A Tale Of Two Ts

The high seas offer myriad opportunities to the explorers for discovery of virgin lands, to the fishermen for their daily bread and to the daring souls for adventure.  The blue expanse of the sea, often, signifies life and life’s challenges manifested through a multitude of forms. Serene and placid that provides solace to the weary; rough and tumultuous that puts a crease on the face of the brave. The seas allow luxury cruise liners to skirt their bosom allowing hundreds to live their dreams of fantasy and celebration in a splendor that is unparalleled. This has intrigued mankind through generations, captivating the imagination of poets and writers alike. Numerous pieces describing the charm and wonder of the seas have been written, admired and enjoyed by one and many. So how different can this one be?

Tides – low and high are associated with sea and an experience to narrate about low tides on the eastern end of the Andaman Sea. Ravi and I, decided to take a break from the frenetic dancing and jarring music across the beach front at Phuket on a pleasant August evening of 2001. Away from the razzmatazz of this tiny Thai island, we realized very soon how refreshing the lap of nature could be. Cool breeze made our stroll delightful on wet sand and the soft lapping of the waves added melody to the pleasant thoughts that crossed our mind. Ravi was humming a soulful Kishore Kumar number and we wondered why did it take us so long to break away from the din of the beachside discotheque but were quickly reminded of the compulsions of an official jaunt. We regaled ourselves with an occasional sharing of an anecdote as we ambled on the shore lit beautifully by the near full moon.

                   As the waves kissed the shore, gently advancing and receding, our attention was drawn to a heavy object lying on the shore, which we could not identify immediately due to the prevailing darkness. A little strain on the eye set aside our misgivings on what we had stumbled upon. A log of wood, a little more than two feet in diameter and about eight feet long, lay on the shore with sea waves hitting and missing it in the same vein. With no curious eyes to pass a judgement on us, Ravi and I decided to try our hands in lifting the log. As much strength as we could muster, in the spirit of adventure, we were surprised that we could not displace the log from its firmly ensconced ‘throne’ on the seashore. We gave ourselves the benefit of doubt and proffered excuses to each other that the log was too slippery, didn’t have the right grip or perhaps obeyed instructions to Thais only!

                   We decided to step aside and rest for a while close to the log and very soon, Ravi drew my attention to the gentle tossing and turning of the log each time a gentle wave hit the shore. Reflecting on this, rather philosophically, I mentioned to Ravi that this log turned – on its either side - very gently like an infant who misses the warm embrace of her mother occasionally in deep sleep. Not before long, we concurred that despite the low tides, the waves were potent enough to disturb the log which two of us could not budge an inch! I mentioned about the potential of harnessing the latent power of tidal waves for a variety of uses.

We bade good-bye to the beach and marveled at the fantastic detour we had away from our colleagues who by now had become a boisterous lot. Together, we had seen before our very eyes the might of nature and wondered how gigantic ships such as – The Titanic – made out of tonnes of steel get tossed and thrown over in the high seas before they, unfortunately, meet their watery graves.

About three and a quarter years later, a day after Christmas, the killer Tsunami in the Indian Ocean and the adjoining seas startled the brave fishermen and the tourists alike and before an eyelid blinked, it wreaked havoc and devastation. Save for exceptionally high sea waves that rushed in at apparently innocuous pace, the Tsunami hardly revealed its intention to the unsuspecting souls. A poignant story of an IAF personnel stationed at Andaman Isles who witnessed how cruelly, one by one the killer waves snatched away his two very young children sent shivers down my spine and wondered what wrong had the two siblings committed that nature unleashed its unrelenting fury on them!

Loss of thousands of lives, damage and destruction to property worth millions of rupees were reported from at least half a dozen countries. Besides India, reports came in from Sri Lanka, Indonesia and Thailand and this natural disaster caught worldwide attention and humanitarian relief started pouring in from all quarters.

                  During those days when I caught up with amazing video clips of the Tsunami,  read newspapers and magazines quoting eye witness’ accounts, I felt much safer ‘surfing’ the Net rather than surfing the choppy waters of the Bay of Bengal and the Indian Ocean! I was aghast to read about the destruction that was caused in Phuket and other areas where portions of coastline were engulfed by the marauding waves and were simply consumed in the ocean’s vast belly that seemed to have an insatiable appetite.

                  I wondered what would have become of the beautiful beach of Phuket and was reminded of the extremely pleasant evening that I had enjoyed in the company of my friend, Ravi. I reminiscenced that log of wood that withstood a genuine human intervention to its firm sitting that August evening. In all likelihood, that log would have been mercilessly thrown into the Andaman Sea by the gigantic waves and who knows it may have withstood the fury of the sea and even saved a life or two!

                  Such are the varying forms of the high seas; one wonders whether Mother Nature issues blunt reminders – such as the Tsunamis - to the mankind to continue to have a harmonious coexistence with itself when more often than not, natural resources are  exploited ruthlesslyand abused in the name of fast paced development and globalization.

                  As I make conscious efforts not to get caught up in the vicious cycle of crass materialism and the constant lure of consumerism, I am reminded of the words of Mahatma Gandhi who very aptly captured mankind’s relationship with Mother Nature thus: 

                  “There is enough in this world to fulfill each man’s need, but there isn’t enough in this world to fulfill one man’s greed.”

                    -- Rajneesh