The Globetrotters

by Esther David

Toonnn … toonnn … A dizzying sound whirred in the deep waters, going all the way down and hitting the ocean floor. Hudhud looked up from under his mother. There was nothing above but the blue waters twinkling in the sunlight. He surfaced alongside his mother to take a deep breath. The cool wind tickled his wet body, and he went down into the warm water again. Answer … Did he have to find an answer? But what was the question?

  ‘When will I be able to eject a thirty-foot-high fountain from my blowhole?’ asked Hudhud, watching his mother’s streamlined body gracefully going underwater after she’d exhaled at the surface. That was the first question that came to his mind.

  ‘Soon, baby, soon. You are growing gloriously—gaining ninety kilograms every day just by feeding on my milk.’ Momsie looked at him with her kind eyes on her flat, broad head.

  ‘Did you hear that call, Momsie?’

  ‘Yes, I did … But I couldn’t recognize the voice.’ She looked around, confused. ‘Who’s calling? Was it my brother …?’ She let out a long, steady groan that reverberated in the waters. No reply came as they swam ahead in the dark deeps.

  They’d emerged again when the sound came, much nearer this time. Toonnn … toonnn … Before Momsie could turn and look, a monstrous creature came hurtling towards them out of the blue, its long shadow blocking the sunrays. Part of it swam in a straight line above the surface, and its submerged tapering front sliced its way ahead, cutting through the water furiously.

  Thwaaaack …! The creature hit Momsie on her long, narrowing body that ended in broad triangular flukes.

  Green with fear, Hudhud saw Momsie’s yellowish bottom as she tumbled to the side. The creature didn’t even slow down after hitting his mother.

  ‘Momsie!’ Hudhud cried and bolted after her. The passing giant hit him on his side, and Hudhud rolled down to the deep recesses of the ocean. Darkness swallowed him and a peaceful lull clouded his senses.

  ‘Psst!’ someone called near his ears.

  Hudhud tried to open his eyes but the effort was tiresome. He just wanted to sink down and down, and never wake up.

  ‘Pssssst!’ This time the sound was insistent. When he still didn’t open his eyes, he felt something nibbling on his sieve-like baleen attached to his upper jaw.

  Finally, Hudhud’s eyes fluttered open, and he saw a small silvery fish with dark bands swimming near his head.

  ‘Momsie …?’ Hudhud looked around. The light was faint, and it dawned on him that he was sinking towards the bottom of the ocean’s belly. Long protrusions jutted out of the ocean floor and, beating like a heart, a jellyfish swam through the steep mountains.

  ‘What a task it is to wake you up, Baby Blue!’

  ‘I am not Baby Blue, I am Hudhud.’ He looked at the tiny fish and backed away, almost bumping into a turtle who was floating by.

  ‘Don’t get spooked, Baby Hudhud. Some baby you are, anyway!’ The fish observed him critically. ‘The largest baby on earth.’

  ‘Where is Momsie?’

  ‘Your mother was hit by the sea monster. I don’t know where she is. I saw you sinking and came after you.’

  ‘Are you … are you my uncle?’

  ‘Your uncle?’ The fish looked at him haughtily. ‘Let’s not forge relationships here, kid. I’m a fish and you’re a blue whale—a mammal. We can’t be related.’

  A school of bright blue-and-green fish floated past like one large organism. The waters were cooler here than at the surface.

  ‘Then … who are you?’ asked Hudhud.

  ‘Captain. Call me Captain.’ The fish swam near the grooves that ran along Hudhud’s throat.

  ‘Captain, who are you?’ he asked, trying to turn his head.

  ‘Ignorant kid, I am a pilot fish. I take some, um … fish … to safety and food.’

  ‘Your stripes are … nice.’

  ‘Trying to be polite? Your mother has taught you that, it seems. Thank you anyway.’

  ‘So will you find my momsie?’

  ‘Kid, your mother is almost 100 feet long and weighs 200 tons. We can’t miss her if she’s alive. If she’s not, tough luck.’

  ‘Not alive … What does that mean?’

  The fish cleared his throat. ‘That means “dead”, kiddo.’

  Catching the blank look on Hudhud’s long, flat face, Captain shook his head. ‘Dead means she won’t be able to feed you 600 litres of milk daily and that you’ll never be getting back to the polar waters. You know, she came from the polar waters to the warm tropical waters to give birth to you. If she’s dead, your mother will be sleeping forever.’

