Epilouge....

"Story Avadli?" Dori aunt.

"Ho......" everyone in chorus....."but what happened to stangi at the end??" so asked koti.

"Stangi had lost someone who liked her. in such a great ocean, it was impossible that she would not have got someone 'special' for her"

"Ani sayyaf cha kaay zala?" Adie

"Sayyaf cha tasahi kaay honar hota kadhi?"

"And Marcelo, Cami, Tamarind and Lolita?" Kancha

"Marcelo ended up with marrying Tamarind. Cami and Lolita are still looking for their best"

"That's so strange!!! Why didn't they tried between each other? A arrogant girl and a shy girl could've been a good combo..." Asmu

"Shut up Asmu....not all are like you....people do wait for a long time for partner their choice....it cannot be adjustment every time..."

"And what happened to you Dori Aunti?" Dhoku & Modak in chorus.

"Hmm.....I ended up with 'I'. I felt it was a perfect "An I for an I" situation for me....I still visit Okinawa aquarium to visit both nemo and Merlin. They are fine...."

"One last question. Is this a true story??" Skeptical Kanchan

"Good question!!!"

あんちClimax!!!

6:30 AM, Okinawa Harbor

Taro Harano & Miyomi Mutaguchi are fishing. Taro starts singing....

"....teripon dun me hasane wari.....meribon machari macharne wari....." completes the song

"Kakkoi!! Demo imi wa?" (Sahie bhidu, par iska matlab kya?)

"Shitte naii....boku wa urdu go ka heta desu..." (Donno, my urdu is weak)

"Sooonanokaa......." (Aisa kya?)

"Hai.....Hora mite......nani ga morattano yo!! "(Sale dekh, kuchh to mila hai...)

"Kore wa.....crono fishhi da yo!!! "(yeh to clown fish dikhta hai...)

"So ne...aa....sugoi....hoka mo aru no...!!!" (Achha...arre...ye baap hai...dusra bhi mila!!!)

"Help!! Help!! I am not sinking.... I am not sinking...."

Both were angoothachhaap in English. Miyomi tries it out...

"Wat r u.....not sinking about?"

"Nuts!!" He cries "Tesudai....Testudai..."

"ok..." Taro. He puts both the fishes in the small bucket.

"Boku wa...crono fishhi wa taberarenai.....totemo kanashku desu yo!!" (Mereko clowfish khana pasand nahi hai....woh kaafi emotional hote hain...)

"No probrem....kitte mieba taksan kane ga moray..." (Becha to achha paisa milega...)

 "....who ret da dogs out.....bo..bo..bo...bo...bo..." Both started singing in joy....


I rushed to the aquarium once I got the news about nemo. It was on second floor and I suddenly came across nemo....

Nemo was saddest ever.

Alone!

"What happened??"

"I proposed her"

"Whom?? Stangi??" I was a bit surprised.

"Yeah...."

"Then?"

"Before she cud answer, I was caught in the net..."He started crying now...

I could not bear that.

"But...but i heard on two clown fishes caught....where is stangi??"

"Stangi??" he turned back and I was surprised to see other fish

"You?? What you were doing their??"

"I was trapped!!!!" Merlin started crying "I was waiting for Dori. We were going to have....." he brokes up completely.

It was too much for me. I left i forever.



At the door of the aquarium, I was two of them waiting for me. I rushed towards them.

"Mera commosion do abhi"

"Deta hoon....Deta hoon....." Miyomi said

1 lakh yen was quite a good a amount, and I had to do so little for it!!

There was all fishy about it!!!

A short story about love....

"What happened then....?" Dory eagerly asked Marlin. She was totally moved by the story. She didn't talk much through out the story. Dori was quite emotional in nature and Marlin was quite aware of the same.

"Tell me Marlin, what did Nemo received that day? Acceptance or rejection?"

Marlin stood up and went a few step ahead. Perhaps he was not sure whether to say it or not.

"Does that matter? Does that matter if she accepted his affection towards her, or just ruled it out? It doesn't. Love stories, I wonder why, need always to end up in some sophisticated and classical way. Either it goes with a success of failure, but love stories need not have an ending as far as I think".

