(People who know me well and are aware of my obsession with the movie having the same title, please don't stop reading! this is not a review ... In fact, it has no connection whatsoever with the movie!)
I look up and down the beach. The sand seems to stretch on both sides till as far as I can see. Near the entrance to the beach, a band is performing with a dj rocking the huge crowd collected there with foot-tapping hindi and bhangra numbers. A little away, football and volleyball matches are going on with a crowd of spectators cheering the players to "go for it!" I turn away from the crowd and look at the sea. The brilliant orange glare from the setting sun hits my eyes and i close them shut, only to open it immediately. "What the heck!" I mutter to myself and stare at the ball of fire. I want to look at the sun "in the eye". I close my eyes after sometime and stare for a while at the burning coals formed in the dark coolness of my eyelids. I look back at the dancing and playing crowd and contemplate. Everyone seems to be having a good time. I wonder whether I should go and join them and dance to the tune of "khalbali eh khalbali". I decide against it. I just dont feel like going there.I start walking up the beach. The sand stretches out ahead of me and I keep walking. Taking a step a second... strolling more so. Something near my foot gleams in the sun. I bend down and pick up a broken seashell. I admire the pretty pattern on the fragile piece of calcium in my hand and look down again. Another shell is lying near this one. An unbroken piece of a different color. With a different pattern on it. I pick it up too. And the next. And the next. For almost three years, I have been visiting this beach almost every week, and I have never observed the shells strewn everyone. Soon my hands are filled with shells of all sizes, shapes, textures and colors. Big ones, little ones, pure white, off-white, brown, orange, bluish... I flop down on the sand and put the heap of shells down. I pick up a particularly beautiful one. White blending into green blending into blue and then a brilliant peacock blue. I just stare at the intricate pattern and brilliant colors and sigh. With admiration. What beauty. I put my new found treasures into my pocket, stand up and start walking again, my mind still full of admiration for the delicate beauty in my pocket. Whatever man may achieve, he'll never be able to recreate Nature, her beauty, her splendor, her sophistication. I keep walking. My mind goes blank for sometime, void of all thought. Then suddenly, there is a rush of thoughts, all kinds of thoughts. Funny isn't it?! For a moment, I just cant think of anything and the next moment, torrents of thoughts are just flooding my mind. I guess it is just that man is so used to being with people all around him all the time, that when he is alone, even for a few seconds, he doesn't know what to do for a moment. I just push aside all these thoughts and look ahead. I want to be there in this moment, not think about something which has already taken place or is going to happen soon. I stare at a set of footprints going all the way up the beach. I remember H.W Longfellow's immortal words:
"Lives of great men remind us,
That we can make our lives sublime;
And departing, leave behind us,
Footprints in the sands of time.
"I smile to myself as I look at the track the foot prints have made. I start walking along it. I reach a point where the waves have almost washed out the footprints. Faint imprints are all i can see on the glassy, wet sand. "Footprints in the sands of time eh?" I smile again. Our existence is so ephemeral. The "ephemera" or the fire-fly may get a few hours to live and we, a few decades, but in the grand order of things, both amount to just a moment. Just a moment. We are so insignificant, so unimportant. Standing on the cool wet surface, I stare at the sea. White capped green waves come rushing towards me. And they recede, merging into the next one which is rushing towards the shore and mitigating its ferocity. I stare at the sky. The sun is all set to take the final dip into the molten gold sea. The blue sky is streaked with orange, yellow, red, pink and gold. The usually white clouds are puffs of orange scattered in the sky. The liquid gold near the horizon bobs up and down, as if enticing the sun to take the plunge earlier than he intends to. And the sun goes deeper and deeper into the water till he finally is no longer visible. The sky starts darkening. Black starts percolating into all the brilliant hues darkening them with each passing second. Another day is over. And so much beauty surrounds the death of another day. I turn and start walking back. I stare at my footprints and wonder. How long will they remain there. Maybe till the next huge wave comes along and almost wipes them out. Then, a couple more of huge ones and they will all be washed out. I trek back to the point where I started. The bhangra music gets louder. Now the entire area has been lit up and I can see people dancing in the distance. I see my friend waving from the distance and beckoning to me. I wave back and sigh. I have no choice but to get back there. I turn back and give the darkened sand and sea one last glance and start traipsing back towards all the din. My quiet speculative time is over. Well, i guess there's nothing so remarkable about this particular walk, but it is still so remerkable. Nothing spectacular or anything, but still so spectacular. Nothing great, but still something so wonderful."Where were u all this while?" my friend asks as soon as I am within talking distance. "We've been having so much fun here, dancing! you missed all of it!""I was just walking along the beach" I say."That u could've on done any other day na? There will be no music here tomorrow. Too bad u missed it... It's almost over!" my friend says."No da... i haven't missed anything!" I smile and turn away. My friend is wrong. I haven't missed anything. Not even the music and the dancing. The thundering waves rushing to kiss the shore is beautiful music to my ears. As for dance, can there be anything as graceful as the eagles swirling and riding on the wind or anything more attractive and enticing than the ripples bobbing up and down dancing to the tune of celestial music which falls on our ears too, but that which we choose to ignore?! I've just had the time of my life there, I've had a walk to remember!
