Everyone returned to the village and tied the boats to the trees near the riverbank.
At that moment, I spoke to everyone and said,
"Brothers, listen to me.
I feel that we should build a very large boat-like house.
It should be big enough to accommodate the entire village.
After all, our village has only 25 houses, and altogether there are about 150 to 200 people, including children, the elderly, and the young.
We must start our work from tomorrow itself.
Today, let us hold a meeting.
The situation is very serious. If it rains heavily, our village will be flooded, and we have no roads to escape.
We must protect ourselves on our own.
Right now, everyone is tired. We will discuss this matter again in the morning."
After that, everyone went home, ate their food, and went to sleep.
The next morning, everyone gathered in the center of the village, where we were supposed to discuss the problems that might arise in the future.
I had already decided that we needed to divide the village into four groups.
There were a total of 100 young men in the village, so I divided them into four groups of 25 each.
Then I assigned different tasks to everyone.
Group A:
You will catch fish for everyone.
Group B:
You will cut wood and bring it back, and also make sure that no one gets into trouble.
Group C:
You will take care of the villagers and help Group B.
Together, you must build the boat.
Group D:
This group will include me.
My group will fish in the river and save anyone's life if we see them—whether they belong to this village or another.
We will also search for a safe place.
When everyone understood their responsibilities, I said,
"You may now eat your food and go to your respective tasks."
After that, we all set out for our work.
My team and I were in the river.
Suddenly, I saw a boat floating at a distance.
My team moved toward it, and when we got closer, we saw that the boat was completely empty.
I stepped from my boat into the other one.
I felt that this boat had floated in from somewhere far away.
I told my team, "I will go and check it out. You wait here.
If I get late, return to the village. Do not worry about me."
I sat in the other boat and moved ahead.
I had gone only a short distance when suddenly heavy rain began to fall.
The wind started blowing very strongly.
Then a huge wave rose in the river, and along with that wave, I was drowned.
When I opened my eyes, I found myself in a vast ocean.
Nothing was visible in any direction—only water everywhere.
There were no trees, no land, nothing at all.
I felt extremely hungry, but I had nothing to eat.
Because of this, I felt very weak.
I thought about how to survive and said to myself,
"It is better to try to save myself than to die of hunger."
I started looking into the water and waited, hoping that a fish would come so that I could catch and eat it.
After some time, I saw a golden fish.
I took off my shirt, slowly dipped it into the water, and held it tightly from all sides.
Just as the fish was about to pass over my shirt, I grabbed it.
I quickly wrapped the fish inside my shirt and kept it in the boat, thinking that without water it would die in a short time.
But that did not happen.
When I checked after about ten minutes, the fish was still alive.
I had no sharp object with me to kill it.
So I held it tightly, gripping it firmly so that it could not escape.
As I lifted it and was about to bite it with my teeth, a strong wave suddenly came, and the fish slipped from my hands and fell back into the water.
Now my hunger became unbearable.
I could not control myself anymore, so I tried to drink the salty water around me.
But I could not drink it.
Then I saw another fish.
Once again, I took off my shirt and dipped it into the water.
As soon as the fish came over it, I quickly pulled my shirt back into the boat.
This time, I had a fish again, but it was much smaller than the first one.
When I opened my shirt, the fish lay still.
I thought it was dead, but it was not.
I quickly wrapped it in my shirt and struck it against the boat twice, and the fish died.
I began to eat it, but it was the first time I had ever eaten raw fish.
As soon as I took the first bite, my stomach reacted badly, and I felt like I was about to vomit.
But I was extremely hungry. I could not throw it away.
Somehow, I forced myself to eat it.
After eating the fish, my stomach felt a little better, but I was still hungry.
Then I noticed land appearing in the distance.
I thought I had reached the shore and that someone would be there whom I could ask for help.
But fate had something else planned for me.
After a lot of effort, I brought the boat close to the land.
When I reached there, I realized that I had arrived on an island.
I tied the boat to the shore and placed stones around it so that it would not drift away.
I walked a little distance, but I could not see anyone.
I did not see a single animal on the island.
However, there were many fish near the edges of the island.
I quickly caught a few fish and kept them in the boat.
Slowly, night fell. I ate raw fish again and went to sleep.
The night was extremely cold. I could not sleep properly the entire night because of the cold.
When morning came, I felt as if there was someone else on the island besides me.
But that was impossible. I had not seen anyone for so many days.
Perhaps that was why my mind was creating such visions.