Nature's Fury-scientific fiction on tsunami

Prologue:

The theme of the story is that nature left alone is friendly and enjoyable allowing human beings to harness it for their living. Nature once disturbed unleashes its fury in the form earthquakes, hurricanes and tsunamis. This story is about tsunami the most terrifying and destructive of all Nature's furies. The story is a period story spanning several centuries. The events quoted in the story did take place. But, the characters and some incidents are purely fictional. The details of the events presented are to the best of my knowledge and they are described as part of the story.

Episode 1:

M.V. Nancowry set sail for Port Blair in Andaman & Nicobar islands from Chennai with about 800 passengers including Dr. Raman, the renowned scientist from U.S.

Dr. Raman with his wife and daughter occupied the first class cabin allotted to them.

Dr. Raman wanted to take the regular flight from Chennai to Port Blair. But, his wife and daughter were fond of sailing in the sea especially since the journey takes 50 to 60 hours. So, they wanted to enjoy the sun rise, sun set and other sceneries on the way. Dr. Raman had to yield to their desire.

The first class cabin has four berths. But, the ship authorities did not allot the fourth berth leaving Dr. Raman and his family with full privacy. Raman's daughter was happily jumping from one berth to another. To their delight there was a speaker in the cabin which was connected to Chennai Vanoli Nilayam and they could listen to Tamil film songs being played by the radio station. Mrs. Raman did an exploratory visit to the other parts of the ship and located a library. She happily borrowed some books, brought them to the cabin and sat to read. Dr. Raman was immersed in his thoughts.

Shortly after the ship had left Chennai port, the dinner bell rang in the cabin. Mrs. Raman reluctantly kept her book down and accompanied Raman and their daughter to the dining hall.

As they selected a table and ordered the dinner one of the assistants in the ship came to Dr. Raman and said 'Sir, the captain of the ship wants to meet you'.

So, Dr. Raman got up and went to the table where the captain was seated along with few others. As Dr. Raman approached his table, the captain got up and received him by shaking his hands.

The captain offered him a chair and said, ' Dr. Raman, we are delighted to have you sailing with us. Here in this table I have gathered some other distinguished travellers like you. I saw your name and occupation from the passenger list. Can you tell us little more about you. sir'.

Dr. Raman replied, 'Thanks, captain. I am working as a scientist in the University of California and I am spealising about tsunamis'. The moment Dr. Raman mentioned about tsunami, others in the table came forward eagarly to listen to him.

To be continued