Traveling has always being biggest way of getting life lessons.

You learn so much in the process.

About People,Their Behavior,Their Food,Their Culture and lot of Pleasant Experiences I can go on talking about.

However, Today I am not gonna tell you about the life lessons I learnt from the Pleasant Experiences, I'll be sharing about an unpleasant one.

On 15th January 2020, @sidwrites, @looftee and I decided to go for trip to the beautiful Islands of Andamans.

Happiness

Haven't heard of the Andamans?

Well, Its a group of Islands which is far away from Mainland India, but is still part of India. Located about 1600 KMS towards the South of Dhaka is a Paradise which is home of various Indigenous tribes and very seldom visited by Mainland Indians.

So the 3 of us decided to go and explore the less explored.

We din't want to go to any of those very touristy places anyway!

Also just to have a Difference Experience from Traveling by Air, We decide to take the Vintage Indian Cruise Ship Named Samudra Dev.

Samudra Dev is a Hindi word which translates to Ocean God

A Mamoth Indian Sea Beast which was once used by our Former Prime Ministers for their official Visits Overseas and was only made available for public in the year 2005 after the Government Procured another Ship for official purpose.

Now you know we had our reasons to be excited to make our journey to Andamans in this Iconic Ship and we were not disappointed one bit, after we boarded our ship from Kochi City for a 3 day Journey.

Trust me, After Seeing the Amenities available in this ship, we all planned to take up politics as a serious career option.

The ship was no different from a 5 Star Hotel, Except the fact that this 5 star was portable and gave you a even better view of the sea. A Lovely Banquet Hall with a very exotic looking chandelier where we were served 7 Course Buffet by the Most Courteous Butlers I ever came across. An Olympics size Swimming pool, A Play area where we could play Squash, Table Tennis and Basket Ball. Finally, The Port side Cafe for evening snacks.

It was a complete package of bliss that money could buy and the 3 of us made the most of it for the first couple of days.

However, This bliss din't for last for long as our ship encountered a powerful cyclonic storm when it entered The Bay of Bengal on the second night.

We were all unaware and sleeping, when the siren alarms started ringing.

When I am asleep, even the loudest of noise can't wake me. This one such instance where I continued sleeping despite the disturbing sounds. Thankfully, @looftee and @sidwrites were aware enough and they woke me up.

Sid said,

"Kuch Gadbad Hai, Pata lagana hoga.
Bahar Chalte hai"

Translation

"Somethings wrong, We need to find out.
Let us go out"

When we went out to the corridor, we saw people running around.
It was a complete Chaos.
We could hear announcement made by the captain saying.

"Muster Stations! Muster Stations!
Proceed to life boat station on deck 7.
This is no drill.
The ship is going down"

Hopelessness

We had no time to find out what was happening, We were told during our drill sessions that we had to go to deck 7 in case of an evacuation. We just did that.7

We followed the rest of the crowd to our way out to the deck.
As we opened the door out to the bow side of the ship, we experienced really strong winds. It was a storm, It was very evident to us at that point.

A lot of Items like Pool Side Chairs,Tables,Cutleries, Glasses and Plates were tossed towards us by these winds, We had to somehow dodge all this and walk towards Deck 7 by holding on to the side railings. It was real test of our reflexes, Those who snoozed found themselves to be in the waters of the Mighty Bay of Bengal.

Some of them did.

The situation was hopeless, Every time I saw a saw person flying away. My moral would go lower. Negative questions like this would enter my mind.

"What if we don't make it?"

That feeling of hopelessness or Nirashaa began to seep in.(In Bengali). Like there no light in the end of the Tunnel. I could sense death being close to us.

Hope

Luckily for me, Sid was able asses my emotions and he assured me.

"BPM, We will get through this"

He din't stop at that.
Sid further said.

"Once we get out, This will be the best year of our life"

These words re instilled some hope back in me or Ashaa(In Bengali)

I started believing about living again.

We slowly and steadily walked towards deck 7 and successfully got into our life boat and made it to Port City of Chennai the Next day.

Although we couldn't reach the Andamans, We felt Grateful to see broad day light again.
Not everyone get to see the face of death and comes back.
We were lucky and were really aware of this

We started valuing life more.

The lesson I learnt that day was no matter what miserable situation in life puts you in, No matter how hopeless it maybe. If we really believe a Solution Exists, We can get out of it.

This was entry for the ASHAA Othoba NIRASHAA writing contest by the BD Community.

Also, This is My 1st experience in Writing Fiction.

Hope you liked it?

Be Honest and Let me know what you what you think?

_{Cartoon Art by @turtledance24}