Sanskriti and Pranay were enjoying their boat ride
in the Pacific. The blue waters stretched all around them. The only other
object they could make out was a distant yacht. Then they saw a dolphin jump. They
were both very excited; they had seen some dolphins in the distance but this
one was frolicking in the water quite close to them. ‘I did not know dolphins were
so huge’, said Pranay. ‘This is what, 3 metres long?’
‘Something like that’, replied Sanskriti,
tilting her head. She waved and said ‘Hey-lo dolphin!’. Pranay sniggered and
said ‘Hi dolphin, how are you doing, catch any nice fish today?’ while waving
his hand. The dolphin suddenly turned and waved its flipper at them.
The children were amazed. The dolphin came
closer, till it was almost touching the boat and said, ‘Naa! No particularly
nice fish today. I did have two squids in the morning, though. Do you have any fish
for me?’
Both the kids started talking simultaneously:
‘Wow! You can
talk!’
‘Where did
you learn that?’
‘Can all
dolphins talk?’
‘Sorry! We
don’t have any fish.’
‘Do you
have any kids?’
‘We have
some biscuits and chocolates.’
‘Are you
married?’
‘We also have Kurkure.’
‘I don’t eat junk,’ said the dolphin. ‘I
only eat healthy things like fish, shrimps and octopus. That is why I am so fit
and can jump so smoothly’. It jumped over their little boat to make the
point.
‘Wow!’ said Sanskriti. ‘I will also eat only healthy
food from now and learn to jump like this. But I don’t want to eat shrimps and
stuff. I will eat what is healthy for humans.’
‘You are a good kid. But what is this noise?’
The dolphin turned suddenly looking here and there.
Sanskriti raised her eyebrow at Pranay. He
explained that dolphins can hear sounds that humans can’t. Sanskriti
immediately countered, ‘What about you? Can you also hear sounds that humans
can’t?’, and started laughing. Pranay gave a bored, exasperated look. Sanskriti
kept laughing loudly till she saw some things jump out of water into the yacht at
a distance.
‘You kids stay here. This looks ugly,’
the dolphin told them and disappeared beneath the water. The kids could now make
out that some sort of fighting was going on in the yacht. They notice another
boat coming near the yacht. Someone jumps from yacht into the water, dragging
another person with him, and swims to the boat. Fight now breaks out in the
boat and they are both again in the water. Finally, the dolphin knocks out the
attacker while the other person gets back into the yacht.
The dolphin returns to the kids’ boat. ‘What
was all that?’ asked Pranay. The dolphin shrugged its flipper.
‘You are bruised’, noted Sanskriti. Pranay pulled
a bottle out of their first aid kit and poured something over the bruising. ‘What’s
this?’ asked the dolphin. ‘It will help you heal,’ Sanskriti explained. She
noted that while it seemed black initially, the dolphin was actually
bluish-grey in colour.
‘I like you kids’, it said. ‘Have you
ever had a dolphin ride?’
‘We would love that. But we can’t breathe under
water,’ said Sanskriti.
‘Neither can I. That’s why I keep coming
back to the surface. You need to take a deep breath when you surface and hold
it when you are underwater’, replied the dolphin.
Pranay looked at Sanskriti mockingly and said, ‘You
did not know this?’ Sanskriti replied ‘Me first!’ and jumped into the water.
The dolphin stayed still as Sanskriti struggled and finally managed to sit on
the dolphin.
Its skin was smooth and rubbery. Sanskriti had
to lie on her tummy to try to hold its body with her arms and legs. ‘Remember,
take a deep breath when your snout is in the air’, it said. ‘He he he, Sanskriti
has a snout’, laughed Pranay. The dolphin dived.
‘Glug Glug Glug’
The dolphin surfaced.
‘Yehhhhhhhhh!!!’
The dolphin was back in the water.
‘Glug Glug Glug’
followed by
‘Yehhhhhhhhh!!!’
This went on for a few minutes. Then, Sanskriti
dismounted and Pranay sat on the dolphin.
‘Glug Glug Glug’
‘Yehhhhhhhhh!!!’
‘Glug Glug Glug’
‘Yehhhhhhhhh!!!’
‘Glug Glug Glug’
‘Yehhhhhhhhh!!!’
They both had a lot of fun, and the dolphin
enjoyed with them. When the kids were tired, they applied another round of medicine
to the dolphin. It waved its flipper at them and disappeared beneath the water.
They saw it surface near the yacht. ‘It is probably checking on the passenger
it had saved’, they thought.
Happy Birthday
Sanskriti
Lots of love from
Papa
9th
March 2025
