Snowland

By Sharada Balasubramanian

In Sharada’s first chapter written during the fantasy workshop, the environment takes centrestage as we are plunged into a world post the climate crisis, with an unknown, barren space spreading out into the horizon

Chapter 1: Stranded

Almost two centuries had passed. The sea that canvassed the landscape of Snowland was wiped out in the blink of an eye. Snowland, until then, was the only place that had a magical landscape of both the snow and the sea. One could literally see the snowmelt joining the river and the river traveling to the sea in summer. It was their world. It was a happy world.

All that existed were the sea creatures. And mermaids in pale pink, blue, orange and a strange hue of colours. Sometimes, they swam up the rocks and sat on the landmass, singing a song, like a bird, or humming like a bee. And when they all sat together on a breezy evening by the sunset, it looked like a rainbow on land. Everything was beautiful in Snowland.

But, one day, waves of heat flew into the land, and the ocean evaporated into thin air. All that now stood was bare empty land, cracked earth, and not a drop of water. It was a time when the planet was shredding into fragments. Snowland was deserted. The mermaids moved away.

One day an army of gnomes were seen on tiny pebbles coming in a swirl of waves. They held these tiny pebbles, holding on to them like rocks, and crashed into the Snowdown river.

The gnomes clambered up the rocks and found themselves in the middle of a barren brown land. Ensconced around them were the snowy mountains. “Is this some kind of joke,” asked Kimlo. Jimlo patted him, and said, “Come now, let’s get down off boat and see what this place is.”

Kimlo was still surprised. Their world had just ended. There were mammoth mountains, glaciers, and when the earth shook, these ice sheets broke, melted before they could figure out what was happening. And all the ice melted and crashed dragging the entire town with them. And now they had landed here in Snowland.

This was possibly their new world. The world they knew nothing about.

The sun was burning. It was summer. There was no ocean. No ocean breeze. The land stood still. Slowly, Jimlo started stretching his legs and started to walk. He stumbled upon a black creature. Scared, he ran and stood behind Kimlo. “What’s this?” he asked Jimlo. “I think humans call it an insect. I overheard some humans saying this name, while they were getting rid of these creatures,” said Jimlo.

“Wonder why humans have names for everything, like they own everything in this world,” mumbled Kimlo.

“Now, let’s see how we can save ourselves and our families. We have a lot of work, let’s get moving. Let’s be happy that we cannot see humans around here. They harassed us enough in our land.”

Kimlo nodded his head, and they walked into the deep, dark, uninhabited Snowland. They had to build their lives from the scratch.

Sharada Balasubramanian is a writer and award-winning environmental journalist based in Coimbatore, India. Follow her work at Sharada B