The Talking Fish
In my summer vacation, I once volunteered to work at a beach. It was then that I had an extraordinary and exciting experience. It all started like this.
I like beaches so much that I wanted to clean and look after them. It was then that I decided to volunteer for a beach resort named ‘Paradise’. The resort had three beaches and there were about 50 villas on each beach. The villas were separated with large plants giving the person or family shade and privacy. I liked this resort because it was very green and cool. I worked at the second beach, which was on the north side of the resort.
After working for one month on the beach, I was put in charge of that beach. I was very happy with this change as I would have better control of the beach and would make it cleaner than ever.
As the days went by, many families visited the resort and the beaches. Given that there were not many dustbins, people started throwing plastic and tin cans into the sea, disturbing the creatures inside. And this is when the strangest thing ever happened.
I was out on a sunny day doing a little cleaning with my team when I heard a faint sound, “Hello.” I asked my team if they said anything. They shook their heads. I don’t know how it got into my head that the sea creatures were trying to talk to me. I waded a little further and bent towards the water. Now I could hear a fish speaking, “Hello, I guess you know who I am.” I was too stunned to talk but said, “You are a fish. But how do you know how to speak English?”
The fish said, “I heard people talking and learnt it. But only I can speak the language. Nobody else in the sea knows.”
“Do you have your own language? I would like to learn it if there is,” I asked.
“Yes, we do. But I can only teach you if you promise me one thing. You must stop people from littering. A lot of fish are dying after eating weird things,” said the fish in a serious tone.
“That is plastic. Please don’t eat it and I will clear it in some time,” I said.
When I told other people about this, they did not believe it. When people started snorkelling, they saw fewer sea creatures. Eventually, people started to get bored and began leaving. There were a lot of people still littering and even after working for 17 to 19 hours a day, there was so much garbage to clean.
Now, we had to take some serious action to clean the beaches and control littering. I put some dustbins. I started making posters and put them in every room. On a few days, guests would not be allowed on beaches, and we cleaned with fewer breaks. A few people still littered. I asked my boss if we could ask people to pay a fine if they littered and thankfully, he agreed. I added that to the poster and the littering stopped.
But, there was still garbage left to be cleaned. Things got better day by day. The sand became whiter. The water became nearly crystal clear.
The fish were coming closer to the beach, and this is when I had my second conversation with the talking fish. The fish was unique, so I recognised it when I walked towards it. Again, I bent down and put my head next to the water. I said, “It’s me, the person who was talking to you about a week ago.”
The fish said, “Oh, I remember you. You have done a great job.”
“Thanks, but I have a question for you. How come I can talk to you when nobody else can?” I asked.
“You are the one who cares about the beach, the aquatic animals and the environment. Because of this, you have been enabled to talk to me; and I like to talk to you. It is also your special ability,” the fish answered.
After a few days, the fish also taught me their aquatic language. It was very fascinating to learn the different signs along with their tongue twisters.
I learnt through this that if we work hard to clean the environment, it can make us as well as the animals and sea creatures live a happier life.
