(based on true events)
“We just found him lying down on the beach.
He was pale.”, said Tony.
“I found him first. I was searching for a good
background for our magazine’s cover pic and then I certainly found out that
some boy was just trying to get hold of something.”, said Rohan.
“It was necessary. We were searching for a
good location to shoot the most affected areas and then Rohan found out
something and then you know the rest, right?”, Ashley asked me as I was asking
them questions on behalf of my report.
We stopped the interaction for a moment and
concentrated in our snacks and coffee. I said, “look guys, I need not to be
sober with you but seriously I need your details about him. No offense but I
don’t believe the story you all have provided. I mean, just think practically.
A 6 years old boy! I mean, are you fucking kidding with me?” I didn’t know if I
was rude or cranky but I was quite sure that I was a mess in that situation.
Rohan said, “dude, you were just dreaming of being a journalist when we got the
story. We found the boy. We saw what you didn’t. we helped him out while you
were just enjoying some pogo channels with an uncle-chips in your hand and
ordering your mother to clean your shit. So it’s good for you to talk with the
boy directly as he is much younger than you.” I wasn’t ready for that. It was
like has-been-kicked-out situation. I didn’t say nothing.
Merry stood up. She was one of the member of
their crew. She told me to come outside of the room and join her with a beer. I
was in a no condition to say ‘no’ to her as she was like the angel to me in
that moment. I came out. Join her with a beer. Smiled at each other. She
asked,” Why are you so angry with us?” I said that I am not. She asked again,”
I think we hurt you in some ways.” I disagreed. Then she asked,” what do you know
about Martunis?” I said, “Nothing except what you have written in your report
and what wiki represents, more precisely, what google represents. I want to
hear the truth Merry. For god’s sake please tell me the truth. Do you really
think a 6 years old boy can survive Tsunami? If your answer is a YES then I
must say you guys are nothing but love freaking people out.” Merry kept silent
for a minute. She then sighed and told something. Something even I dared to
question.
“It is always a tough thing to fight with
nature. It was 26th December, 2004. An earthquake triggered an epic tsunami in the Indian Ocean
that crashed against the shores of 14 countries. Some 230,000 people were
killed by the merciless wave. One of the hardest-hit spot was Banda
Aceh, a city on the northern tip of the Indonesian island of Sumatra. We
couldn’t reach to the affected area as all area was sealed. A lot of life were
sacrificed that day. We reached to the area on the afternoon of 16th
January, 2005. Rohan was searching for a background to make a cover picture of
our report. Suddenly he cried out like ‘somebody is out there! help!’ we all
ran. We mean the four of us. Reached to the spot where Rohan arrived earlier.
We saw a boy. A pale, black boy, murmuring something what we didn’t
understand.”
“We took him to a local hospital. We found out that there was
some kind of fair of injured people was going on. In some ways, Ashley managed
a doctor and we handover the boy to the authority. After an hour or so a nurse
came to the waiting room and asked for us. We went. The doctor said that a
proper digestion would be the perfect medicine for him though he gave some
injections and a saline was on. The boy was unable to talk. But after a week of
complete digestion we, after completing collecting data for our report visited
the boy and then found that the boy was attended by an organization who save
children and they brought him his family back. We went to their home. His
father Sarbini welcomed and thanked us. I was pretty much exhausted of being
excited to hear the miracle boy’s voice as the doctor said that a day later he
would have been died.”
“I asked him,’ what is your name son?’ the boy replied,’ my
name is Rui Costa.’ Rohan smiled and later I came to know that Rui Costa was
the name of the captain of Portugal Football team. Sarbini smiled and said,’ he
is his favourite player. His name is Martunis. Tony asked him,’ Martunis, how
long have you been in the beaches of Indonesian City?’ Martunis replied,’ I
don’t remember the time. I just remembered that I found myself on the beach
after baba told me to go for a sleep.’ Sarbini told that it was 26th
December when he lost his son. We calculated. About 21 days the boy survived. ‘how
did you? Were you not afraid?’ I asked. He said, ‘I was not afraid. Because I
had Rui Costa with me. I saw him how single-handedly he reached his goals. Lots
of tide came to melt him down but he stood up every time and celebrated after
scoring. My goal was to see my baba and play football for my country. Yes, I
was hungry but there was no lack of food. I ate scavenging packs of dry noodles
and polluted rain water. So what? I reached my goal. I celebrated a lot. I will
play for my country some days. Thanks to you. You assisted me to score my
goal.’ He smiled and ran away with a football in his hand.”
“We came back. Published the report. Highlighted Martunis
incident and guess what, moved by the child's plight, Portugal's soccer
federation donated some 40,000 euros to build Martunis and his surviving family
a new house. Cristiano Ronaldo, now a global superstar but then still a rising
talent, paid Martunis a visit in 2005 and met him a few instances thereafter.
He was given an audience by the Portuguese national team and even FIFA
President Sepp Blatter.”
I remained silent for the whole time. Merry stood up as
others were on their way back. I gained my consciousness and asked, “but why
did Martunis said that he had Rui Costa with him during his survival?” Merry
replied, “when Rohan found the boy, Martunis, he was trying to get hold of
something. It was a t-shirt pictured with a footballer. It was his t-shirt that
somehow tore. I didn’t know him then. I know him now. It was a picture of Rui
Costa.” Merry left.
In July 2015, he was confirmed as a Sporting Clube De Portugal player.
Speaking about the team, Martunis said that it is "a dream come true"
and that he wants to follow the footsteps of Cristiano
Ronaldo. The club's president stated that he will
play for the Under-19 team.
After visiting Martunis CR7 said, "I believe that many adults would
not even be able to deal with what he has gone through. We must respect him.
This was an act of strength and maturity. He's a special kid."
Yes, indeed. Martunis was with Costa that whole time. He was
not like one of the affected of the Tsunami. It was not 21 days for him. There
was no strong sunlight or hard tides that touched the beach. For Martunis, it
was a playground, where he was playing football, defending his goal against all
the odds. He intended for a 90 minutes’ match which just got past 21 days to
win the match and he, indeed, celebrated.
