At Govind Nagar Beach
It’s a worthless beach, they said -
Full
of rocks, not good to swim,
But
everything is close by in the isle
Go
to Radhanagar,
Now,
that one beach is a lovely dream
But
they do not know our baseline,
We
- who are not used to the coral sand,
Who
are we to judge the shore
Shimmering
mica, strewn about
All
around, Havelock Island
At
the pale-white beach, I sat then
For
hours at dawn, at noon, twilight
Mesmerised
by the banded layers
Of
the turquoise sea, and pale the sands
In
yellow-white
At
the pale-white beach, I wrote my lines
Under
the shade of the mahua tree;
Shimmering
palms, solitude
And
hermit crabs and green geckos
The
nearest souls for company
At
the pale-white beach, I drank the dusk
All
on my own, no tourist throng,
I
inhaled with the rising sun, at dawn
As
the fishermen cast their nets and sang
Their
lonesome mourning morning song
At
the pale-white beach, I dipped my toes
Low
the tide, in watery gin,
I
swam about when the tide was high
And
all the trolled rocks hiding there
In
cerulean blues, all unseen
At
the pale-white beach, if I dreamt harder
Perhaps
I could even get a glimpse of Him,
But
it’s a worthless beach, they
would always say –
Theres
not a lot that you can do
Its
full of rocks, not good to swim…
02nd
March, 2024
At
Havelock, the laurels always go to Radhanagar beach (it is not considered the
best beach in India for nothing). My stay on the Govind Nagar Beach on the
other end of the island, was supposed to be relaxing but not exactly scenic –
it fared very lowly in the pecking order. Yet, on the contrary, I had the most
relaxing time on the island on that beach – without the tourist mobs descending
on designated times to drown in the sunset or wake at sunrise, I found a
greater repose at Govind Nagar – spending hours on the beach, I could almost
hear the earth breathe through the silky sands, the water lap in somnolence,
while I would nearly melt and merge with the shimmering specks of mica on the
beach.
To
each his own. As of the rocks, yes the beach was sprinkled with them, but when
the tide came, there was no escape, no distinction, no encumbrances. All that
was left was a sparkling blue sheet of water, proclaiming an absolute state of
uninterruptedness – one ocean, one God, one pilgrim, one poet…
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