Bhawana Pokhrel

“A thing of Beauty is joy for Ever” as John Keats says, the thought of observing an ocean with my own eyes always fascinates me. As per my wish, we planned to go on an all India family tour for a month a few years back. Among many other places like Nainitaal, Tirupati, Maisur, Banglore, Haridwar, Aagra, Lakhnau, Delhi and Lotus Temple, Golden Beach Park in Madras was also in the list of our destinations. When we reached Madras the high temperature nearly blinded my eyes. The sweat beads would roll down and drop off our bodies immediately after a fairly cold shower in the washroom even provided that the A.C. was on. However, at any cost, I had the resolve to see and feel the sea. As we reached there the next day, I was captivated by the unfathomable blue sea, the artistically accumulated delicate sand mounds and the awesome shells, different in their size and colour scattered all over the pristine shore. Standing awestruck by the sublimity of the seascape around me, I was engrossed into a series of epiphanies, which inspired me to be sociable, calm and elegant.

The park has a play station for children at its entrance. On the other side there are the shops where the artifacts made of shells are displayed in rows for selling. Then, after a few minutes of walk ahead towards the sea is a slump that sprawls open to the sea. As I stepped onto it, the first thing my bare feet noticed was the sand did not feel coarse unlike it does when it is in small quantity or in just some grains. It made me ponder on the pearls. When the tiny particles enter the oyster, it gets immensely irritated. It tries, tries and tries to get them out of its body until it happens to be producing the beautiful pearl. Similarly when the sand, even in a speck, enters our eye it proves such a pain and a nuisance that we get intolerant so compellingly longing to wash it out. Likewise, when it gets into our food, it feels equally nasty in between the food. However, in its place it’s so supple and smooth. It taught me to remain in my own space, not to encroach into other’s area or periphery. There is a thing called personal space that we as human beings value and want to be valued with.

Similarly, in a mass it is so pleasant that when we walk over, it passes a soothing sensation through our feet. It imparts us the feel of being in a communion with nature in its nude form. Moreover, when it is used for concrete construction it is one of the essential concoctions. Eventually, it revealed me that in person we are individuals with our own differences and idiosyncrasies alike the sand grains in separation. But as human beings we are similar and very inclined to assimilation as the amazing assemblage at the shore. Thus, though rigid as an entity it reiterates us to be flexible as a communal being which I explicate as being sociable.

In the same way, when I neared the sea and fixed my gaze upon its vastness that sublimely stretched far and wide to the horizon, I felt dizzy. At the same time of the ebb my feet were delicately kissed by the waves leaving some small water bubbles as the marks. But during the flow, the sand under my feet was also carried away drawing me forcefully to the sea. It sent me chills into my bones; I was scared to death. The sea had a constant call the same way again and again via its zephyr and roar, moans and sighs. Again and again she was luring me to be assimilated in her as if she is able to shelter uncountable beings like me in her womb. It was a vocation to obliterate my own being and blend in her; the sight, sound and sense all were grotesque.

Awestruck, I drew myself back and ascended the elevation. What stunned me was the calmness about the innumerable mysterious network of myriads of undercurrents with incomparable might. It showed me a solely different face from an objective distance. How can it camouflage so shortly? Human beings also irrespective of their feelings, fantasies, desires, and difficulties, are expected to retain a tranquil posture. It emphasized the indispensability of calmness and mask atop my being which also bears various embers, fires, and filth inside.

On the other hand, the shells scattered indiscriminately everywhere in the sand added a kind of inexplicable beauty to the scene. Various in color–red, white, grey, puce– they were vibrantly vivifying the splendor of their being and adding to the enchantment of the shore. They all were different but each of them asserted their exclusiveness in their own way. They made me contemplate, whatever we are and whoever we are, we are ourselves. In this macro cosmos, we can conceive our own mini cosmos and conduct it; no need of any clutter and no need of any clash with the other fellow being. We all are like solo planets straddling our own orbits. How much magnificence we can add to our surrounding depends on how graceful we can be. Thus, they incubated the sense of elegance in me.

In a nut shell, the visit was not only aesthetically wonderful but also practically valuable. In a singularly silent mode, it instilled in me the sense of affability and tranquility. “One seeing is worth a hundred telling” as the Chinese proverb goes. I wish you also visited the park before long, in its celestial serenity with riveting personal revelations, is ceaselessly summoning you!

bhawanapokh7@gmail.com