All roads of Porbandar, the birthplace of Mahatma Gandhi, led to the Chowpatty beach this Sunday, as thousands of residents converged here to accord a ceremonial welcome to the world’s largest fish. Aniruddha Mookerjee recounts a never-before experience.
Porbandar: As cloud-bearing monsoon winds brought the sea crashing on the Chowpatty beach, thousands of colorfully clad men, women and children stood up with their arms raised and pledged to protect Vhali, the Whale Shark. Led by the president of the Porbandar Nagarpalika, Mrs. Jeeviben Shiyal, who belongs to the Kharwa community of fishermen, thousands of people vowed to welcome Vhali to their shores and ensure its well being.
In a first of its kind, the Porbandar Nagarpalika adopted the whale shark as its mascot with Mrs. Shiyal publicly signing the declaration and holding it forth for the people to see. “I havez spoken to the collector, Mrs. Sheila Benjamine, and we have decided to erect a statue of the whale shark on the Porbandar beach for everyone to see and know,” she said.
The campaign to spread awareness about the world’s largest fish, which was till recently being hunted along the Gujarat coast for export, is being spearheaded by the Wildlife Trust of India and its partner, the International Fund for Animal Welfare and is being supported by two major corporate houses with units in the state: the Gujarat Heavy Chemicals Limited and Tata Chemicals Limited. The 40 ft life-sized inflatable model of the world’s largest fish is designed to be the backdrop for a series of street plays on the whale shark, which are a part of the campaign to give the people of Gujarat a feeling of pride for this fish .
The state of Gujarat has the longest coastline in India. It is ironical that the very state which is the birthplace of the champion of non-violence, Mahatma Gandhi is party to the commercial use of these harmless creatures. Commercial harvesting of the Whale Shark, the world’s biggest fish and one of the gentlest creatures of the sea reaches its peak during April-July off the coasts of Gujarat
Earlier this year in another first, the popular religious leader Morari Bapu agreed to be the ambassador for this campaign and formally launched the campaign in Gujarat . In his address at the launch, Morari Bapu likened the whale shark visiting the shores of Gujarat to a daughter visiting her parents and said, it was indeed sad that fishermen hunted this gentle giant instead of protecting it and creating an environment conducive for it to breed.
Set up on a colorfully bedecked cart, pulled by a camel, Vhali, the whale shark moved beside the foaming sea led by a group of banjara dancers, dancing to an infectious rhythm of drums and flutes in a riot of blue and red. Hundreds of people stood up and stared at this unbelievable spectacle of a camel, the ship of the desert pulling the world’s largest and perhaps the deepest diving fishes, and broke into spontaneous cheer and applause. “This will remain etched in my mind. I have never seen anything like this”, Jeevan Khudai, a 15 year old school goer said.
As hundreds of children ran along waving specially designed Vhali flags and cheering, the huge inflatable was wheeled in near the dais. Then as little girls from the fishing community stood with brass plates full of gulal (colored powder) and rose petals, one by one each stake-holder led by Premjibhai Khudai the president of the Kharwa Samaj (fishing community), and Jeevanbhai Jungi the president of the Boat Owners’ Association, showered petals on Vhali as a sign of respect and welcome. The stake holders included the Deputy Director General of Coast Guard, Prabhakar Paleri; Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, Goverment of Gujarat, M.L. Sharma; Collector Porbandar, Sheela Benjamine; Vice President Tata Chemicals, Ismail Momin. Thousands of people present at the event then held up their hands in a pledge to protect and welcome the whale shark to the shores of their homeland. The Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, Mr M. L. Sharma led the people in the oath-taking ceremony.
The ceremony was followed by a street play enacted by Manish Patadia’s theatre group from Ahmedabad, which held the swelling crowd spellbound. The play dwelled on the theme of how Vhali, as a daughter of Gujarat returns home to give birth to her child and faces the threat of being killed. The actors developed this theme comparing Vhali to the daughters of a fisherman who faces misfortune in the family because he kills a whale shark. The play was followed by a lively rendition from Banjara dancers.
“I saw many women in the crowd wiping their eyes and I am sure the message sank in”, Vivek Talwar, head of HRD, Tata Chemicals, said. The event is being jointly supported by Gujarat Heavy Chemicals Ltd. (GHCL) and Tata Chemicals Limited (TCL) in a unique corporate NGO partnership that has made this campaign possible.
As the sun set slowly, the sea rose with the incoming tide and high rolling waves crashed on the beach with a roar that seemed to match the mood of the swelling crowd of people who kept coming-in in droves.
They patiently stood in queues and walked past the model talking animatedly, with children asking if it was the real thing.
