Men in Paradise - 18. Chapter 18 - The Spring

Seasons and nature played an important role in the ancient civilization before humankind invented Science, Clocks and Calendars. The Indus Valley Civilisation during the Bronze Age lived in the northwestern regions of South Asia, lasting from 3300 BCE to 1300 BCE. It flourished in the basins of the Indus River, mainly monsoon-fed rivers flowing across the length of India and Pakistan. Their urban planning, baked brick buildings, extensive drainage systems, water supply systems, and modern handicraft and metallurgical techniques were noted. Mohenjo-daro and Harappa, the major cities, developed to comprise between one and five million inhabitants. During the 3rd millennium BCE, gradual drying of the region's soil may have been the initial spur of their civilization, but gradually weaker monsoons and diminished water availability triggered the downfall and dispersed its people east and southward. In pre-Columbian America, the Maya civilization was a Mesoamerican civilization and was noted for its highly developed writing system, as well as its sculpture, architecture, calendar, and astronomical system. Before 2000 BC, the Maya period saw the first innovations in agriculture and the earliest villages with staple crop cultivation, including maize, beans, squash, and chili peppers. It was the Maya who established the calendar with great precision to its greatest sophistication, recognizing seasonal changes, documenting lunar and solar cycles, eclipses and celestial movements. But during 900 AD, because of drought, extreme environmental destruction, regular wars, class conflicts and oppressive regimes, this great civilization collapsed. In the Fertile Crescent, pre-Pottery Neolithic B (7600 to 6000 BC) arose and spread eastwards and westwards from there. Jericho in the Levant, thought to be the world's first town, is one of the most prominent settlements. As the first non-nomadic agrarian communities, the convergence of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers provided them rich fertile soil and a supply of water for irrigation in Mesopotamia. They are called the Cradle of Civilization. Adapting to seasonal shifts, agriculture and animal husbandry have been commonly practiced in their cultures. After the 8.2 kiloyear occurrence, the civilization vanished due to the sudden drop in global temperatures that occurred for about 8,200 years.

Sakthi's PoV

During the second month of Spring, Chrysanthemums blossomed all over the island. Yellow, Orange, White, Purple, and Red in colors, they made the island a garden by itself. Flowers were heavily aromatic which made the entire island whiffed like a scented room for weeks. Even Captain was excited about it, running around the plants and smelling the flowers often.

Also, we noticed the purplish-blue colored flowers on the slope of the mountains. The snow mountain in our neighborhood was not snowy thereafter but covered by those blossomed flowers. The mountains looked painted in purplish-blue during Summer. Justin called it Strobilanthes Kunthiana which blossoms only once in a blue moon. Jai mentioned it can be found in the hills back home. A long time back, I had visited a hill station in my home state, it's called 'Nilgiris', the translation of that Tamil language name is Blue hills, it is infamous for Kunthiana flowers.

Our garden grew to an extent it fructified the way we were hoping for. Chilies, Mustards, Elephant onions, Tomatoes, Coriander, Sprouts, Cucumber, Bok Choy, Chickpeas, Lupins, Lentils, Cassava, etc were ready to be plucked daily. But we knew some of them would take several more weeks to fully grow and provide us vegetables, spices, etc.

The Wonder island is a true Paradise indeed...living by its name.

Justin promised that by the end of next month, crops would be ready for harvest. Thus, we needed more baskets and vessels to store them. We brought more bamboo and Coconut coir to make them. Jai climbed coconut trees and collected the coir sacks from them. He made large bags out of it which could store a minimum of 10 to 100 pounds.

We decided to build a separate storage room since our hut had little space to store thereafter. We decided not to build a wooden shelter again since it was not safe or preventive enough. Luckily, we now had strong tools such as sledgehammers, axes, etc to cut the rocks and made concrete stones. We used clay and limestone from the stream and the rocks as a mixture between the concrete stones. That was our first concrete building which was a room-size filled with wood shelves and aluminum containers.

