‘Ordeal in the Ocean’ is the story of Slava Kurilov, a Russian who faced a remarkable trial by water. Slava kurilov tells his own story. Read on …Read, Enjoy and learn to write

 ‘Ordeal in the Ocean’ is the story of Slava Kurilov, a Russian who faced a remarkable trial by water. Slava kurilov tells his own story. Read on …

When the liner had finally vanished over the horizon, I was absolutely alone in the stormy night sea. First I thought I had to swim one way, then another. It was not even midnight yet, and I had no hope at all of finding my way in this terrible night time ocean. I began to feel afraid. Waves of fear rolled through me, starting from my hands and feet, attacking my heart and then passing through my neck to my head. Waves broke over me and water went into my snorkel. I realized I would not be able to last even half an hour in such a condition.

I saw individual stars, but I could not distinguish the constellation they belonged to. Then dawn came and put out all my stars and I felt my solitude more keenly. The sky was grey at first, then blue-violet shades appeared. In a few minutes, the colours became brighter, with dark red strips cutting across the sky!

The rising sun came up over the ocean. I was surrounded by large waves. The clouds turned pink and swept across the sky in all directions. It was a windy day. There was no land visible. I grew alarmed. Had I made a mistake in my calculations? Perhaps the current had carried me a long way off the course during the night? An hour passed, perhaps two.

 

“Land!!!” I could not deny myself the pleasure of shouting the magic word aloud and of hearing my own voice. Perhaps it was my ghostly island of Siargao? I almost felt I had succeeded – now at least I had hope. The sun looked out for the last time, as if it were saying goodbye to me, and hid away again. In a few minutes, the sky filled with all the colours of a rainbow, the bright shades changing and merging as I watched. At first, the clouds became deep red and then their edges turned bright orange. A little while afterwards, the clouds turned lilac and dark violet. Darkness fell swiftly. My second lonely night in the ocean began. The stars came out unnoticed. I changed course and headed for the southwest. As it turned out, this was an unforgivable mistake.

The evening was approaching. The ocean around me was full of life; large fish often leapt out of the water and big birds flew right above my head. I could see the island distinctly now. A line of dancing palms stretched the length of its shore. The sides of the mountain were covered in many different shades of green. An hour passed, perhaps more. It was extraordinarily quiet.

Then suddenly to my horror, I discovered my island had noticeably begun to move north and was drifting further and further in that direction right before my eyes. Before I had worked out what was happening and could sharply change my course towards the north, the southern tip of the island had appeared in front of me and, beyond that, the open ocean stretched to the very horizon. I was totally at the mercy of the current and realized to my alarm that it was slowly carrying me past land.

My third night in the ocean crept up unnoticed. This third night in the ocean was very dark, much darker than the two previous ones. I almost decided to die as I had no hope of seeing another dawn.

I was suddenly aware of a quiet voice: “Swim to the sound of the breakers.” Indeed, there had been a distant rumbling for some time, although I had paid no attention to it. Now I started listening and I thought it sounded like the characteristic noise of jet aeroplanes constantly landing and taking off. The voice inside kept insisting that I should swim towards this thunder of waves.

At last, I obeyed. Again I heard an approaching rumble. What I suddenly saw at a distance of about 30 or 40 metres has imprinted itself on my memory forever. It was a gigantic wave with steep, very slowly falling crests. Never in my life had I seen such an enormous wave – it even seemed to be touching the sky. It moved very slowly and was fantastically beautiful.

 

The wave did not break over me as I assumed it would. An irresistible force dragged me up its steep slope right to the very foot of the falling crest. Instinctively I clutched my mask snorkel and managed to take a deep breath. The crest started to break over me and pulled me under it. For a moment, I found myself in the air under the crest as if in a cave. Then my body was in a swirling current of water; the inner power of the wave turned me head over heels several times, twisting me in all directions before it tired.

I realized that I had to try to keep my body on the crest and I quickly took up a horizontal position. This time the wave quickly grabbed me and carried me at great speed for quite a long distance on its crest.

I got up to the surface easily and swam in the direction the waves were heading. “Somewhere there, beyond the reef, there should be a lagoon,” I hoped. Suddenly, I felt something hard under my feet. I could stand up to my chest in water! Around me, I could see random currents of water, splashes of foam, and phosphorescent spray all swirling about. Before I fully came to my senses, another large wave approached and carried me some distance further. I was up to my waist in water when a new wave picked me up, taking me several metres forward. Now the depth of the water was only up to my knees. I had enough time to take a few tentative steps, to catch my breath, and look around.

I surfaced at the foot of very tall palm trees. I left a trail of luminous water and my body glittered like some princess’s ball-gown. Only now did I feel completely safe. The ocean was behind me…

Question 1

Below are some incomplete sentences about the story. Complete each sentence appropriately, according to the story.

Slava Kurilov was in the water because he … Evidence for this is …

His biggest mistake was when he …

He decided to die because …

He was carried towards the lagoon when he decided to …

Answer :

Slava Kurilov was in the water because he jumped into the sea and was swimming. Evidence for this is (that) he had a snorkel and mask, and he referred to his “calculations”.

His biggest mistake was when he changed the course and so was carried past the island/swam to the southeast direction.

He decided to die because he lost hope of seeing another dawn.

He was carried towards the lagoon when he decided to swim towards the breakers, that is, breaking waves.

    QUESTION 2

The author uses many vivid and colourful expressions to describe the ocean, clouds, sky, waves and his own feelings. List the expressions that you like the most.

Ocean

 Clouds and sky

(1) The sun looked out for the last time as if it were saying goodbye to me.

 Waves

Find at least two expressions under each heading :

Answer :

Ocean :

The ocean around me was full of life.

Large fish often leapt out of the water.

Big birds flew right above my head.

the open ocean stretched to the very horizon.

Around me I could see random currents of water.

splashes of foam and phosphorescent spray all swirling about.

Clouds and Sky :

The clouds turned pink and swept across the sky in all directions.

In a few minutes the sky was filled with all colours of a rainbow. The bright shades changed and merged as I watched.

At first the clouds became deep red and then their edges turned bright orange.

Puffs of snow-white clouds hung motionless.

The clouds seemed to be adorning themselves in yellow.

Waves :

It was a gigantic wave, with steep, very slowly falling crests.

Then my body was in swirling current of water. The inner power of the wave turned me head over heels several times, twisting me in all directions before it tired.

This time the wave quickly grabbed me. It carried me at great speed for quite a long distance on its crest.

Never in my life had I seen such an enormous wave — it even seemed to be touching the sky.

The inner power of the wave turned me head over heels several times, twisting me in all directions.

Question 3.

Another technique adopted by the writer is to use figures of speech such as a simile. A simile is used to express similarity between two things, e.g. He is as fast as lightning. The rain fell heavily on the metal roof like a machine gun. Similes usually start with ‘like’ or ‘as’. Find two similes in the last section of the story.

I found myself still in the air under the crest as if in a cave.

I left a trail of luminous water and my body glittered like some princess’s ball gown.

Question 4.

Now try to build your own similes for the following :

The rock stood …

The waves leapt…

The sea shone …

The sun set…

The rain fell heavily …

The birds soared …

Dawn broke …

The stars …

The wind shook the trees …