"But why? Don't you think it should have an end, as everyone excepts that way only?"

"Dory, I am not talking about the novels and movies. I am talking about the real ones."

"Even for them, there is some end. I am not at all getting your point, Marlin"

"Unfortunately, every love story has some condition associated with it.Boy and Girls come up with some expectation when they fall in love for each other. Even when they like someone, that is based on some condition. Girl thinks her lover should be handsome, well settled in economic point of view, fun loving person, while Boy looks for a beautiful girl which can take care of him and his family"

"Marlin, well....as long as I think, that is nothing wrong it that. Everyone has a choice to chose his own life partner. Why do you think that there is anything wrong in thinking that way"

Marlin looked into Dory's eyes. She was totally puzzled on what he was talking about. He just came near her, adjusted her hairs and came back his place. He was not looking at her now, instead he was looking at ground.

"Dory, Love is not something that can be planned about. There is no philosophy about it. It is instantaneous feeling one get when he like that person.You can think of it before, neither you can have any preconceptions about it. It cannot have any conditions."

"Dory, you know how much I like you, but I cannot explain you why I like you. It is just that I like you. It just happens. There is no materialistic factor that influenced my love towards you. I never thought whether your beautiful or ugly, you are highly educated or ordinary graduate, you can cook something for me or you cannot. What about you? You never bothered about my looks, never though of my low income life, never bothered about my education. What we like is ourselves. We have our love story..an unconditional one... Now tell me frankly, do you really interested in finding the end of our love story?"

She was almost in tears.For the first time, she realized that she never had any thoughts while he fallen in Love for Marlin.She went towards him, held her shoulders and looked into her eyes"

"I don't think so, darling....I don't want to know about end of our love story....because I never want to end it at all."

It was a wonderful love story. But what happened with Nemo? Did Stangi accepted him? or it was just another Sunday evening for Nemo? 

That mundane fact....

"Sorry for disturbing you lovebirds!!! I really never meant to!!"

No price for guessing the owner of this statement. Nemo was, for a moment thought what could be exact reaction for such a nasty quote, but finding stangie out of reach, he decided upon moving ahead.

Typhoon was really creating a chaos in the small island of Izu. Broken houses, disturbed walls, pier was totally damaged...view was horrific on the ground. However, below the ground, it was alright.

"See, I survived!!!" Tamarind cried with cheer "This was the deadliest one ever and I survived!!"

"All survived bro" Lolita.

"Yeah...yeah....you all survived", Tamarind was making a strange face, "and specially Cammie....she was not used to these circumstances, and yet she survived....good work Cammie!!!" 

Camellia, well, was certainly not happy with this comment. He angrily looked at Marcelo, but he was trying to avoid her face and looking at sayyaf for help. Sayyaf just laughed a bit.

He suddenly saw nemo running around looking for something.

Nemo was worrying about stangie. She was missing. Before anyone could realize, he rushed immediately across the cave and started looking for her.

"Stangieeeeee......!!!!"he cried with all his might....."Stangeana.....!!!!"

Rest of those realized quite late and they started searching for her.

Nemo was out of senses....he was searching her restlessly...from one cave to other, from one shrub to another, from one trench to another..... 

"sta..n..." his throat was dried crying her name.

Suddenly he saw something.

Stangie.....

She was missing and looking for correct path.She suddenly found a pathfinder.

"Oh my god...are you alright??" he yelled "Where you had been?"

Stangie found that strange. She was in a better condition than Nemo. He was totally looked exhausted and perhaps his left fin was wounded. May be he bumped against some stone in between.

"I am alright dear. You have hurt yourself in my search. Where are the others?"

"Donno. I found you missing and just thought for finding you out....i totally forgot to tell them"

"Ohh!!! But you should not have injured yourself for me" she was looking at his left fin.

"I could not see anything else stangie.It was just you. You don't know how much I.....I...."

He had his heart in his throat....he first thought of swallowing rest of the words. But how long he could have avoided that? How far he could have kept his emotions concealed? If he could not not do it now, then?

"What are you thinking about? Tell her that", I screamed loudly. I could not stop myself.

"But she had never shown any interest in me before. She would surely say no. What if she stop talking again. What if she...."