  ‘Oh, we should not let her sleep forever! And I … I-I-I can’t breathe!’

  ‘So get moving now. Follow me!’

  Captain trailed ahead but Hudhud soon overtook him. They emerged at the surface, and Hudhud took a deep breath, exhaling from his blowhole and emitting a fountain of water in the air.

  This was the first time that Hudhud had ever come to the surface without his mother. His throat constricted as he called her yet again. He could hear the groans and moans of a few other blue whales near and far, but none sounded like his mother. Though Momsie and Hudhud were travelling alone, she was in touch with a few other blue whales. She’d told him that blue whales could communicate even if they were a thousand kilometres apart. Surely she couldn’t have been more than a thousand kilometres away. So why wasn’t she answering?

  ‘Out of the way! Out of the way!’ Sonorous calls rang in the waters. Hudhud saw blue waves jump in the air all around him.

  A wave swimming near him playfully splashed some water into his eyes. Captain bumped against Hudhud’s jaws with the wave.

  ‘Dolphins, I tell you! Now, these are your distant relatives, not I. They have nothing better to do but play. Overgrown babies!’ Captain puffed up.

  ‘Blue whale calf, where’s your mama?’ asked a dolphin.

  ‘We’re looking for her. She was hit by a giant monster.’

  ‘But you’re a giant yourself! A twenty-five-foot baby, no less,’ another dolphin joined in, swimming by their side. ‘Say, what do you weigh now, 3000–3500 kilograms?’

  ‘I don’t know …’ Hudhud had never thought about how much he weighed.

  ‘How can you not know?’ The dolphin was surprised. ‘Learn your lessons early, kid. Watch your weight! I always check my weight after I poo.’ She tilted her head towards a third dolphin. ‘These blue whales can eat 40 million krill a day! And I’m expecting them to watch their weight.’

  A dolphin flipped in the air and landed on Hudhud’s other side. ‘Call your mama, giant baby. You are the loudest animal on Planet Earth.’

  ‘I am? MOMSIE!’ Hudhud called again.

  ‘Oh, stop! Stop! You’re bursting our eardrums!’ complained yet another dolphin. ‘Call her once we’ve left. And why are you swimming so slowly?’

  Dolphin number six jumped from between the others. ‘You know you can swim up to thirty-two kilometres per hour, don’t you? Don’t you want to get to your mama quickly?’

  Hudhud moved his head from side to side, looking from one dolphin to the other. ‘I’m keeping pace with Captain.’

  The dolphins laughed in chorus. ‘Captain, sir, where are you taking this big baby?’

  ‘None of your business, mammals.’ The pilot fish was ducking under Hudhud’s flat mouth.

  ‘Business? Oh no, no business! Only play.’

  ‘Captain is taking me to Momsie,’ Hudhud offered. ‘You all flip so well … I wish I could too.’

  ‘I do, don’t I? Hear, hear!’ One of the dolphins slapped another with her tail and flipped in the air, once again splattering Hudhud with water.

  ‘Food! Food!’ someone called, and all the dolphins—hundreds of them in the super-pod—began to follow the ones in the lead.

  ‘Out of the way! Out of the way!’ The sonorous calls receded.

  Hudhud stared after them, fascinated, as they passed by, flipping and turning in the air and splashing water on him. ‘We can play some more!�
� he called, but they were gone. Now he could just see distant, retreating waves in the sea.

  Captain swam to Hudhud’s side again. ‘This way now.’

  They began to move at a steady pace, Hudhud emerging at the surface now and then. The afternoon rays of the sun glistened on his blue-grey streamlined body as he swam to the top to breathe and exhale from his blowhole and then went down in one smooth motion.

  ‘How far away is Momsie?’

  ‘I don’t know, fat kid.’

  Hudhud’s stomach growled. ‘Food … I am hungry.’

  Orange blobs floated towards the surface, all around Captain.

  ‘Oops! Sorry!’ Hudhud blushed.

  ‘What on … Disgusting!’ Captain wriggled out of the blobs, swam beneath Hudhud and emerged on the other side. ‘Tell me before you poo next time!’ he fumed.

  ‘I’m hungry …’ Hudhud pleaded, looking sideways at Captain.

