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About the Author Prof. K N Jena , MA , Ph.D from Benaras Hindu (BHU) University is a former Vice Chancellor, in Sparsh Himalaya Universit(y (SHU) Dehradun, Uttrakhand . He has been a prolific writer in academic firmament with 45 years of academic experience in eight Indian universities and as a visiting professor in few universities abroad . He is a native of Bhubaneswar , Odisha and presently engaged as the Pro -Vice Chancellor in KISS ( Deemed to be a University) - the largest university in the world with UNESCO acknowledgement dedicated exclusively for indigenous and tribal students. To his credit, he has 13 reference books as the solo author in the domain of Intellectual Property and Global studies. “Blue Ocean (Neel Sagar)- A Pirate’s Love Story “ is his maiden yet honest attempt in writing a novel. ABOUT THE BOOK In the vast blue expanse of Bay of Bengal to the south of port city Konark, lazily tucked away two cute picturesque floating paradise named Jhinuk- Island and Sagardweep. Jhinuk is tantalisingly garlanded by mother nature with a number of cute tiny islets. Thirty nautical miles off Jhinuk coast, like a melancholic tragic hero there sits a forgotten and forlorn British era lighthouse on the top of the hilly islet -Sagar Dweep. Weathering years of dereliction and vagaries of unforgiving sea storms, it is still desolately standing with a ghostly facade .The islanders of the region are scared of the lighthouse and the island . Hardly any one dare to venture around the lighthouse as it is believed to be a haunted and ominous place . As the folklore goes, in dead of the night, two ghostly silhouettes have been heard weeping for help. The islanders living in the vicinity vouch once upon a time, a simple unlettered young man innocently oblivious of the fatal charms of modernity, used to live there from his childhood as a noble savage with his father-the keeper of the lighthouse , One day against his father’s wish and advice, he came to the mainland Jhinuk, fancying his chances to earn a living as a ballad singer . But without knowing the cruel ways of the so called ‘ civilised and sophisticated life’ he committed a cardinal crime by falling in love with the guile of the cultured people of Jhinuk . He married there his ‘misfortune’ only to end up as a castaway in a distant uninhabited island in Bay of Bengal . He survived there for thirty long years all alone a la Robinson Crusoe . But his longing memory of his beloved birthplace -Sagar Dweep made him desperate to return and see the lighthouse once for the last time where he had spent his unforgettable golden years as a prince of the ocean. By his indomitable spirit and sheer will power he made a ragtag raft making best use of logs and driftwoods. On a cloudy morning , he embarked upon an audacious journey without any idea of the location , distance and direction of his beloved light house home in Sagar Dweep. By the fall of night, while he was in mid sea , a fierce cyclonic storm capsized his raft and swept away him. But improbably he found a rudderless abandoned ghost ship silently drifting around at a short distance . Using his last drop of energy, he swam down the distance and took refuge in that abandoned ghost ship. After days of aimless drifting in the vast ocean the ghost ship finally touched the rugged shore of an unknown island that turned out to be his beloved lighthouse island- Sagardweep . But he thought to be his good fortune ordained by his destiny , rather tragically unfolded as something unpredictably harsh . There ,he got captured as a dreaded ‘pirate’ by the maritime security forces of the mainland- Jhinuk, who we’re looking for the pirate gangs of Shimaroo island -the curse and tormentors of Jhinuk. The judiciary of Jhinuk got him prisoned , prosecuted and finally convicted him as the ‘blood thirsty killer pirate chieftain ‘. Convicted as the ‘ pirate chieftain ‘ he was given death sentence and hanged till death in Jhinuk. Till date the silent blue water of the Bay of Bengal has been the lone mute witness of the sorrowful saga of the love story of the ‘pirate chieftain’ of the lighthouse . People say, since then the haunting echoes of the weeping island and its untold story have been tirelessly reverberating in the desolate hills of Sagardweep only to get washed away by the raging waves of the sea that are relentlessly crashing down the rugged Sagardweep. As per the popular belief, those adventurous brave hearts who dare come close to the island in the wee hours of full moon stormy night, can’t help but feel the weight of the two weeping spirits that live and move in and around the lighthouse island- Sagar Dweep. To know the chilling secrets of pathos , trials and tribulations in Bay of Bengal , please read the novel ‘Blue Ocean - A Pirate’s Love Story.