"What if you don't tell her? You'll always feel that you had the chance to tell her your emotions, but you didn't.
You will not be able to forgive yourself in future about this incident. Don't be coward...Face that....God help those who help themselves...break the ice for once...talk to her with confidence....forget about what will happen later....." I told him in clear words.

Nemo clammed up a bit, and told her something that he always wanted to tell her, "You don't know how much I like you!!"

Sigh....!!

Time of your life....

"...nakinagara...aruku...hitoribocchi no yoru..."

Nemo was singing some classic item with his sharp voice. He just look around the audience. Marcelo was sleeping. He was quite tired of the long trip. Camellia was trying to enjoy, but it was out of reach for her. Sayyaf unexpectedly listening to the song. Perhaps, it was his favorites one. Stangeana was certainly enjoying the song, but Tamarind was again clueless. As he was not a native, it was kind of torture for him. Lolita was the concentrating less on the song and more on what nemo was doing.

"Great!!" She clapped once the song was complete. She was about to ask for another song from nemo, but when she saw his next move, she abandoned the plan.

"How was that?"

"It was really nice Nemo. You really sing better than those trained singers"

"Oh...not really. They are way better than me. I am just an amateur haphazard singer."

"Doesn't seem so"

He blushed, "May be...but it's everything for me."

"It's good to have a some passion in life, else the life gets boring"

"How do you make your life interesting then?"

"I do not any specific hobby...but I generally believe in enjoying life with all its ends"

"So, you love scuba diving a lot, hnn?"

"Yeah, but i just enjoy it like other stuff like music,food, traveling, etc."

"I love roaming around this beautiful Mariana trench. Really beautiful!!!"

"Me too!!! Bonin is pretty small and quite boring compared to Mariana. Mariana is just great!!"

"I used to visit Bonin with my father Marlin to visit some relative. It's sad place. Mariana is happening."

"They say Indian ocean is really awesome. I really want to visit there once"

"Is it? I am not sure. We might go there some day. May be Marcelo and Sayyaf come up with some"

"Tell me one thing Nemo, what is 'Nemo'?"

"Oh...my dad told me hat it means 'None' in some language"

"What?? That is so strange!!!"

"But true!!"

Nemo was enjoying time of his life until Sayyaf came into the picture.

"There is some typhoon about to hit the sea. We should rush for shelter....Hurry up stangi!!!"

Typhoon?? Yes typhoon....It was indeed a typhoon to come, at least for Nemo. How to face it was the only question left for him now...

All squared up!!!

"Neeeeemo.....where were u lost?"

Sayyaf cried as usual....I always new that these angler fishes are quite loud.....but sayyaf was quite louder than usual. He always had a love-hate relationship with nemo. Still, both used to call each other as "Close friends".

"You always lose your path, nonsense!!"

"Whatever...it's you who donno anything about sea routs. I was just in some other thought...so just gone of the track...not a big deal ma'an..."

"Both just stop it now!!! We are already late!!" Stangie.

There was hardly any possibility that they'll ignore her order. They were currently on their way to Izu islands in Honshu...Although it was a long way from Philippines, they were quite confident to reach there

"Just a little left and west trade winds will lead us to Aogashima and then...." Marcelo "the wise one" Ponse, a turtle, was leading the troop. They were planning for another dive into deep seas of Japan. Camellia, a parrot fish, a little cautious about Marcelo's plan. She was accompanied with Lolita and Anatol 'Tamarind" Nabokov, the twin salmons from Sakhalin. Both were of different nature. Lolita was a shy,quiet girl, but tamarind was just a menace.

"Nice cave!! let's get in!!" and you'll find on the next moment, tamarind is running out the cave, trying to lose the tail from a white whale shark. He was funny, quick witted guy, liked by every one in the troop, except for sayyaf. Sayyaf was a intolerant person, often used to find out mistakes of everyone. However, he was really a good poet and everyone had a respect for poetry work.

Camellia, was totally pampered girl, often used to throw tantrums on Marcelo, although they were in a long term relationship for months. She had only real friend, Stangie. Although Stangie was a Anemone-fish, they still had a good understanding. Marcelo was quite patient, but sometimes used to burst out.

