A 'Walk' down memory lane..

I looked at the sky. It was hazy. Moon was playing hide and seek game with the scattered clouds, they should have no business today as it was a full moon. I was eagerly waiting for those wispy clouds to disappear and beam of moon to cover the entire ocean.  The sand underneath my feet glitters whenever Moon moved away from the clouds. Sand was soft and fine. It was a beautiful night. Could have been more beautiful had Clouds stopped playing the chasing game with the Moon.

I was at a beach, Malpe beach. It is one of the most beautiful beaches I have ever seen. It was not the first time I was at a beach, I had been there before. Pondicherry (Puducherry now) holds the owner of introducing beaches to me.

As I walked down the shore I took a stroll down memory lane.

Around the same time, a year back, I was at sand beach in Pondicherry. Unlike Arabian Sea, tides coming from Bay of Bengal were big and wild. I was inside the water. I went there reluctantly. I’m no Michael Phelps. In a matter of couple of minutes I was completely drenched. I waved my hand as I was lifted at least a couple of feet’s above the ground by another wild tide. She didn’t notice. She was busy clicking the pictures. I screamed her name- ‘Tanyaaaa.....’ but my voice lost midway before reaching her ears.

‘What you doing here? Let’s go in.’ I asked as I come out of water.

‘That’s scary! I will drown inside this deep sea.’ She wasn’t lying. She looked scared.

‘Nothing is gonna happen. You are with me.’ I said as if I had just swum across the seven oceans. Why am I so overconfident always?

She looked into my eyes and stressed her brain for few seconds and then I don’t know what provoked her but she held my hand and entered the water with utter confidence. She screamed couple of time when water hit hard on her back. She was trying hard to balance herself but kept falling over. I didn’t leave her hand and made sure that water doesn’t soak her. We were still inside the water when Sun changed its colour to orange and slowly settled down at the horizon of Bay of Bengal. Tanya slowly conquered her fear of water and I.... I was engrossed in her completely. It turned out to be a spectacular evening.

One year later I was again at a beach. It was not wild, it was amazingly beautiful. As I moved little further I saw a Nariyal Paani vendor selling coconut water under a tall palm tree. I went to him and asked for two of them. Though I already had Coke few minutes back I was still in need of water or at least something equivalent to it. Nothing could have been better than Nariyal Paani.  I picked them, paid money to the vendor and leisurely walked down the soft sand.

‘You want to drink both?’

‘I bought two Nariyals and two straws.’ I turned and smiled. I gave one straw to Tanya.

We walked closed to the water and sat on the soft sand. I kept one Nariyal over the sand and put my straw in the Nariyal that I was holding in my hand. I asked Tanya to put her straw also but she snatched it from my hand and held it with her hands. I put my palms under her palms and looked into the sky as I saw the sand glittering. It looked like Moon had won the race at least for few minutes as I saw stars dazzling beneath the moon. The night had become more so beautiful.

I looked at Tanya as we start swallowing the Nariyal Paani. She looked at me as soon as she finished. We smiled. I hold her hand in mine. She rested her face on my shoulder. I gave a gentle pat on her face and looked at the sea water drenching our legs.