Birth

By Meera

Nesting time

'Are they already there!?'.

'I don't know. Even I am scared to get out of our home!!'.

'Please somebody check and come, if the coast is clear. I don't want my babies dying before & after birth, it hurts badly to hear such stories from the elders!'.

'Alright ladies, stand together and all should come outside on one go, as I signal. Once I say the coast is clear off predators, we should be quick to find a good spot to build the nest, to lay our eggs and march back faster than we could, to get back home. Build a good nest and secure the eggs safely at good temperatures. Am I clear now!??'.

'Yes!!. We will stick to your plan!!'.

'I will head out now!. I will try to come soon!!'.

Wow!. It's good to get some fresh air as always. Let's swim near to the shore carefully. Hmm... Bizzare!. How come even near to the break of dawn, the coast is clear off all the predators!!. Where are the big headed creatures!. How come they aren't here, to destroy our egg laying moments... So strange. Let's head back home soon, the young ladies, laying eggs for the first time, would be so happy to hear the news.

'Let's head out ladies!!. Just stick with the bunch!. Never wander and stay focus on the egg laying moments and don't get distracted by anything!!'.

'Sure!!'.

All the female turtles marched behind me as I lead them and the young ones accompanied the elders to observe the way, the eggs are laid. I was so much more happy to lead them today, and I studied the coast as they stayed with the bunch, before, I headed out to find a spot to lay my eggs. Good, I found one quick!!. I started to burrow the sand and cleared the surface as I studied the warmth of the sand and laid the eggs on it. I layered them up with the sand back and covered the entire nest. Once done, I marched towards the sea calling out for others to join me soon. As they arrived, the sun broke yet, the big headed creatures never came. Good for us!!

'Let's hurry soon!!. The sun might come out anytime and that could never be a ideal time for us to lay eggs!!'.

'We aren't late!!. We never started this early yesterday, we have time!!'.

'No, my little young ones!. The sun is breaking quite early today!!. Let's head out soon!!'.

We reached on time and started our egg laying process. I felt happy, to lay our eggs together as our hatch time would match. The sand seemed warmer and I dug deeper.

'Where are the big legged creatures you talked about always, that would interrupt our nesting time and destroy our eggs?'.

'Are they for real??'.

'May be they aren't!!'.

'I guess, such creatures doesn't exist!!'.

'I think so too!!. It's all a cooked up story!'.

'I heard you little ones. They aren't just stories but real. Strangely, they aren't showing up to the beaches!. But there are many big headed creatures who aren't aware of our existence in the beach!!. Quite a few of them, would really help us in our whole process. But remember, they do exist and would appear anytime soon!!'.

'I am happy that the sand is warm!!'.

'Yes, I was happy too!!'.

'What is it, with the warmth of the sand?'.

'Hey first timers, we would give birth to female hatchlings!!'.

'Really!!. Wow!, so how to give birth to the male ones??'.

'The sand's temperature should be cooler!!'.

'The night sand would be much cooler than the early mornings!'.

'Yes. The colder nights have just started. So let's come late at nights, to nest our eggs from tomorrow!!. Now head back soon!!'.

'Its so dark in here!!. I am scared to even step out of the water!!'.

'You will be fine soon. Look at the cool waters. The moon and the stars look beautiful and its enough light to lay our eggs!. In dark, it's way too dangerous than early mornings. So be careful and be real quick in your work. We will head sooner than it's possible!'.

'Sure!!'.

I was excited nearing the sands, once I dugged deeper, the sand remained cool and I laid my eggs, as I had an eye on the bunch struggling to find a good spot. Once done, they all followed me back to home.

'Finally!!. We have shifted to our early mornings. It was hard to get out and get back home, in the darkness!'.

'So true!!. But, where's the creature you have been scaring us all with, time and again?'.

'I don't know!!'.

'Ahh... Ouch!!. Is these the one, you were warning us about, the big legged creatures and big headed ones??'.

'These aren't big headed and big legged, they are sharp beaked and long tailed creatures!!'.

'Yes, you are right. That's who they are. They are other predators of us, next to the big headed and legged ones. They won't leave us to dig deeper. So be quick and secure the eggs safely intact, inside the layers of sand'.