As the troop approached Izu, it was a moment of enjoyment for everyone. They decided to take a rest for a while.

Nemo was now looking for Stangie. He was too much eager to talk to her. As he moved towards her, he saw her chatting with Marcelo.

"We never had such a long trip"

"No way. Kamchatka was way longer than izu"

Nemo was a bit nervous, not because she was talking to Marcelo, but because he was missing up every opportunity to talk to her. How would he express his feeling in front of her, was a query.

"Hey, what happened?" Lolita suddenly stopped his thought process. She was certainly the most sensitive one the troop, so it was easy for her to catch Nemo thinking about Stangi.

"Nemo, everything has its own time. You should always wait for the correct occasion." She suggested.

"I agree, but why life is not giving me an opportunity? What's wrong with me?"

Lolita wanted to comment on this, but suddenly sayyaf came in.

"Nemo, let's go to see those green corals. They must be great!!"

"Sayyaf, I am not in a good mood. Please...."

"Ohh...not again!!" Sayyaf was aware of the issue, "How long you would be cheating yourself? She's not meant for you"

"Sayyaf, you won't get that ever. I cannot be that insane."

"You won't change dude." Sayyaf went away.

Perhaps, it will last a bit more than Nemo was thinking, who knows??

End of the begining....

A giant squid...where did it came from? where will it end up into? No one knows....
Perhaps it came from pacific and end up in Malacca strait...or may be south china..or may be take its final breath in some Cantonese or Philippine restaurant, you never know....you can never predict...

I wonder where Nemo's story gonna end.

Nemo is an innocent, sensitive guy, never did hurt anyone. Never did he thought of cheating anyone for his own fun or his own benefit. But he always lacked common sense in his behavior. He always came up his own theories of life and implemented them strictly, no matter what it took. Even I could never change his way of living.

Where did he went wrong? Or we went wrong on him?

"Absolutely Wrong!!!", he was really angry at this moment, "How you could so insane? I do like her seriously and you are making mockery of my emotions?"

"Have it" I offered a plum milkshake. He accepted it, but started drinking so hurriedly, as if he wanted to get out of this house.

"I know how much you like her. I know you are serious about the relations you want to share with her. No doubt you're loyal enough to hold the relations steady. But have you ever thought what it takes to built a relationship?"

I could clearly see a interrogation mark on his face.

"Did you ever try to maintain a conversation with her in order to know her better? Did you ever tried to verify whether she trusts you or not? Love cannot be a one way traffic. There need to be a dialogue, not just monologue.If she does not count you, it is your fault. You never tried to express your views in front of her. Not everyone is as sensitive as you, especially for those whom they barely matter. You need to create that sense in her mind.

Just be confident and talk to her. I know you will really be successful. It is all about how you exchange your emotions with her. It is always better to be explicit in your thoughts than to be concealed and frustrated"

I really don't know what is going to happen with Nemo, but I am really feeling satisfied for what I did today. Hope it works!!!

Crime and punishment....

I saw Nemo coming in. I hadn't seen him for last two weeks as I had go rush to Sula Islands for some official work. Nemo was looking a bit fresh today for a change, and I was eager to know the reason.

"How are you....king of Philippines!!!"

"Just great...you're laughing you crybaby??"

It was a welcome grin as I could see read from his face. No symptoms of what happened last time.

"Come-in. I'll have some halo-halo for you"

I was observing his face while he was finishing of that beautiful dessert. May be, I thought, he had forgot her thoughts.

"No, I haven't", he was stubborn, "It was not provocative as I later realized"

"Dude, you look alright today. As I compare your face today with what it was a fortnight before, it is hard to believe in what your stating right now"

"May be I was overreacting on that instance. When you started liking someone, you start thinking too much about that person. It is pretty natural"

Nemo was standing behind my writing desk. Perhaps he felt a bit uneasy so he help a chair for support.

"What is her name by the way?"

"Stangeana. She's from Bonin Trench as I told you earlier"

"Doesn't seem to be a Japanese name. Isn't she a Japanese?"

