The Sea....

It being just the start of the week…and work coming to a drag…me being trapped in the four walls of a huge hall with a miniscule cubicle for myself on the 18^th floor of a brick and mortar cement sky scrapper….I cast a melancholy glance at the sea giving up on it being another overloaded work day…. As I look at the endless sea stretching to an unknown boundless end to infinity…as far as my eyes carry me…when I look out of the window of my office cubicle…I see…

A 15 yrs old boy with a boat in one hand and a fishing net in other…walking towards the sea in the heavy rain….He looks at the sea and waits for a second to catch his breath and then looks towards the sky…his eyes wistful…looking at the vast black threatening clouds looking down towards him challenging him on his expedition with his life on bet…He raises his hand as if to signal to the clouds that he accepts the challenge or may be calling on to the mercy of the Gods for the day….and thrusts his boat into the water….

The sea seems to imbibe in him a new sense of hope…… and happiness to be engulfed by that very sense of hope which seem to flow towards him just like the ripples coming in the form of waves…flowing towards the shore….He steps into the boat with the net in one hand and starts rowing into the sea…..a heavy ghust of wind with full fury sweeps his fishing net past the boat…but he still clings on to the net as if he is clinging on to the only morsel of food of the day….The gigantic waves of the sea rock his boat dangerously…yet he continues his fishing unperturbed ….his face holding a grave expression just like the sea…his body wet with the garrulous rain…yet he seems to be determined and very casual as if it was just another day…Hrs go by and every time my gaze goes towards the sea I cast my eyes on his thin body laboriously fighting against the tides….. As the day progresses I see many more young boys of his age occupied with the same task as different points in the sea…and of all them seem to be chatting gleefully waving towards each other…blissfully oblivious of the heavy downpour...or the high tides…

As dusk sets in and I cast another look at the sea sipping coffee I find them all heading towards the shore…maneuvering their boats towards the shore…helping each other…smiling…tired but happy wither their bounty for the day…and my eyes search for the 15yr old boy…his body again running past up and down the rocky bank of the sea pulling each and every boat onto the bank…after ushering everyone to the rocks on the bank and anchoring the boats I see all of them gather by a huge rock…and the boys collecting something from the unmistakable 15 yr old boy…which seems like they distributing the bounty among themselves so that each one gets his morsel for the day…..

I finish my coffee and look ashamed at my reflection on my computer’s screen and rebuke myself for being so thankless and taking things that have been gifted by luck and fate to me for granted…

Just like the gleaming eyes of the boy who is now standing near the shore probably wishing hard that the next wave is big enough to flow over the rocks and come till the point where he is standing waiting for the waves to touch him…and his excitement and longing growing with every wave that touches him…I perceive life which we all anticipate would fulfill our yearnings with growing needs and expectations each time the waves of life touch us…..

And just like the boy who is not dismayed and doesn’t give up when a wave narrowly misses to hit the rocks and wash his feet….and is still looking towards the sea with full of optimism and hope…..I feel that we all can still strive to be happy…....boundlessly…just like the sea which seems to know no bounds…unperturbed by the innumerous ripples that keep rising and falling ..one after the other…repeatedly…As the boy still stands calmly…undisturbed..and still serene …the ripples only magnifying his inner strength ….