We now had two dozen birds and 7 goats. They were restless and reproduced like machines. Justin worked his magic to make sure they were fed with healthy food and took proper medical attention whenever needed. Jai and Justin together attended their deliveries during pregnancies to ensure we were not losing livestock.

Boys were gaining muscles and six-packs due to a lot of physical work on that island. Having an adequate food supply for two growing boys along with two adults and Captain required plenty of food sources regularly. We started eating less meat and more vegetables. Also, we needed to feed the growing number of our goats and howls every day, and that required an additional amount of food supplies. We took inventory and devised a plan. Everything was dependent on the crop harvest.

Afridi, our blacksmith boy was forced to come up with innovative ways to build aluminum containers for the kitchen. Jai was planning to grind the spices and store them in special containers to try different cuisines. We made as many baskets and coir sacks as possible to store our food supplies such as rice, vegetables, fruits, meat, eggs, seafood, milk products, pulses, nuts, and spices, we were waiting for our farm crops and garden plants to yield to us.

Afridi grew a thin mustache and beard, we teased him about it almost daily. He admitted it was part of his new blacksmith avatar. We Adam-teased to an extent that finally forced him to shave it off one day. Jai grew his hair longer, spent a lot of time on prayers and meditation, he was transforming into a saint. Justin, the scientist discovered and invented more stuff for our livelihood, his new theories about the island were mostly shocking revelations. Each one of us was an expert on a task. I took care of fishing and building, Justin managed the farm and garden, whereas Jai took care of cooking and crafts, Afridi was our Shepherd boy and blacksmith. But we did share each other's work whenever required.

That day, I was watching Jai grinding coconuts for oil. We brought a couple of large stones from the rocks and stream for him to use as a grinding machine like an ancient style. He knew how to work with it. He was a hard worker, always engaged himself with physical activity. I have seen teenagers like him back home were mostly busy with their smartphones...addicted to chatting and playing. But Jai was unique and special. He was hardworking, disciplined, cute, and spiritual. And he took baths twice a day and smelled like coconut oil all the time.

Jai finished grinding the coconuts and went inside the hut to keep the flour.

He worked hard to make rice flours, spice powders, and oil for cooking. I was his unofficial assistant helping him in all the activities. And we chatted, I loved talking to him and sharing my secrets without any inhibitions.

Later, when he came out of the house, he was carrying two bamboo baskets. 'Boy, he is not resting at all' I thought.

"Can you come with me to the stream. I am going to collect Mangosteens".

Do you remember a plant with the dark fruits that Afridi saw with a snake on it a like ng time back? Well, it was not just an ordinary fruit, we later learned that they were Mangosteens, its fruits have white flesh inside the dark layer which are delicious and edible.

At the beginning of the spring, there was another tree near the banks of the water stream which started growing green fruits. Their fruits were yellowish orange in star shapes, they were called Carambola, which tasted sour and sweet like any other. It can be cooked or eaten raw.

"Are you coming or not?" Jai asked me again, interrupting my thoughts.

I said "Yes" and then continued walking with him to the stream

"Why do you need two big baskets?" I asked him in confusion.

"I am going to make Carambola pickles," he said with his trademark smile.

"And you know how to do that?" I wasn't sure if he knew.

"Well, I am gonna try" He smiled again.

"You are not kidding, right?" I asked him innocently.

"Nope, I am going to make pickles and test it on you guys" He laughed at his joke.

We started collecting the fruits in the baskets. Of course, both Carambola and Mangosteen trees were so full of fruits that required two baskets as cleverly thought by Jai.

When we returned to the hut with the fruit baskets, Afridi was the first one to come and pick a Mangosteen.

"That is a snake fruit" Jai shouted at him to stop taking any more fruits.

"I don't care, I am not scared of them any longer" he snapped back at him.

"If you eat it, your dick will shrink" Jai teased him with a fake statement.