It's been a long time, since the big creatures landed up on beach. How strange it is!!. The sharp beaked poked my shells hard and the long tailed one's interrupted my way to reach my nest spot. Despite the anger to attack them, I went on to dug my nest and secured my eggs safe, while the young ones put up with the fight and lost the focus on laying eggs and I gathered up everyone soon, to get back to waters.

What a fortunate nesting season we had, after so many long years. It's time to wait, for our babies to be born.

Hatchlings time

( 2 months later )

'Hey!!, Are you ready to come out of your shell??'.

'In a day or two, I would!. What about you??'.

'Same as you!!'.

'Good, then let's reach home soon together!'.

'Sure!!'.

'Hey, you two??. Can you hear me talking??. I heard your conversation, I will be out of my egg in less than 2 days, what should I do??'.

'Hey, we can hear you!!. Wait for us to hatch, let's move together!!'.

'Sure, I will wait for you two, to come!'.

'We will wait and leave in the late night!!. It's safer then!'.

'Yes, we will do that!!'.

'Wait for us too!'.

'Wait for me!!'.

'Let's leave as a bunch!!'.

In 2 days.

'Hey, good we all are out of our shells!!'.

'Yes!!. We are out together!!'.

'I feel weak. I can't move!!'.

'Yes, I can't move fast!!'.

'None of us, can. But let us move!!'.

'Yes, let's do it together!!'.

'I guess we all will be vulnerable to move now. But I think we should or else we would die!!'.

'Yes!!. Why we are in less numbers, where are the others??'.

'They have planned to hatch in the mornings. It would be unsafe, but they have taken the decision!!'.

'What about others??'.

'There are so many unhatched eggs!!'.

'Hey, wait!!. Don't go to near to the lights!!. It's dangerous, we would die!'.

'What??'.

'Yes, so don't get distracted, walk as fast as you can and march towards our home!!'.

'Let's move soon!!'.

'Yes!!!, Yes!. We reached home safe!'.

'Finally we made it home!!!'...

Hatchlings time

(a month more later)

'Why haven't our kids arrived yet!??'.

'Haven't they born yet??'.

'They would have by now. Many of our babies arrived and it's a hatch time now too. Some would have died by morning predators. Few would have died by the lights on the beach. Many wouldn't have even hatched!!'.

'Oh...my god!!!. They would have died!!. No, I want our kids safe and sound!!'.

'Yes!!. What can we do??'.

'Is there any way out??'.

'I don't know. We never can secure, every one of our, tiny little ones. But we can try to bring most of them safe back. Let's go and wait on the shore safe. Once they hatch, let us lead them home!!'.

'Sure. Let's go soon!'.

'Remember, we should be safe enough, to bring them home safe to our waters!!'.

I lead the whole bunch of new mums all their way to the shore, safely securing our tiny ones under the bed of rocks.

'Hey our tiny little babies, we are here!!!. Come on, let's go home!!'.

'Ma...ma...ma...ma...maa....'.

We arrived to our waters protecting them under our flaps and reached our homebody.

A year or two later

'Why is the sea shore dumped by the plastics??'.

'Why does it look different than it was before??'.

'Hey little ones!!!. Be careful, the shore is so much more polluted. The big legged creatures have started to arrive, I suppose. It's so difficult to lay eggs even at this late night, then!!'.

'Let's all nest alone, one after the other. That works'.

'Stop scaring us... There's no existence of big legged and big headed creatures. I will go and lay my eg...???'.

She died, crashed under the big legged creatures. Our nesting helps these creatures in good ways, as we dig deeper, the soil gets richer to grow greens and that helps to prevent the coastal erosions by the shore. Our presence helps in the existence of many creatures back home, maintaining our home's ecosystem. But, our nesting time and our little ones, get killed by so many other creatures, but these big headed creatures creates the most deaths. They pollute our shores of our homes by bringing in lot of plastics and we die sooner inhaling the toxins along with the oxygen in our waters. I want my kids to be alive and I want us to be alive to raise them well.

Author's note:

I wrote this story on a little take on, the happy news we received. As the lockdown prevailed longer - the sea turtles nesting season went so good. They protect our environments in a huge way, it's time for us to protect them and their environ.

By Meera