Milky Way
Photo credit: Hubbe Heritage Image Gallery
[+/-]Click to Expand/UnExpand Text
Feb 11, 2007, Sunday.
[[ I reached my destination at around 9 am.
I started my return journey the next evening at around 6pm, totally content and with a reassurance of having found a little sanctuary of 40000 Sq. mts.
When I reached the beach resort some 275km south of Panaji, Goa, the sun was shining on the sea that is constantly gurgling the sound of freedom.
The beach is a turtle breeding ground. We had missed the season by a good month. Saw some photographs from the marine department hung in the reception of the resort (which is pretty much in open air). I suppose that the beach will be closed during that season.
We freshened up. I was looking forward to step on a different set of sand grains, with a different and smaller set of companions, after a gap of just over an year. The other guests in that place included a middle aged couple from Denmark and three girls from i-dont-know-where. They were having an interesting time together - loads of chatter. I was having a nice time myself by being the observer when ever they appeared in my view. There were three loafer cats too. One white&gray pregnant female, another one: a male white&gray and lastly a black cat with a white tipped tail and paws and eyes of a bright green.
Stepping on the beach, after breakfast, before I even reached the water, in places where the tide had swept the sand earlier, there were a whole lot of curious little holes that at first glance looked like some one had created by driving a pole into the ground at an angle. I tried to guess what it might be... I saw some insects fly out... they looked like flies, but gray in color... After a good deal of thought, I guessed that the holes must be made by crabs. There was a hole just a little away from the reach of the waves and there were straight lines forming 'V' shapes and extending all around it... like direction indicators. Has to be crabs! Then finally I saw a crab noticing me from its dwelling. It IS crabs! Amazing how sensitive they are to the surrounding. They maintain a constant distance from their threats and instantly disappear into the holes when in doubt.
Then there were the smaller crabs(?!) that were returning (?!) from the sea with shells on their back. They come in with the waves and bury themselves swiftly into the sand when the waves retreats over them. Quite an efficient way to move around.
We spent the most of the day hour after hour, in the desolate bay. I was hoping to learn to swim. I knew my chances were slim. The sea is not the easiest place to start. But I like being in the water. The giant sea and the little me, but it seems to hold no grudge, I just have to respect and co-exist. It was suggested that one must learn to float before one swims. I had already let go of the fear of water when I managed to stay under water for a minute and kept my eyes open, in a wave pool in a theme park. Calling on that experience, I tried to relax, while touching a set of hands for assurance and attempted to float, after many tries, drinking some of the sea (and on the next day!), I no more swim like a rock, I floated like a leaf. The others just floated like a tennis balls(definitely something to do with body composition). [[ There was even more time spent the water on the first half of next day(that is when i finally floated). I noticed that the water at our feet was cooler on the second day than the first. Even before we stepped into the sea that day, I noticed that it was greener than the day before. Planktons? It fits: warm and cold water meet and there are more fishermen on the sea and the sea is cooler and greener at the bottom. The afternoon of that second day and on the return journey we played a whole lot of dumb charades. It was my first time and I was enjoying the game too. ]]
The first afternoon, after the sea, a little bit of table tennis. A sumptuous meal in the afternoon. A siesta. A silent, red sunset...a soft feel. A walk with my companions. Saw my own foot prints on the beach. Saw that the entire beach was left with 'V' marks... cant be crabs... It was the waves themselves overlapping each other and leaving a trail as the water retreats back to the sea. With that the day ends.
The silhouttes of the nearby fishing villages and the distant boats started to disappear. Even the lights from the fishing boats disappeared. There is no light house. The light from the beach resort was not to powerful to disturb anything.
There comes the darkness. An unpolluted sky. No moon yet. A single dot of the evening star venus. A meal under the heavens, a little later. Then a a campfire... a bonfire by the sea... The sea's presence heard as the incessant gurgle and the forthing waves that break at the shore, the thin lines of white that keep fading away where land meets water. The unseen water is felt a blackness that ended at the west horizon, where the sky began in the deepest blue gray. I stepped away from the fire and the people who were trying their first experiments with red wine.
I traced the patterns of the waves on the sand, far away from the fire, at the fringes of darkness. There was such a magnetism about the white froth that met the stars in the complete darkness. I sat down. I had to. After a few hours I heard my name being called. I turned around to see that the bonfire had died and there were a group of people... they were a search party, looking for me for 45 mins. I reluctantly left. I had been watching the stars.... It was the most peaceful sleep i have had in a long time that night.
The next morning, before dawn, I heard sounds of laughter and giggling and play making... Later I woke up to notice that there were some other guests who had brought sleeping bags and spent the entire night in the beach. I might do that next time. This is the best place I know of to see the sky...