  Captain frowned in concentration. ‘What am I supposed to do? I’m not your mother! This babysitting is getting on my nerves.’

  ‘I want milk …’

  ‘Out of the question! But, let’s see, we can try to get you some food. Can’t carry on with you grumbling in my ear. Follow me!’

  With that, Captain dived into the depths, and they kept going down and under till they reached a depth of about 300 feet. The water was a deeper blue here but Hudhud could see clearly with the afternoon sun overhead. Schools of fish passed by, brilliant in colour and shape, twinkling like stars in the filtering sunrays. Every new creature was a wonder for Hudhud.

  A transparent jellyfish looked at Hudhud curiously. ‘A giant blue whale calf following a small pilot fish?’ It shook its many tentacles in disapproval and pumped away silently.

  ‘There! I see some krill,’ announced Captain. He swam towards clouds of small, shrimp-like creatures. The water seemed misty with the krill. ‘Good, no other whales in the vicinity. They tend to get together where there is food and even gulp down small creatures like me along with their hunt.’

  ‘What … what do I do?’ Hudhud asked, looking clueless.

  ‘Your mama eats krill, you know. She can hold up to ninety tons of water in her mouth! But you can’t do that … yet.’ Captain studied Hudhud sceptically. ‘Hmm … Let’s try. You must know how to eat this. See, all you have to do is open your mouth wide and gulp down a LOT of water. You have these comb-like fringed plates—called baleen—in your upper jaw. These will help you filter the krill out of the seawater. Here … like this …’ Captain opened his mouth, exposing a set of sharp, neatly laid teeth.

  Thus Hudhud too opened his mouth wide and swam through the clouds of krill.

  ‘Yes, that’s right!’ Captain followed him at full speed. ‘Expand the pleated skin on your throat and belly … That’s correct …’ Swimming alongside, he shouted directions. ‘Now shut your mouth and force the water out through your baleen plates. Thousands of krill will be left behind. On the count of three. One … two … th—’

  Hudhud opened his mouth and coughed out the entire bulk of the water, krill and all, back into the sea. Captain went tumbling away with the tide.

  ‘Captain … Ca-Captain!’ Hudhud called between coughs. ‘Captain … Where are you?’

  ‘That was a shame, junior!’ Captain swam towards him from the front, disoriented.

  ‘I’m … I’m sorry! I’ll try again.’

  Without waiting for Captain to get him going, Hudhud lunged forward, swallowing enormous mouthfuls of water. He was about to squeeze the water out with his tongue when he heard a voice inside his head. ‘Stupid baby, let me out! At once!’

  Hudhud looked around, confused, but couldn’t find the source of the voice. There were just many more krill swimming around him. Once again he tried to squeeze with his tongue but he coughed aloud, ejecting all the water.

  ‘Aaaaaaaaa!’ Captain’s voice resounded as he was swept ahead with the jet of water.

  Hudhud, on the other hand, coughed and coughed, rocking the surrounding waters. A large crab feeding on the small shrimp swam away, flailing its eight legs in anger. A ghostlike, transparent anglerfish, with terrible zigzagged teeth and a fluorescent-tipped angler hanging from her head, glared at him with her glassy eyes. Recovering from his coughing fit, Hudhud backed away, scared.

  ‘Captain?’ he called softly, clearing his hoarse throat.

  No reply.

  ‘CAPTAIN …!’ he called a little louder this time.

  ‘You have disturbed my peace enough, blue whale calf,’ a deep-throated voice came from the back. But it was not Captain’s.

  ‘Sorry, sir!’ Hudhud retreated even farther upon seeing an octopus, half as big as him, emerge from the dark waters below.

  His eight orange legs, bearing suckers, moved like waves and the eyes on his oblong head were fixed on Hudhud. The krill, trying to scatter on their many legs, kept bumping against the octopus and the blue whale.

  ‘Where’s your mother?’

  ‘I don’t know, but I have to save Momsie. Someone’s told me I am the man of the house.’

  ‘What does that even mean?’

  ‘I guess it means that I am stronger and bigger … and responsible for the females …’

  ‘Wait a minute. Wait right there!’ The octopus came nearer to him, his whole body tapering as he swam. His arms spread around him again once he stopped. ‘You, bigger? Don’t you know lady blue whales are slightly bigger than the males? Who’s been telling you these stories? Best not underestimate girl power. Best not! By the looks of it, there will be no saving you if your momsie doesn’t come to your rescue.’

