Free Blue Fish: The War Beneath by Sankalp Page A

replied, “You need to secure our eastern coastal area, the Bay of Bengal.”
    Pointing the area out on the map, he concluded, “Your operation is passive. You have to report any enemy activity ranging from East 86 0 to 95 0 and North 19 0 to 20 0 .”
    “Considering how chaotic the situation is currently with the bifurcation of Pakistan, our coastal line is in grave danger. We must be on alert for any kind of assault,” said the Admiral.
    "Sir, why is this operation passive? If the enemy is planning to attack us, why can’t we retaliate? Why can't this operation be active?" asked Sharma.
    "We need to follow the orders," shot back the Admiral.
    For a moment, the atmosphere of the room was charged with tension. I wanted to take Sharma’s side, as I felt he had perfectly valid points. Why couldn’t we go on the offensive?
    “We are there only to monitor the enemy’s movements, not to take charge of the situation, Sharma. Further plans will be devised as per the enemy’s moves,” explained the Rear Admiral.  “Unless the word comes straight from the Prime Minister, we aren’t supposed to make a move. We are to abide by this at any cost,” the Admiral declared.
    Sharma looked curiously at the Admiral, and questioned, “What should I do when we are in crisis mode?”
    “Administrative Officer Kamal will look into it. He will be with you.”
    Even if it was the first time that Sharma and Kamal were meeting each other, it was obvious to the rest of us that there were going to be issues between them. Time did not prove us wrong. Their enmity marked a huge secret in the history of the Indian Navy. They were fundamentally opposite, but both swallowed their differences enough for the Navy’s best interests.
    I firmly believe that things would have taken a different route if either of them had not been involved. The operation was termed ‘Sea-Sight’. This was the rare operation with 30 odd crew involved, with none of them knowing the details. It was kept a secret, and the crew were told that this was merely a training session meant to last 18 days.

A VOYAGE
    Underwater, in the Bay of Bengal, an Indian INS Karanj 'S21' - a Kalvari class, diesel-electric submarine slowly moves forwards at 6 knots speed. Her two propellers rotate slowly.
    I was in the second compartment of 'S21', with the Sonar Operator Ramana – a young man, wearing a sonar headset, and carefully listening to the sounds echoed that indicated our presence at different frequencies. Ramana was the eye of the submarine 'S21'. Once we were underwater, there was no way that we could see anything beyond our vessel. We had to depend on sonar waves, quite like bats, emitting sounds at a high frequency, and then marking out the path based on the echoes.
    I stood behind him, studying the log sheet and wave chart generated over the past few hours.
    “Has anything been identified?” I asked.
    “No, Sir.”
    Ramana was under a tremendous amount of pressure, as he was well aware that any negligence in his duty would result in catastrophe. Instead of adding on to his stress, I walked out and made my way to Commanding Officer Sharma’s cabin. I knocked, and entered his room.
    He was engrossed in a book. As I sat down, I caught a glimpse of the cover. He was reading the autobiography of Subhash Chandra Bose.
    “Bose’s autobiography, Sir?”
    “Have you read it?”
    “No, Sir.”
    “You should. Youth like you should be inspired by him.”
    I knew Sharma was far from an advocate of non-violent practices when it came to any threat to the nation. He was not one to sit silently when provoked. He firmly believed in the concept of an eye for an eye.
    Sharma flipped over a few pages, and read to me. “Give me blood, and I will give you freedom.” He looked at me, his eyes piercing into me. “I believe Bose should’ve been honoured with the title of ‘Father of the Nation.”
    Sharma’s admiration of Bose took me by surprise.
    “Why, Sir? He was the cause of