"I got them big enough already, you wanna check?" Afridi asked him, his eyebrows were raised as if he was challenging Jai for a dare.

He pulled his trousers and showed his jewel to him. Well, I have seen that thing so many times at the stream, So I was not taken back by that display of nudity.

"Woah, a white snake in there," Jai laughed.

"Wanna taste my white fruit, it's delicious, I promise" Afridi shoved his pelvis towards Jai.

"Eww" Jai pushed him away.

"Come on, I know you want it" Afridi kept teasing him, waving his dick towards Jai's face.

Jai picked a knife from the storage shelf and said "No, I don't want it. I am going to chop it into pieces''

Afridi showed him a fake scary face and pulled his trouser back. And then he disappeared from the storage room.

Jai and I rolled on the floor laughing until we could not take it any longer.

Both Afridi and Jai developed a good friendship since they both were of the same age, they often banter at each other and I enjoyed watching them.

Justin joined us a few minutes later from the farm. Living a farmer's life was exhausting him. But he enjoyed doing it, so we were not concerned about it.

"Why don't you take it slow?" Afridi said to him with concern.

"I can't, I need to shorten the crops and replant them, it's an important process for genetic engineering. It will multiply before the harvest" he answered in his serious tone.

"OK, whatever. But don't complain to me about your body pain at nights" Afridi murmured.

Both Jai and I noticed his new pendent on Justin's neck. We learned that Afridi made it for him. 'Oh man, they were going serious' I thought to myself. There was some sort of chemistry between them and I doubted it was more than just friendship.

It was getting dark very quickly. We lit the bonfire as usual and sat around it. Jai made soup using mixed vegetables from our garden. It was delicious and spicy. Justin coughed a little, he was not adjusted to the spice yet. I applied some salt to it and tried again. 'Hmm, much better,' I said to myself.

Of all the food sources we discovered, making salt was easy. When you are surrounded by the sea on all sides, you don't have to worry about salt. It requires simple processes such as fetching seawater, boiling, and then drying it to get salt sediments.

"What are you planning to do after the harvest? Will you keep the farm empty?" I asked Justin.

"No, that won't be good for the soil. We will try the next round of crops" Justin replied.

Captain was circling my legs. Sometimes it did funny activities just to get my attention. I pulled it closer to me and patted its neck.

Justin turned his head towards Jai and asked him

"You are getting enough milk, do you know how to make curd, cheese, and butter?"

"I know a little bit, I'd help him" I volunteered.

"Can we go to the island adjacent to us?" Justin asked us out of the blue.

We have been talking about it for some time when we found out that a small narrow path between the two islands where the water was not deep enough, and we could cross the sea without a boat. I was the only person among the guys who did not know how to swim until then. But I learned it, thanks to Jai for his brilliant teaching skills. We named the island Purple island, and we were planning to visit and explore it. We had at least a week for the harvest, and we got enough free time to do that.

So, I said, "Yes, let's do it tomorrow".

We went to sleep that night. But I couldn't sleep, something was disturbing in my mind which was refusing to let me sleep. I lied down next to Justin since I came a bit late to the loft after taking Captain for a walk. But sooner I realized Justin and Afridi were doing things. I wasn't sure what it was in the dark, but I guessed Justin's trousers were off.

I could hear the noise from insects and frogs screeching for prey from a distance. I was probably half asleep when I found Jai's arm was on my hips. He hugs me like a baby while at sleep. I was sleeping in between Jai and Afridi that day. I turned my head and looked at Afridi, he was sleeping with his mouth slightly open. I noticed sometimes he talks during his sleep. It was a miracle the way those two boys adjusted to life on that island. I realized that they were too young to waste their lives there. We knew that exploring the purple island would be a beginning to find ways on our own to escape from our island, we needed to learn the landscape around us and prepare to overcome any challenges when we sail away.

