It is a hard-working day for you. Woken early morning, as you had your promises to keep, did not go as it was planned, like it always does. So, feeling weary and dizzy you head up to the beach. Just a regular beach. No fancy beachfront hotels. No tourists. Just regular people. As you park your car, a little boy comes running in a fancy dress and his eyes are delighted looking at your car. Another customer, as there are only few bicycles on the parking area, and yours is the only car he had seen for the evening. And he gives you a ticket with a smile on his face. What a good start to end the day on the beach.
Just a regular beach
You walk towards the ocean. Just a regular ocean, nothing fascinating about it. Cannot swim as it is not too shallow, doesn't produce beautiful crashing waves as it is not too deep. Just a regular beach. And you walk past all the fishermen, who hide under the shade of a big tree. Spending the valuable rest they have earned after coming home early in the morning following a night of fishing. Their workday is about to start while yours, just finished. Just a narrow window, between you and them. The crows who had followed them, look for some snacks in the sand, tries to grab the ice-cream from a little girl who just entered. Being treated rough all their lives, by the fishermen, these crows have adapted to the lifestyle, not at all they were feared by the girl or her elder sister, and continuously tries to distract and make them drop something on the sand.
You sit down on a timber which happened to be an odd addition to the beach, which is otherwise empty except for a few boats. Just like you in your regular working shoes and dress, an odd addition to the locals. You turn your back on the elderly gentlemen definitely who is retired and who had worked in a regular 8-5 job. seated on the beach, on sand and enjoying himself in thought which are powered by the sea wind. He surely is something, a different consciousness from you. A different perspective, a new world. You make a mental note and forget about him, as you just want to feel the regular wind and some regular ships which embrace the horizon at the edge of the sea.
After a while, after a regular amount of time, you walk toward a recreational area built for tourists and with some cement benches. And you walk pass the new church built at the edge of the sea. A regular church. But you were interrupted by the huge concrete remains of the old fallen church. And how did it happen? Even ten elephants would need to hoist such a big, a thousand Tonn concrete structure. But there it is! tipped like a building block tipped by a child. By whom? And it takes your memory back to the boxing day of 2004. The sea which has been a regular sea, and the beach, which was a regular beach, was not a regular beach on that day.
And you look back to see the old gentlemen who was looking at the sea with an empty face. He is not there anymore. And you wonder what his story is as you walk towards your car. Maybe he is waiting for his daughter and wife, who are not with him anymore due to the regular sea.
Thank you for reading Just a regular beach.
Following is a paragraph from the book, what is time?
Boxing day tsunami - on massive waves and natural disasters.
In 2004 boxing day i woke up early morning and came to know there had been a major flood in coastal regions of our country. Later that day we saw videos from coastal cities, innocent people washed away by massive waves back and forth until they were washed back to the sea. We had never seen those stories for ages, except there was one story from the ancient times when the queen of an ancient king sacrificed herself and was sent to the sea to stop floods , and somehow it stopped after the sacrifice and she landed safely at another coast. Now we know the true nature of tsunami. Now it's been almost two decades, still people are living by the coast, with memories of missing loved ones washed away by the sea. Sea is not rough, like it's December 24 th of that year. Yet waves crash, and they retreat, over and over again. Occasionally a big wave reaches more than others and wash away some more into the land, and retract back to the sea. Even the tsunami retreated back to the sea.
I suggest you be the visitor of your own beach of mind, until you notice the endless process of thoughts crashing on the beach. To retract back. Occasionally big waves. And massive tsunamis will happen one day. And when it does, it is time to exercise your practice. It is the best prediction about the future we can make. And like some wise man once said ‘ The best thing I have learned about my life is not to trust each and every thought ‘.
Comments