Thursday, May 06, 2010

My turquoise dream

What is it about the sea, I've asked myself a million times,
In my head and in a pensive mood,
What pray be my connection to this vast expanse,
Who hath not desired the Sea?

She fades into nothingness, clicked somewhere along the Northwest Pacific Coast.

I've grown up by the Arabian sea, she with all her might, us building sand castles on the Panambur beach, the serene strolls on Tannirbhavi beach, the boisterous parties on Suratkal beach, thrown into the water at Kapu beach, girls day out at Summer Sands, office parties at Kotekar beach and what became our very own getaway spot from a few Computer Architecture and Object Oriented classes, Malpe beach. In the midst of all those, somewhere is Fujairah beach and Khorfakkan beach and how can I can not include Goa and a little bit of northern Kerala too.

In my opinion there is really no option between flying out of Bombay or Bangalore, not that we had the Bangalore option while we were young. But flying in from Bombay will give you the best feeling ever, when the airplane moves in from out of the clouds and the Arabian sea coastline is visible, she dips, she rises and then she descends. That is a moment worth relishing and capturing and I've managed to do so on a couple of occasions, hiding from the prying eyes of the flight attendants!

Living inland this past year, I can feel the void, I can't hear her talk to me anymore. My feet have not been sucked into the sand, I don't have the sinking feeling, I have not felt the salt water on my face and I have not collected sea shells. Despite her wild roar on the pacific she beckoned me aboard the Seattle ferries, from Ocean shores and San Juan into the Pacific, to the most pristine blue oceans ever and although she seemed a little dull and down at Galveston in the Gulf of Mexico, she was always still only an hour's drive away. 

I've heard from my parents that I was a water loving baby and with a bunch of baby pictures always with a hose in hand splashing water around the house, on everyone on myself, I can pretend to remember those moments. I don't quite know why I didn't learn to swim, her vastness scares me a bit but not enough as I can feel the bonding that is just hard to put to words.

For whatever we lose (like a you or a me),
It's always our self we find in the sea.
- E.E. Cummings


I think it's time for some sea therapy, maybe that's when I will have my epiphany. 

5 comments:

Bini said...

I love..love..triple love this post:)

Roweena D'Souza said...

Thank you Bin :-) We have to think about creating our own beach story too.

Lobo said...

Nice post. I was in Mlore for last three years and I loved most of it. I miss those nights where I used to gaze at the Arabian sea, those ships, their fading lights, thinking and slipping into sleep... sigh! All I see/hear now is a mad rush of Blore traffic. I miss those days. :-)

DiDo said...

i love the panambur beach.. everytime i visit mlore in may i see to it tht i visit tht beach.. it just blows me awayy.... absolutee delight..!! U r damn lucky..!!

Roweena D'Souza said...

@DiDo you should visit Tannibhavi too, between the two it's more serene.