When I woke up that morning to the usual creaking noises from the birds, I noticed that there was a slight shower. Throughout the year, the island gets such showers either during the early morning or late evening. Once we finished feeding the howls and goats, we decided to visit the other island after our breakfast. Justin and Afridi were exuberant. Jai, like a typical responsible person among us, took empty baskets, coir bags, and long sticks with iron edges for protection. He also packed meals for us. We planned to stay on the Purple island for the whole day and explore as much as we could.

We found that the Purple island was at least half a mile by distance. But the ocean was not deep, and the water level was up to our knee-length for quite a distance. When the water level was higher, we swam as much as we could, I was grateful that I left Captain at the shore. We were wearing briefs only to avoid being fully clothed to be drenched in the water. Probably, early primitives crossed oceans and migrated to one continent after that way too. It took two hours to reach Purple island. It looked even more beautiful with a closer look. It was three times larger than Paradise. The island has two magnificent mountains adjacent to one after another followed by barren land covered by sediments. In the beginning, we avoided climbing the mountains and walked on the shore. But nothing interesting could be found on the shore nor the land.

"What shall we do next?" I asked Justin.

"Let us climb the first mountain," He told us.

"How about the second one? It looks much larger" Afridi asked him.

"I am not sure about that, the volcano on it could be still active and dangerous," Justin said.

"How did you come to that conclusion?" Jai asked him.

Justin knelt on the ground and took some sediments in his hand and showed them to us.

"Look at this, the color of these sediments are not the same as we found in Paradise. There are two types of ash sediments here, I doubt whether the sediments around the second mountain are still new. And there are hardly any plants or trees on that mountain. The volcano on it could be still active" Justin finished explaining to us.

It could be true because we didn't find a single trace of any living being on that island except the purplish-blue flower plants all over the first mountain. No traces of birds or animals either. We found bones and remains of seagulls scattered all over the shore. It was Justin who told us that they could belong to Seagulls. The Volcano from both the mountains poured magma all over the place, it even scattered it on the ocean. The narrow path that helped us to cross the sea was sediments immersed in the sea.

We decided to skip the larger mountain and climbed on the first one. It took four hours to climb it. When we reached its top we had traces of volcano. But we were sure that the volcano on that mountain was completely dead a long time ago. Justin predicted it could be at least a thousand years. From the top, the entire landscape of our area was visible. Except for Paradise and Purple islands, there were no other lands in the vicinity, we were surrounded by the blue ocean. Around our place, we saw white bubbles like waves on the ocean surrounding us. Though it was not visible since we were too distant from the ocean, Justin told us it could be the water currents. And he predicted that no smaller boats like fishing boats could be too dangerous to sail across the water currents. They prevented anyone from entering or leaving the island. That was why we did not find any ships or boats. And on top of that, it was in the remote part of the world which made the island even more isolated. But still, there were some unanswered questions.

"If these water currents prevent anyone from entering or leaving our island, then how did those settlers come here and left?" I asked Justin.

"I don't know, but these water currents might have formed recently. I doubt whether the active volcano on the other mountain played a role in it" Justin replied to me.

"Are you saying that we will never be able to leave this place in a boat?" Afridi asked him in frustration.

"I am not saying that. Large ships and helicopters could still reach our island. But boats could be risky unless you know how to navigate in the sea" Justin told him casually. I doubted whether he wanted to leave the island.

I guessed that Afridi thought the same, he turned his head on the other side with a scornful face. He was angry at Justin for no reason. I put my arm around Afridi's shoulder to calm him.

"Buddy, don't worry too much. We passed that a long time ago. We don't know yet if our island is as remote as we think. Let us hope we find a ship sailing near us. When that happens, we will go to them in a boat or swim no matter what. I can promise you that" I told him and waited for his response.

Afridi stayed silent for a few seconds and then he looked at me with a beautiful smile on his face as usual.

I just don't want us to give up our hope to go back home. I like living here in Paradise, but I would much prefer it by choice rather than by force" Afridi said.