  ‘Oh …!’

  ‘You will see many more blue whales on your way back to the colder waters—both ladies and gents. You’ll know then.’

  ‘Is it a long way back?’

  ‘It is, calf. But it is a lot of fun. Travelling around the world! I used to travel when I was young. Like you …’ There was a faraway look in his tiny eyes. ‘But now I just lie in the cold black waters of the ocean floor and cross the underwater mountains only when I want to look at light … and colours again.’ He turned towards the sun with longing. Its rays filtered into the blue water, making it twinkle like a starry night sky.

  ‘I’ve been travelling with Momsie ever since I was born a few days back,’ Hudhud added.

  ‘Yes, whales are one of the greatest travellers of all time. You know, blue whales travel to the cold polar waters for feeding and then to the warm waters of the tropics, near the equator, for giving birth—like your momsie did. Oh, I have so much respect for those humpback whales too! One of the finest travellers in the world. Ah … travels to unknown lands … meeting unheard-of creatures. And the grey whales—uff, they can make a round trip of around 20,000 kilometres every year! To the cold waters … back to the warm waters … and everything in between! You see the krill here? There are many, many more of them in the colder waters of the poles, which are their summer feeding grounds.’

  ‘But I can’t eat them!’ Hudhud complained, his stomach growling louder than ever.

  ‘No, you can’t. And don’t even try! Oh no, do not. You can’t feed on anything but milk now.’

  ‘Milk …’ Visions of him swimming, well fed and protected, by his mother’s side flashed through Hudhud’s mind.

  ‘You may live to be a hundred years old, you know? So you will have enough time to eat that krill once you grow up. But now is the time for milk!’ The octopus cast one long glance at the sun and its filtering rays. ‘I will head back now. My old arms can’t keep swimming for too long. Go back to your mother, baby whale.’

  Without a goodbye, the octopus started sinking into the deeps, his arms trailing behind. Hudhud was watching him in awe when the octopus stopped to look at the light again.

  ‘Sun, sweet sun!’ The octopus sighed, bobbing his head, before turning to Hudhud. ‘I can’t see the moon today. Don’t know if I’ll ever come back and see it again. Will you say hello to the beautiful white moon for me?
’ Don’t you think no white fish, no coral, no white shark can be as milky as the moon?’

  ‘Um … maybe. I haven’t seen any, you know, sharks …’

  ‘Oh course you haven’t! By the way, do you know that grey whales, in their forty years of life, can travel distances equal to going to the moon and back?’ With one last long-drawn sigh, the octopus plunged into the unknown.

  Hudhud was left all alone. Even the krill had managed to disperse and swim away.

  ‘Momsie …?’ Hudhud called again, coming to the surface to breathe.

  No reply.

  Water stretched in all directions, but he could spot neither his mother nor the monster who had hit her.

  ‘This way! Follow me!’ came Captain’s voice as the pilot fish emerged near Hudhud’s eye again.

  ‘Where were you?’ Hudhud cried.

  ‘First you swallow me, and were about to eat me alive. Then you throw me away like poo. And you still have the nerve to ask me that?’

  ‘I … I had no idea!’

  ‘Of course you didn’t, you oversized baby. And I didn’t want to reappear when you were chit-chatting with Young Bob.’

  ‘Young Bob?’

  ‘The old octopus. He’s such a drag! Now let’s go look for your mother.’

  ‘Momsie told me that we are the biggest animals to have ever lived on earth. Even bigger than those giant lizards—dinosaurs. She said once I’ve grown, my tongue alone would be as heavy as the largest land animal—the elephant.’ Hudhud swam ahead with Captain. ‘But that giant, the sea monster, was even bigger than her. Who was it?’

  ‘Ship—that’s what they call it. It was once a legendary monster of the seas. Since blue whales are found in all oceans of the world, except the Arctic, the stories of these passing legends were told across the waters. But in the 1900s, Ship was no longer the stuff of legend. Whalers started killing blue whales. By the 1960s, y’all were almost wiped out. Guess they realized their stupidity then and stopped the killings in the late ’60s. By then around 3,60,000 blue whales had been killed. Now only 10,000 to 25,000 of you swim the world’s oceans. Not too many, if I may say so.’