Before I was removed from the beach last night... :[--]Click to UnExpand Text
The sea... Its presence heard as the incessant gurgle and the waves that broke at the shore, the foaming white that keep fading away where land met water. The unseen water is felt a blackness that ended at the west horizon, where the sky began in the deepest blue gray. There was such a magic about the white froth that met the stars in the complete darkness. I sat down. I had to. I sat down and I littled myself and changed the perspective. Now I can see the stars. Venus had disappeared long ago. Drawn higher and higher, my eyes rested on the three stars that lie in a straight line, right above me... Orion's belt! That is the first and only set of stars I can recognize instantly - from the day my grand mother told me a story with them in it. A folk lore about a miser and a needy and the traveller who settled the dispute between them. Just above these three, I saw the extremely thin fuzzy white cloud. Only, it is not a cloud. It is a splash of stars indistinguishable from one another and quite dim. Looked like a thin layer of milk spilt on a black grainy surface. I had recognized, for the very first time, the Milky Way.[[ I reached my destination at around 9 am.
I started my return journey the next evening at around 6pm, totally content and with a reassurance of having found a little sanctuary of 40000 Sq. mts.
When I reached the beach resort some 275km south of Panaji, Goa, the sun was shining on the sea that is constantly gurgling the sound of freedom.
The beach is a turtle breeding ground. We had missed the season by a good month. Saw some photographs from the marine department hung in the reception of the resort (which is pretty much in open air). I suppose that the beach will be closed during that season.
We freshened up. I was looking forward to step on a different set of sand grains, with a different and smaller set of companions, after a gap of just over an year. The other guests in that place included a middle aged couple from Denmark and three girls from i-dont-know-where. They were having an interesting time together - loads of chatter. I was having a nice time myself by being the observer when ever they appeared in my view. There were three loafer cats too. One white&gray pregnant female, another one: a male white&gray and lastly a black cat with a white tipped tail and paws and eyes of a bright green.
Stepping on the beach, after breakfast, before I even reached the water, in places where the tide had swept the sand earlier, there were a whole lot of curious little holes that at first glance looked like some one had created by driving a pole into the ground at an angle. I tried to guess what it might be... I saw some insects fly out... they looked like flies, but gray in color... After a good deal of thought, I guessed that the holes must be made by crabs. There was a hole just a little away from the reach of the waves and there were straight lines forming 'V' shapes and extending all around it... like direction indicators. Has to be crabs! Then finally I saw a crab noticing me from its dwelling. It IS crabs! Amazing how sensitive they are to the surrounding. They maintain a constant distance from their threats and instantly disappear into the holes when in doubt.
Then there were the smaller crabs(?!) that were returning (?!) from the sea with shells on their back. They come in with the waves and bury themselves swiftly into the sand when the waves retreats over them. Quite an efficient way to move around.
We spent the most of the day hour after hour, in the desolate bay. I was hoping to learn to swim. I knew my chances were slim. The sea is not the easiest place to start. But I like being in the water. The giant sea and the little me, but it seems to hold no grudge, I just have to respect and co-exist. It was suggested that one must learn to float before one swims. I had already let go of the fear of water when I managed to stay under water for a minute and kept my eyes open, in a wave pool in a theme park. Calling on that experience, I tried to relax, while touching a set of hands for assurance and attempted to float, after many tries, drinking some of the sea (and on the next day!), I no more swim like a rock, I floated like a leaf. The others just floated like a tennis balls(definitely something to do with body composition). [[ There was even more time spent the water on the first half of next day(that is when i finally floated). I noticed that the water at our feet was cooler on the second day than the first. Even before we stepped into the sea that day, I noticed that it was greener than the day before. Planktons? It fits: warm and cold water meet and there are more fishermen on the sea and the sea is cooler and greener at the bottom. The afternoon of that second day and on the return journey we played a whole lot of dumb charades. It was my first time and I was enjoying the game too. ]]
The first afternoon, after the sea, a little bit of table tennis. A sumptuous meal in the afternoon. A siesta. A silent, red sunset...a soft feel. A walk with my companions. Saw my own foot prints on the beach. Saw that the entire beach was left with 'V' marks... cant be crabs... It was the waves themselves overlapping each other and leaving a trail as the water retreats back to the sea. With that the day ends.
The silhouttes of the nearby fishing villages and the distant boats started to disappear. Even the lights from the fishing boats disappeared. There is no light house. The light from the beach resort was not to powerful to disturb anything.
There comes the darkness. An unpolluted sky. No moon yet. A single dot of the evening star venus. A meal under the heavens, a little later. Then a a campfire... a bonfire by the sea... The sea's presence heard as the incessant gurgle and the forthing waves that break at the shore, the thin lines of white that keep fading away where land meets water. The unseen water is felt a blackness that ended at the west horizon, where the sky began in the deepest blue gray. I stepped away from the fire and the people who were trying their first experiments with red wine.
I traced the patterns of the waves on the sand, far away from the fire, at the fringes of darkness. There was such a magnetism about the white froth that met the stars in the complete darkness. I sat down. I had to. After a few hours I heard my name being called. I turned around to see that the bonfire had died and there were a group of people... they were a search party, looking for me for 45 mins. I reluctantly left. I had been watching the stars.... It was the most peaceful sleep i have had in a long time that night.
The next morning, before dawn, I heard sounds of laughter and giggling and play making... Later I woke up to notice that there were some other guests who had brought sleeping bags and spent the entire night in the beach. I might do that next time. This is the best place I know of to see the sky...
Before I was removed from the beach last night... :[--]Click to UnExpand Text
[+/-]Click to Wrap/UnWrap Videos
