..Johnnie Walker...
....Crazy Bus...
..Phone Call...
Finally an hour later we disembarked at 14th Mile. To make our way to Sankarpur.
Part II
So Sankarpur was 1 odd kilometer from 14th mile and vice versa. To get there you had to avail the services of a rickshaw-van.... an indigenous motorized vehicle with three large wheels, an open wooden platform mounted on the two rear wheels with a bar running down the middle to hold on to for dear life. Many chose to not hold onto it for dear life.
So there we were, sitting with our legs dangling, watching the picturesque countryside. It was beautiful actually, watching fields, small lakes, palm trees and huts pass us by as gently phut-phutted to our destination. Upon arrival we checked into a hotel where the women ran to the washroom and the men to the bar. 15mins later Archie arrived and within the hour we set off for the beach.
The beach itself was not far. After a 2 min walk down the free acupuncture road we stood on the shores of the mighty Bay of Bengal, where we all stood in one straight line, looked at the sea, the sky, then at each other and said WOW in unison. Immediately after our well orchestrated appreciation of the view, Tatha and Archie scrambled off to chase waves as the rest of us walked along the shoreline.
I felt rather poetic as I looked around, and then...
...the music stopped. All ambient sounds faded into as the frame rate dropped and everything moved in slow motion.
This was not what a beach was supposed to like. Not with massive sand berms being constructed to protect a fast eroding coast from the sea at high tide.
A beach was once, this turn you made into the highway, down a bumpy road into the welcoming shade of tall, swaying tropical trees. On the shoreline the waves would crash against into each other, their visit to the beach marked by the sharp contrast of moisture on the sand. The water was a like a beautiful painting and in the evening a shiny round UFO brought visitors from mars.
Snap back to reality.
Snap back to now.
Snap back to a coast with vegetation like a decorative garland.
Snap back to fallen trees whose roots have nothing to hold on to.
Snap back to the white bubbly foam that is now the visiting card of the sea.
Snap back to the little man in the corporate Gucci suit sitting on my left shoulder. Wo'ah!!
Little man in the corporate Gucci suit: "Cm'on jayant, Don't you think being a little too harsh here buddy. I mean, what did you expect? This IS a fishing harbor. Didn't you see that fleet of motorized fishing boats further down the coast or that noisy factory making ice for the fish that needs to be transported by trucks to the city...
...look, I know you're upset, you know... ..the eroding coastline and all but trust me we got it all under control. Our new corporate vision hired that huge earth excavator that is constructing those massive sand berms to protect potential business interests along the coast."
Snap back to our disregard for nature.
Two days later we were back on a bus to Kolkata. Somewhere between our disregard for nature and this section of the blog, we had our share of fun. Oh yes! We frolicked about in the sea, ate great food, drank lots of alcohol and watched Archie pass out while he sat on the chair…..twice!
There is a message in Sankarpur.
Part I is our facade.. ..our denial.
Part II is reality.
Our changing climate is reality.
@_@
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