Hvaldimir

 

Sometimes fame would knock at your door beseechingly even if you aren’t seeking it and happen to be a whale. Fuddled with babbling public fancy, the strains of fame tugged at a particular whale’s fins. The animated aquatic fans celebrated the whale as ‘Russian Spy Whale’. The year before, it created a crisply sparkled ruckus in Norway as the government cautioned the people against any contact with the whale seen in a fjord near Oslo. It jangled the ears of common people like those of sleuths and spies. It was christened and given a name, Hvaldimir (Hval—Norwegian word for whale, combined with Russian name Vladimir).

As the people plentifully regaled at the sight, the whale also—quite surprisingly—looked at ease in human company. The beluga whale, initially spotted in 2019, stood at 14 feet in length and weighed 2700 pound. She had a harness apparently meant to carry a spy camera. The harness carried a marketing ‘equipment’ from a St. Petersburg company. So the people conspiratorially speculated that it was a Russian spy whale on a mission. Although Russia didn’t make any ownership claim.

Belugas generally inhabit far off frozen Arctic waters. But this one seemed to like human company. The people got fascinated by its sight. The white whale was known to stay in the inner Oslo fjord near a densely populated area. Then one day recently they found her dead. The news is heartbreaking for some people who had become its fans.