Recently I got back to my routine runs at Worli Sea Face. As I finished my run, I had this warm feeling spreading through me that brought a familiar smile on my face just looking at the waves. They were barely visible in the dark night and I found myself thinking just why I have such a fascination for the ocean.
A lot many people have asked me if I am a “Mountain Person” or a “Beach Person”. While I am still not entirely convinced they are a mutually exhaustive set there are many reasons about the beach that evoke such strong emotions in me.
1.The Infinite- Cerbere, France
Almost always when I see the ocean, I realize how the massive water body stretches far and beyond my eyes can see, far and beyond my imagination and I am reminded just how miniscule a role we, as humans play, in this ecosystem we call life. The massiveness of the beach makes me wonder about the Infinite and how just standing at the shore of the beach makes me part of that Infinite, if only for a short period of time. That oneness almost immediately washes away all my worldly woes at the bay.
That was the feeling that overwhelmed me when I first spotted the infinite coastline of Cerbere expanding all the way till the point up to which my eyes could see.
2. The Rhythm- Radhanagar Beach, Andaman Islands
If that’s not enough to keep the ridiculous chatter in your head on mute, the rhythm of the ocean, the gentle sound of the waves crashing one after another creates a pattern that soothes you like no other. Pretty much five minutes in the beach one realizes how every tiny little voice in the head has melted away seamlessly without effort and all you can hear is that sound, slowly steadily as it winds back only to come forward and crash again. That rhythm brings in a sort of calmness in one’s head, a quiet that one seeks desperately in the daily hustle of life only never to find it.
One of the beaches that I associated with so much quiet was the stretch of white sands in Radhanagar, Havelock, Andaman Islands.
3. The Persistent Waves – Bhatye Beach, Ratnagiri
But the rhythm is just another consequence of the persistent waves. As children, we all have played that game on the shores where we write our names on the sand far away from where the last wave crashed, teasing the ocean to come just a little ahead to wipe the name away from the sand. More often than not, the names were erased in a matter of minutes or in some cases seconds. The waves would persist, go back further come ahead stronger and never backs down. A quality that one could only aim to imbibe in oneself with time.
The most beautiful time I had watching the waves roll in and out would have to be the sunset in Bhatye beach, Ratnagiri. So soul-stirring and peaceful that no words could do justice
4. The Powerful Force – Barceloneta, Spain
But the key here is not just to hit back again, but to hit stronger, more powerful than the last wave. Surely anyone who has seen or even heard of Tsunamis understand just how much the calm waters if upset can take you down before you even realize what caught you. Those tiny playful waves crashing at your feet gently can very soon rise 10-12 feet tall and overpower concrete buildings and the tallest towers.
The power of the ocean can be unleashed for the best of interests or worst of calamities which is pretty much true for any of us as individuals. We all have that power or strength in us and it is purely up to us on how we wish to channel it, it could be to conquer our ambitions or to unleash massive destruction. The choice is always ours.
This was a thought that struck me as I was watching several people playfully teasing the waves in the vast stretches of Barceloneta beach, Spain.
5. The Immortal – Hikkaduwa, Srilanka
With every crashing wave over and over again, with the rising sun and the setting sun, the beach remains effervescent, evergreen. People may come and go, the earth would go around the sun but the waves keep on going. The core of each of us as individuals is that fear that we too may fade away without leaving so much as a mark of our existence in the world. The ocean stands for that aspiration, that urge to be immortal.
Staying by the shores of Hikkaduwa beaches, right after college, we had so many conversations of life, love, relationships and our tall ambitions for the future. A lot many of those things happened in that fashion but so many of them did not as well, but we still thrive to fight another day, right?
Surely, a phenomenon that can make you feel so many varied emotions all at once without the slightest of the effort is bound to leave an impression on you. I cannot wait to have that sensation as the sand slips away from my toes and the cool waters crash at my feet with the glorious blue greens is all I see as far as my eyes can reach.