"How would I know Japanese? She's perhaps of Italian origin, not a Japanese one"

"Hmm...So you are from Mariana and She's from Bonin....quite a distance"

"I really like her. She is quite considerate and sensible. She will understand my feelings"

"It is more about what you both feel together, my friend. When you think of a girl, something that matters is her emotional level. If it matches with yours, it will be a great match."

"And what about rest? She won't certainly entertain my looks. For her, may be I am just a pathetic guy enjoying his miserable life"

Nemo regularly contradicts his own speech. He sometimes does that a lot.

"If she's considerate enough, she'll definitely not be considering you, that's for sure. I know you are not a sad buddy. I have seen you many a times cracking jokes and making fun of your friends. You are always a center of attraction in parties. Besides, you are a very good choral singer. You were never pathetic as long as I know you"

"I am still a happy person. But whenever I see her, I get into a dilemma."

"What dilemma?"

"I cannot express my feelings in front of her. I feel like doing so many a times, but can't do that.
So I get upset every now and then. I wish I could control my thought process some day and stop thinking about her momentarily"

"When did you last meet her??"

"Last week we went to Kamchatka. It was a nice trip."

"Nemo, you need to express your feelings in front of her. There is no alternative."

"But how? What if she breaks the friendship?"

I got it completely. It was out of insecurity. Nemo was going paranoid about her.

May be I have a solution now. Eureka!!!!

Silence increases...

Sitting on the couch, with a mug of hot coffee in your hand and climate is soothing....aren't these the favorable conditions to think of a resolving issue? But somehow, it was not working for me....

"Coffee or cocoa?"I suddenly realized he might need one....

"Neither...." he murmured. Then he stood up again and looked out of the window. It was raining heavily. He then looked at me and I just felt as if he is going to start with his emotional story again.

"Do you have some crab soup by any chance?", I was surprised. "Why soup dude?"

"Donno...feel like having one...."

Since Nemo started coming to my place, i used to keep that stuff in my kitchen.

"And a seaweed salad to...."

"Seaweed is out. Will fried herring do?"

"No...No...not the fried one....get a baked one instead..." he insisted, with a bit caution.

After finishing his delicacies, he again sat on the same laminated chair of mine.

"Dude, I really feel sad about you. Why don't you talk to her."

"What should I talk? That what's wrong with her? "Why are you so upset? Can I help you someway?" No.....I don't want her to get hurt....she must've got hurt already by something..."

Silence.....one min......two mins....ten mins....

"May be she's not sad at all and it's your illusion"I gathered some courage to say these words.

"My friend....I'll be happy to know she's not, but what if she is?"

"Does she use any communicator" I carelessly said.

"What??" loud cry was obvious.

"Sorry....I forgot..."Stupid was I to ask this question. But if there was any, did Nemo dare to talk to her on a communicator?

Perhaps no.

Nemo should approach her through some means. What could it be??

Turnaround

"....hmm....so?"

I can't understand Nemo's emotions perfectly. As far i know nemo, he never used to be so extrovert.....At times, he used to chew his own words and I used to think, "Am i really so harmful to this naive fella?"

Today's scene was a complete a turnaround. Nemo was upset, so was I...he was upset because she was upset.

"Now, who is she?" i reluctantly asked before he could start crying again.

"The same i told you about. She lives near bonin trench....we went for scuba diving 4-5 times...and i made a record of 11 kms under water!!"

Guy suddenly gathered some enthusiasm for a second and continued "It was second time when we met, I started liking her....."

Shouldn't I expect some joy on Nemo's face?? But he had lost it already....

"So you like her, hnnnn?", I knew Nemo for 5 years now. This was not a unique dialogue for me. Story was different though...

"Yeah, but i can't see her upset. The way she behaves is her proxy feeling. I know she's not happy..."

Hmm....sounds strange....met her just few times....and he's getting her feelings....pretty strange...

"...hmm....so?"

"So what? I can't see her that upset. I just want to bring joy to her face now..." Nemo really looked disturbed.

Excavation was evident. "But why she's upset?"

"I really don't know. Saddest part is I can't ask her that....we never talked on a personal level that much...she may feel offended"

Now it's tough for me. She wont entertain her e-motions, and he's anyways too shy to talk to her.

Mondai desu ne!!!