Standing on
the shore of the Arabian Sea, at a beach in Mumbai I looked out across the sea
feeling that sense of awe at the magnificence of nature in its humongous form.
As I looked across the waters away from the civilization, away from the hordes
of people and the urban buzz of vendors, vehicles and bright billboards, I felt
nothing would ever be more real than the Sea which I grew up looking at.
Growing up
in the coastal and picturesque city of Muscat, Sultanate of Oman, I had the
good fortune of facing the sea for a good part of my childhood. More fortunate
was the fact that the ‘Al-Ghubra’ beach near our home for a long time was a
calm undiscovered virgin beach in the heart of the city and was almost a
private beach for us with not more than 5-6 people at any given point on
it!
The Al-Ghubra beach may not be the most beautiful beach in the world, but for me this beach was my gym, my playground, my picnic spot, my hang out, my hobby and evenings pretty much revolved around it. The Al-Ghubra beach was a lovely expanse of unpolluted clear waters, fine sand, coarse sand, squelchy sand, white sand, and dark sand that formed lovely patterns shaped by the wind and the water dotted by millions of sea shells, pebbles and horse hoofs all along the beach.
I spent many
an amusing evening doing plenty of digging which fortunately brought up only sand,
water or the hand that dug at the other end of the tunnel instead of the odd
slipper or polythene bags from Juhu beach at Mumbai. Building sand castles with all that dug up
sand was also another pleasurable activity although destroying these castles
before we left was more fun!
A little bit
of nature also found it way home especially when I entered the water to play with
the waves. Each time I entered the water, mom had to deal with a messed up
hallway and a bathroom with sand pouring out of my shoes, socks and folded up
trousers. More of the nature found its
way to my home in the form of shells, ‘kaudis’, corals and pretty little
pebbles of all hues which now stand in a
vase in my showcase. My Dad argues that
all I did on the beach was walk with my head down and scavenge for these sea
souvenirs all along a walk. Hence he made me run on the sandy beach which
usually was done with a great deal of reluctance and grumbling amidst huffing
and puffing.
No visit was
complete without food of course. A packet of chips or sandwiches with Kissan
Tomato Ketchup were usual favorites. For
visits which were more planned, mom used to make yummy ‘Batata Wadas’ eaten
with Kissan ketchup or gobi parathas which we spread out on newspapers and ate.
Visitors to the Ghubra beach with huge families also brought in beach chairs,
barbecue skewers, tables and plenty of food making us want to go home that was
2 minutes away and get all that!
My favorite
time back then and today on the beach was during twilight when the skies and
the waters assumed a golden hue and looking out into the sea became more
ethereal than ever each time. A distant
ship in the horizon conjured up speculations of what it might contain and
stories around it. A sense of calm
prevailed and the sea breeze became cooler after a hot day. Listening to the
musical rhythm of waves and watch them gush forth and recede in their ever
changing colors, I was completely refreshed everyday with this natural Real
beauty that took my breath away every time I visited the beach.
