the sea and the stranger..

It was a typical day of monsoon but everything was new for her. She had never seen the sea with its full fury and beauty. The gushing waves seemed eager to take everything in their arms. Every time she moved back a few steps, the waves managed to reach her, wetting her feet and as if trying to take her in.  And when they couldn’t reach her she moved ahead few steps wanting to get touched.

Everything on the shore was cleared off. Due to monsoon season it was a red alert and not even fishermen dared to go inside the sea. There were no shackles, no vendors nothing and the shore stood naked with its pristine peace. This was the time when there were not many tourists as it was an ‘off-season’. And she was really happy about it as also meant no distractions and no piercing eyes of strangers.

She was leisurely walking on the beach, a thing she had longed to do since years. Looking at the sea, she became suddenly aware of her minute existence in the vast space. And for few seconds her mind went numb. There were no thoughts and only thing she could hear or see was ‘the sea’. As if everything else ceased to exist in those moments. There were no worries about her job, no hurry to get settled and no pressure to please anyone. She realized it was a wonderful thing to be on her own.

She was enjoying her walk, when she noticed a person at a distance, gradually moving inside the sea. Every now and then waves were pushing him back and he had left all resistance. She got terrified immediately, thinking the person was trying to commit suicide. Yesterday she was talking to one of the life-guards posted on the beach, and they told her many stories, where either people went deliberately or by accident, were sucked into the sea. At that moment nothing else struck her and she started waving frantically to him shouting ‘stop, stop’. But with thundering sea she was hardly audible, even to herself leave apart anyone at distance. She threw away her slippers away on the sand and started running. It was really difficult to run on the wet sand, as with every step she felt herself sinking in. But the only thing that occurred to her at that time was to somehow save that ‘drowning soul’.

As soon as she reached near that person she jumped on him and started pulling him back. She was shouting ‘Are you mad? How can you do this? Please listen to me….’  The man started staring at her with awe and mild irritation. He seemed utterly confused as to what was happening. It was then she realized her haste and misinterpretation about the whole situation. Now she was like “you were not trying to commit suicide….were you?” the man replied “Do you want me to…though I was not planning for it?” His eyes were now sparkling with mischief and amusement. She felt utterly stupid and wished she would sink in the wet sand below. ‘What on earth was I thinking?

Now she took a closer look at him. He seemed a young man in his late twenties, average height, well built and tanned with the beach sun which made him more desirable. But the thing she was attracted to was the mischievous smile which played on his lips while he was looking at her.

She woke on the fresh and beautiful morning of her thirty fifth birthday and looked at her husband sleeping beside her. She fondly caressed his hairs and thought “Ten years of togetherness and I am still so much in love with this man as when we first met on the beach.”