Love You Forever.

Akash neared the gate of the docks and was excited to see a ship on the horizon. Slowly he could see many other ships. His truck halted behind other vehicles. The security men were checking the vehicles one after another and also the dock permits of the entrants. The previous vehicles had entered the dock; it was his turn, and the security person began checking his truck which was full of provisions.

Finding nothing suspicious they signaled the truck to proceed inside the docks.

Akash was now inside the dock and proceeding towards jetty №13, which was around two kilometers from the dock gate. This was the first time he was inside a dock and he was seeing several ships alongside the jetty.

There were car carriers, bulk carriers, crude carriers, barges, and tugs inside. He was happy and excited about seeing the vessels from so near, for the first time in his life.

In a few minutes, he was near jetty no 13, where a supply vessel was tied up. He had to supply the provisions to this vessel, so he parked his vehicle at a place from where it would be easier to offload the provisions. Walking to a crew standing at the gangway he displayed the provision list.

The crew announced on a walkie- talkie and soon the other crew assembled there to assist him. They were ready for taking the provisions.

Akash went and stood behind his truck. The crew was unloading the boxes and for lifting the heavier items they were using the ship’s crane. He wanted the unloading to be over at the earliest as he had some work in his house.

Suddenly a lady came on deck and the crew began attending to her and answering her questions. She went near the box and checked some of the vegetables. Akash was listening to a video on his smartphone and suddenly got distracted. Looking towards her, he inquired from the crew as to who the lady was.

“She is the Master on our vessel” came the reply from one of the crew.

After monitoring some of the boxes the lady began walking on the deck. The provisions were loaded on the ship by now and Akash wanted to leave. But he was feeling thirsty and asked the crew for water. The crew guided him towards the mess room where he had some water. While coming back he met the lady Captain on the way.

“The last time provisions were not good. The quality was too bad.” She complained.

“I am just delivering the provisions. You will have to complain to the supplier. They have hired me for three months as they were having a shortage of vehicles.”Akash replied.

“I will certainly do that.” the lady shot back.

Akash was soon out of the ship and in few minutes out of docks and headed for his house. This was the truck he had recently purchased after leaving his job at a transport company. And being an ambitious person he wanted to expand his business.

In an hour he reached his house and after having dinner lay on his bed, recollecting the events of the day. Suddenly his thoughts got stuck on the ship and he remembered the lady captain. What a chiseled beauty she was. He could not sleep that night and began thinking of her.

The next month again he had to deliver the provisions. He had taken an office on lease by now and hired a driver, but still, he decided to deliver the provisions himself.

By noon he was near the ship and the crew was busy in offloading provisions. He longed to see the captain, but she did not come out. The provisions were unloaded by now and he was thoroughly disappointed. He asked the crew for some water and was guided towards the mess room.

On the way, he met the female Master who was inspecting some of the cabins. She smiled at recognizing him and he asked her “How was the quality of provisions last time?”

“The quality was much better than the previous time,” she replied with a smile. “Since you don’t belong to the suppliers, even if the provisions were not good it would be of no use complaining to you.”

“I have just started my transport company and my job concerns only the delivery of provisions,” Akash replied.

“That’s good. You always drive your vehicle?”

“I will continue to drive, till I get another vehicle and engage it somewhere. But it would be very soon,” Akash replied.

“Well, I remember a job. My sister has to shift her residence next week. Would you be able to help?”

“Definitely! Why not?” Akash immediately agreed.

Akash left the vessel after promising the required help and the coming week he was busy helping her sister shifting things to her new residence.

The next time he went to the ship to supply provisions; he was welcomed by the Captain who thanked him for the help provided to her sister. She invited him for lunch to the mess room. Soon they became very good friends.

Akash was in complete love with her. But he was hesitant and could not propose to her. She too was impressed by his looks. He was tall, dark, and handsome. The meetings continued for a few months.

Akash could not muster enough courage to bring words to his mouth about his love for her, as he was very shy. It was almost a year since they had first met on the ship. One day as usual he had gone to deliver provisions and met Nandita, who informed him that she would be transferred to another vessel of the same company and the route would be different.

Akash was surprised to hear this. He wanted to convey his feelings but fell short of words. She further informed him that her ship would touch a nearby port every three months.

Akash left the ship and on the way was thinking of Nandita. On reaching home he was so upset that he did not have dinner. All the time he was cursing himself for his lack of courage in proposing to her.

Every possible moment he used to remember Nandita, but since she was sailing on a ship he could not contact her. Nandita too had fallen in love with Akash, but she wanted him to make the move first. Now both were missing each other.

Weeks passed into months and it was almost a year of them having met each other. Nandita was planning to get down for her leave. It was her last voyage to a port nearby, where Akash used to supply provisions.

In the meanwhile, Akash had expanded his business and purchased one more truck. His mother wanted him to get married as he was now well established in business, but he did not want to marry any girl other than Nandita. She too was refusing proposals for her marriage from many suitors.

It was the last voyage before Nandita was to get down from the ship for her leave. She went to the bridge wings and checked the barometer readings. It indicated that the weather was about to get worse.

She took out a printout of the weather report. The weather report said that a storm was about to pass the area in 24 hours. What could she do now?

Nandita decided that she would sail and be near the shore in another 12 hours. She called the Chief Mate and they got ready for the voyage. The ship was now sailing at full speed. But after four hours the weather became very rough and it went on becoming worse with time. Soon huge waves began to hit their ship.

Nandita called all the crew and asked them to be well prepared. The sky was getting dark and huge waves were lifting their ship to heights never seen before. The whole scene appeared to be very scary.

The crew was now worried about survival. Suddenly one of the engines broke down. They were now sailing with one engine only and not making much headway.

In another hour the other engine too broke down and the ship was now completely at the mercy of the giant waves. Slowly the ship began listing to one side. Nandita realized that they would not be able to hold any longer and asked her crew to proceed to the rescue boats and try to leave the ship.

In a few minutes, all the crew had disembarked the ship and was in the two rescue boats. Before leaving the ship Nandita had sent a distress message.

The Coast Guard heard her distress message and directed two helicopters to proceed for rescue. In two hours they were near the site of distress and furiously searching for survivors. Soon they saw one of the rescue boats and began evacuating the survivors one by one. They had now rescued survivors from one of the boats and were looking for the other rescue boat.

Meanwhile, the other rescue boat had hit the shore and broken into pieces. The helicopter rescued all the crew, but could not locate Nandita.

Akash had heard of the incident and headed towards the nearby port where Nandita’s ship was supposed to berth. He gathered people from nearby villages and they began searching for Nandita. After a search of a few hours, they found her body and immediately rushed towards a nearby hospital.

The doctors were monitoring her condition. She regained consciousness after a few hours and was declared out of danger. Akash took permission from the doctors and met her. She tried to get up but Akash signaled her to lie down, till she was completely well.

Daily he used to come and meet her with beautiful flowers, till the time she recovered completely.

One day gathering courage, he conveyed his feelings “Nandita, I fell in love with you the first time I saw you. Due to my shyness, I always hesitated to propose to you. But now I realize that I can’t live without you. Will you marry me?”

There were tears of joy in Nandita’s eyes. She said “Even I love you and can’t think of anyone else in my life other than you. I was waiting for a long time for your proposal. I would be very happy to marry you.”

In a month, they got married and are now happily living as husband and wife.