The Rising Hero
By Sagar Kamalam
By Sagar Kamalam
Drama | read 08 min #shortstories #hope #family #emotional #floods
Chapter one
It is raining heavily?
The river Kanya is flowing from the top to the bottom and setting itself to merge into the ocean. But when there is a chance of heavy rains, it always leads to a dangerous situation for the people who stay in the surroundings. Sometimes it leads to human loss as well, making the people homeless.
It was back then ten years ago when such devastating incidents had happened, though the situation remains the same almost every year.
According to weather reports, it seems to be inevitable this year, which created quite a tension particularly for one village which stays near the river Kanya, which flows in the middle of the village and holds more than a thousand.
The government is only there to see how many have died due to bad weather or how many houses have kissed the land and to provide minimal aid to the people who were affected.
Having seen all this or listened since 21 years, it created a frustrating kind of situation for Bhargav, who is the son of Shiv Shankar Narayan. Shankar's family is large in number, having 5 kids and a wife, which made him weak, but at the same time, he feels the strength of happiness being together.
They had their own tiny house giving shelter to all five and also providing good education in nearby towns to their children. Shankar is a strong devotee of Lord Shiva, who is believed to be the God of Destruction. Whenever the bad weather hits all others, the Lord's temple, which is located near the river, always held its strength, which made many of them believe.
One fine day,
When the situation had come up, the tension for everyone had risen to a high level. Shankar had a feeling and promised himself and his family to take care of them at any cost... but it seemed nearly impossible this time.
Chapter two
Shankar had always been brave to tackle the situation when such arose, though he worked very hard to lead this life. His wife, on the other hand, helps most of his family to get proper food and the knowledge that they need to have once they start to lead their life. They both together make sure that all together make a strong strength when such disasters need attention.
On the other hand, Bhargav was along with his three brothers and one little sister. He had always taken care of all of them whenever they needed help. One fine day, when everyone was seated around for eating the food, Mother Rani had prepared rice with dal and had started to serve the food to all.
They had the box television on with flash news about the continuous rains which could break into houses anytime soon. Maybe the government wanted to evacuate everyone before it's too late. This made Shankar's pondering heart heavy.
Later,
When they had all slept together, the rain ripples sounded outside, with a noisy fan on top of the floor...
At 1:00 am, with tears on his face, looking at the dark rain outside with a yellow street light in the corner street near to an end from the open window, and the flowing river which is far away, he could feel the sound of the flowing water though. He was worried about what he needed to do to help his family stay safe when things got hard to control.
Seeing this from sleep on the floor, his son Bhargav, who had just opened his eyes, had seen his father with dread in his eyes. He had just woken from sleep and barely imagined what his father had gone through and quickly became normal.
From the back, raising his hand to his father's shoulder, "Nanna (Father), what happened?" Looking slowly in a dramatic way, he said, "Haven't slept yet?"
"I just had to wake up suddenly and saw you," the son replied.
"Can I say something? Can you tell me one thing? Have you ever thought about what is the toughest part in our life - when you know you might lose your loved ones? I can feel that? until some miracle arises."
"How can you say that?" asked the son.
"You know, when you have an abundance of experience staying at one place, you have a sense of what can happen"
Slowly, they started to sit - father on the chair and son on the floor - and they continued their heartfelt discussions.
A little later,
Everyone had just joined them around and had an exchange of emotions.
In between them, having his hand on his father, son Bhargav said, "If something unfamiliar comes up, then I have a plan that helps us all.
I don't know how Lord Shiva has planned to save others, but I am here to save you all... trust me," as he promised to all his family.
Chapter three
Rescue teams have started entering the village. With available boats, first the ladies are made to sit in them. As everyone has started to walk on the flooded water carefully, a stampede kind of situation is very much possible when the heavy gathering of people comes for rehabilitation.
The rains continue...
The mother Rani and her daughter have separated from Shankar's family, and the other three boys have requested to wait until the ladies are all safely deployed into government-provided rehabilitation centres.
In the meantime,
The water seems to be increasing in flow slowly, and the tension in Shankar has risen as fast as it can. He is looking for any rescue teams that are coming for them soon so that they can safely return to their family.
A little longer wait. Instead of standing in one place with the orders given by the rescue team, Bhargav asked his father and younger brother to follow him. "It's too risky, my dear son. We have to follow the instructions given by the rescue team," replied the father.
"What if we don't get into one? See how many of them are still waiting. Trust me, Dad, just follow me." With doubt and yet confidence, both the father and the younger brother followed Bhargav.
In the direction towards the uplands where the flow of water increases?
"It's unable to walk for me, Bhargav. Can you both catch me before you move forward?" requested the father to both his sons. As the flow kept increasing, they had to take support at some place to stop until the flow got under control.
And they waited for an hour...
As they moved forward, the stem of a tree that was coming from the opposite direction hit straight into Bhargav's lower stomach. It did not go deep inside the stomach but caused an impact of pain.
He stood and controlled his pain with his mind and kept moving forward.
As they kept moving, the dead bodies of a few innocents started to hit on their way.
Both the father and the younger brother started losing hope but continued to move, while Bhargav, on the other side, with self-motivation, kept going.
A little later, they could see tall trees that could stand even in this heavy rain. They kept moving. In a moment, they all could see one house which stood alone in the safest place.
Seeing that, "How come this is here? I never knew about it," said the father.
He requested his father to stay silent and said, "Quickly, let's all move to that house."
The flow of the river just got super high, and the rescue team continued their work rigorously.
As they moved in, they saw a tiny floating box with full safety and required oxygen that could fit three individuals. It was prepared by Bhargav with the help of his professor, Das Vedhavanth, since from five years.
It doesn't have any official approvals but can take care of three individuals fully covered for a few hours in the water.
As both stood stunned to see it, Bhargav requested them to quickly jump into that boat before water reached the house. As they started to deploy inside it, suddenly the water from every corner started to hit, and Bhargav just hit his face on the wall of the house.
He requested both to stay inside and cover themselves with the boat. "I will try to come inside somehow?" After a quick push from the side, he somehow managed to get inside, and they all tied themselves tightly inside it. Once everything was set in place, they simply started to wait until the boat itself could float in the water.
As it started to move into the water,
Bhargav insisted to the other two, "It will float for 48 hours before it loses strength, unless something hits it hard." As it started to flow along with the water, it took a break when the standing trees came in between. And it was stuck there for quite a long time before it started to move forcefully into the water. Panic and up-and-down situations arose within, but they remained with hope until someone from nowhere could find them.
On the other side, the rescue team boats had managed to safeguard a few others who were left, and they were waiting for someone's help in the floating water.
The floating boat continued in its direction as the water moved with super force.
After a day, the rain had come down a little, and the floating boat had gotten stuck between stones in the flowing water.
After a short while, a helicopter started circling in the sky to see if anyone was stuck or to safeguard others.
Then they saw this floating boat, which had written on it "SAVE LIVES." The helicopter pilots sitting in the left seat of the cockpit and operating the flight controls spotted it. They immediately went near it and hooked it with their equipment.
And finally, Bhargav acknowledged that someone had come to save them.
Once they entered into the box, they had limited options to interact with people outside. As they came closer, they were surprised to see such innovation-felt it was a little dangerous but realized that at least people could truly survive.
Once they were picked up, they were taken to the rehabilitation center's.
After searching through a bunch of people, they found both their mother and daughter. And all felt happy together.
Shankar gave a heartfelt hug to his son Bhargav for what he had done and praised him as "The Rising Hero has come to save us."
The End.
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