeded to tell me how it was done and I listened carefully. Luckily I did it right the next time. Afterwards I did it every day. In one of those days I met Farid. He was three years younger than me. We exchanged stories, he was traveling to visit his mom at Kollam. He also told me he had heard the pirates’ plans were to take us to a not so far away near Sri Lanka and sell us as workers at an illegal arm trading center. It was either that or working in illegal fishing. I was in so much relief we weren’t going to be killed There was hope to be saved though as they were suspicious of some navy ships following them. He was right because one of those days as we were close to reach the shore. I saw far away through the distance I saw a ship. I was sure or at least I wanted to believe they were from the navy. All my hopes were then recovered and prayed to god it was them. I will always be thankful to God for having mercy on me and answering my pleas. After probably two days of having seen the ship, at night when everyone was trying to sleep we heard the sound of guns afterwards: Boom! A cannon exploded and we all shivered with the impact. Suddenly everyone started yelling and the sound of guns filled the dark sky. It was the navy, they had come to rescue us. They fired the ship until we were all in flames. The pirates planned on leaving the ship instead of fighting back. They had tried throwing grenades back at them but it wasn’t working. There as the ship was burning down I saw Jacob being taken by a marine. I was suddenly in such relief I could have stayed there and sink under the flames dying happy. So instead of trying to escape I just laid there to tired to do anything waiting to die. Suddenly I just couldn’t breathe, the smoke had trapped me. After that I lost consciousness.
When I woke up I saw my dad and Jacob beside me. I could not believe what I was seeing. I wasn’t sure if I was dead or if I was dreaming. It was a miracle. I never had felt so happy in my life and I still haven’t. I thank god everyday for that moment. We just hold and hugged each other as hard as we could with tears filling my eyes. I was speechless, my cry was the only thing I could express. We had been rescued and we were on our way home. Since then I have learned to enjoy every moment I spent with my family and the people I love as if it was the last minute left in my life, because you never know what may happen. Now I understand how beautiful life is and that you always have to see the bright side of every situation no matter what.
THE END
