Nirenjan’s Space

He stood near the huge monument on the beach, awed by it’s sheer size. The monument was a fantastic piece of architecture, but neglect and nature had reduced it to a structure of rubble. The history of this monument was lost in the sands of time. The young archeologist vaguely remembered something his grandfather told him about the monument - it was built to commemorate the actions of a brave man, who drowned while trying to save another. That was one of the many stories told about this structure. He had heard many more, but which on was true? Neglected for years by the government, the monument had become a haunt for peddlers, drug pushers and all the bad eggs of society.

He wanted to find out what the real story was, but how with so many anti-social elements around? He had to find a time when there was nobody around. There was one such time. The high tide at noon. The area around was engulfed in the sea at high tide. The monument’s platform however, was sufficiently above the water, enough for him to view the plaque. He had a small boat with which he could reach the structure. He decided to plan his entire visit, for he did not think that he would get more than one chance.

Two weeks later, after procuring all the necessary equipment, he set out at a quarter to noon. The waves were just coming in then. He loaded the equipment onto his boat and pushed it into the water. It took him an hour to reach the monument. By the time he got his boat secured, it was almost 2 in the afternoon. The scorching sun bore down on his back, but he decided - It’s now or never. He bent down to view the plaque. Badly eroded by the salty spray and the sea winds over the years, the engraved text was barely visible. He took a few photographs of the plaque, thinking that he could develop them later and maybe process them to try and solve the enigma.

He proceeded back towards his boat to return to his lab, but to his shock, the lashings had broken. His boat was no longer there!!! He was marooned, but only till the tide receded. After that, he could simply walk back over the beach. He sat down, disappointed that he couldn’t get back home and try to solve the mystery. Then he thought, why not try to solve it here itself. He took out a magnifying glass and peered over the plaque. He managed to make out the words “drowned while trying to save a young girl” but both the name and the date were illegible. He finally gave up on trying to read the name and date and sat down to enjoy the breeze.

Suddenly, a huge wave washed over him. Thankfully, his camera was a waterproof model and so his photos were saved. But he was totally drenched. He thought, “Just my luck to get drenched! But the sun will dry me off.” He stood up to strech his stiff body, but he slipped on the wet surface and hit his head on the plaque. Just before he passed out, he made out the words “Karl Schmidt”.

This entry was posted on Monday, October 11th, 2004 at 9:53 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.