In The Lap Of Beauty

Sometime in the middle of this year I went to Bokkhali with three of my friends.A small fishing village on a deltaic island in Sunderbans.Our one-day getaway was nearly ruined by the drizzle that continued all day long.All our plans of sight-seeing were cancelled.Finally when the rains stopped it was nearly nightfall and we set out for a stroll on the beach.
        The Bokkhali beach is very different from the other beaches I have visited.There are no big waves thrashing on the sand endlessly.And the sea stayed so calm that one could easily have mistaken it for a huge lake.The day we visited the weather was also very peculiar, there was a complete lack of breeze that is so characteristic of any sea-side place.So we started walking on the breeze-less,wave-less shore with no fixed destination.
        On the Bokkhali beach if you stand facing the sea, on your right the beach seems to end in a small high rise and on your left it seems to end abruptly,just like that,dropping into the sea.The full stretch of the beach is lined by a row of lamp posts and beyond that a thickness of dark trees.As we walked on and on suddenly one of my friends pointed out that we have come a long way from the locality.Night had already fallen and not a soul was to be seen nearby.As we stood there a bit anxious,thinking whether to continue our aimless stroll or to return,the beauty suddenly engulfed me.
       How strange it was that all that time we were just walking,I hadn't noticed that in front of me lay maybe the most beautiful sight I had beheld till date.Behind me at a distance there was just darkness...the thick trees.Then the lamp posts casting an eerie yellow glow over the deserted beach.The water lashing so quietly on the sand and creating a wavy line of the thousands of crabs that kept moving with the constantly moving edge of the water.And there in front me lay the vast stretch of sea.So calm,so still and so endless...and from the horizon rose the sky, a dark blue sheet.Not a single star could be seen but just on the left there she floated...with all the light that could shine...with all the sparkle that could there be.Now naked and now clad in a thickness of grey clouds,she shone down with all the brightness possible.And the calm,vast stretch of water mirrored that breathtaking beauty.And there we stood in ankle deep water four silent statues devouring that exquisite scenery.Suddenly I felt so tiny compared to the vastness of it all.Suddenly I felt a maddening urge to capture as much of that beauty as possible to carry back with me to my materialistic life back in the city.Suddenly a terrible helplessness engulfed me as i realized that this beauty,the meaning of life,was not for me to take,not for me to keep;that may be i would never see such beauty again.But at the same time,a wild sense of fulfillment poured into me.It seemed as if that day,that moment,that vastness...it was all meant for me,just for me.And I felt on the top of the world.

" Had I

The power of Merlin, Goddess! this should be

And all the Stars, now shrouded up in heaven,

Should sally forth to keep thee company.

What strife would then be yours, fair Creatures, driv'n

Now up, now down, and sparkling in your glee!

But, Cynthia, should to Thee the palm be giv'n,

Queen both for beauty and for majesty."

        We stood there for a long time just staring a vacant stare as if trying to record every second of that experience.Finally when we turned back realising that it was getting really late,we all felt so content,so happy that each of us bore a wide smile on our faces.I checked the other three faces and yes,I hadn't seen them so happy ever in my life.

Ode To A Childhood

The first memory that I have is that of a road..a village road, made of red soil. On both sides there were rows of tall trees...what trees i don't remember,and beyond those trees a huge expanse of tall green grass. When i asked Maa where this place was and whether this even existed or was just an imagination,she couldn't believe that i actually remembered that particular place.This place happens to be a small village, far away from my home in Kolkata, in Onda,Bankura. My Maa,a doctor, used to be posted there as a rural health officer in the very initial days of her service.I was barely a year at that time.
Many a times I  heard stories of Onda from my parents.The health clinic with the adjacent doctor's quarters was some 30 mins rickshaw ride away from the railway station. The rickshaw used to rattle across the red roads and then the "al" between two huge rice fields.The grass was as tall as a full grown man; and among those tall grasses and trees and huge rice fields there was that tiny clinic where my life started..

Since then I have stayed in five different places, in and around Kolkata.In big houses,in a jungle of concrete,in places where you breathe in enough carbon particles to blacken your lungs in ten years.Travelled around most of the country from Kashmir to Kanyakumari.Seen so much beauty in the nature's lap.Made various and sometimes strange acquaintances,some I cherished and some which totally shook me.Made friends,some temporary and some for the life.Learned that the bad things in life are more important that the good ones,they help you survive, they teach you to appreciate the good times.Learned to love,learned to care.Fell in love and out of it.Saw dreams of growing big,in every aspects of life.Dreams of being happy.Learned that ultimately its happiness that mattered. Not money,not status,not anything else...but only happiness.Learned that if I could once find out what would keep me happy nothing else would matter.In these 21 years I have gone through so much and I know that there is so much more to come.

But even after all these years there is one place and one time I want to return to.That tiny village in Bankura.To that winding red road,those rows of tall trees,to that never ending expanse of tall green grass.Want to walk down that road once again,in those tiny steps,faltering every now and then,engulfing the beauty,the warmth of nature with those innocent eyes.Want to go back to that childhood,those bygone days of innocence when the world seemed so much bigger but even the smallest of things gave so much happiness...to that childhood...

To Start With...

Its been a long time since I have written...I mean, I do keep writing to myself, but not otherwise. So why suddenly this blog? Well, firstly cause i am as unpredictable as most of the people my age. My exams starting in two weeks time and instead of studying i feel this irresistible urge to do anything but study. And secondly, made a new friend who writes, writes a lot and writes quite well..and my urge doubled. So..here i am with my introductory post.