My Most Beautiful Spot on Earth!

"Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished."
                                                                                                - Lao Tzu

 

   As much as I wouldnt like this post to sound like a tour promotion of some sort!!.. I cant but help gushing praise and wax eloquent on this piece of earth not only because its impossible not to fall in love with it, but also, it is part of my home! The few pictures that my stubborn internet connection allows me to upload here are but an indication of the different hues that God creates in this little jewel of a spot.

   

   Situated in my home town of Paravur in Kollam district of Kerala, the Kapil beach is found nestled along a marine drive on the way to Varkala town which is a tourist haven 15 mins away...but unlike Varkala, Kapil beach is unexplored as a tourist commercial oppurtunity(which is good in a way that it preserves its natural beauty)...and in this idyllic place, we find ourselves filled with a yearning to linger, where time stands still and beauty overwhelms. 


  Lagoon ahoy!: What makes this spot really unique is that kapil beach is part of a strip of land that stretches into the Arabian sea thus forming a lagoon, entrapping a crystal clear lake (Paravur lake) on one side of the strip and the beach on the other side! 

  During low tide, as kids, we would splash about while our worried parents surveyed us with hawk eyes making sure we were safe.. and during some seasons of high tide, the sea and lake actually come together and "shake hands" as we would say as kids...but truly is also a remarkable experience standing in between as you see the sea and lake swirl around you!

 In this view of the Paravur lake, you can see the beach on the left corner and the lake on the right, the bridge you see in the distance leads to Varkala:

 Another view of the Paravur lake:

  Natures fury: However, the spot is not exactly safe as the tides at the Kapil beach are very powerful and even the most sea hardy fishermen do not swim here especially during high tide, this may be one of the reasons, the Kapil beach is not exploited for tourism like Varkala beach which is relatively calmer with shallow beaches and a its limestone cliff. The marine drive is lined by huge boulders as a measure by the goverment to stop the furious waves washing into the road which is important to the connectivity of Paravur, but every time i re-visit, i get this ominous feeling like the sea is slowly intruding by a few feet, and she doesnt seem to be receding, so who knows, if generations to come will share the same memories i do...

In this picture, you can see the boulders lining the strip separating the lake and the sea:

The view from the side of the lake, you can see the land in between and then the sea in the background:



Memories: Besides being a beautiful visual landscape, the beach holds special place of heart for me (and obviously all Paravur residents) as it would be the first beach i've ever stepped foot on, and hold many childhood memories as going to the Kapil beach was one of our main agendas during the school vacations growing up and still is whenever we visit home! Its places like this that inspire one to say "home is where the heart is"

Me in Contemplation after a jog along the beach:

The Triumph of Death

THE TRIUMPH OF DEATH

No longer mourn for me when I am gone
Than you shall hear the surly sullen bell
Give warning to the world, that I am fled
From this vile world, with vilest worms do dwell;

Nay, if you read this line, remember not
The hand that writ it; for I love you so,
That I in your sweet thoughts would be forgot
If thinking on me then should make you woe.

O! If, I say, you look upon this verse
When I perhaps compounded am with clay,
Do not so much as my poor name rehearse,
But, let your love even with my life decay;

Lest the wise world should look into your moan,
And mock you with me after I am gone.

W. SHAKESPEARE

This has been a long time in coming, as much as I have wanted to write on the platform of the internet, admittedly I have never had the patience to actually do so and I must say its admirable the way bloggers expound their passion for the medium. Maybe it was a knock-out blow dealt by a recent bout with chickenpox that found in me the time to look within and without, ponder and reminiscent into this that you read…

It may be the early confrontation I have had with death in my life that leaves me with so many questions , yet they cannot be avoided, like a river churning in your heart, ready to explode in any moment of silence into tears …that must be put out there…not able to contain anymore…

“Did death begin my life?...Why my life? Only mine?...Why her?!....

It is ironic that my first blog be about death, death is associated with ending, degeneration, collapse…yet does it have to mean this? Why is it called one of the greatest mysteries of life? If the answers were ready dear reader, we would be on a different paranormal plane…the closest I have come to understanding some of it has been in reading “Life after death – The burden of proof” by Deepak Chopra, an author who inspirationally combines ancient tradition wisdom with path breaking scientific explanations to answer many of life’s searching questions.

“Whatever it is that occurs at death, I believe it deserves to be called a miracle,” he explains. “The miracle, ironically, is that we don’t die.”

And life’s ultimate purpose, he adds, “is to discover who you are. After death, we see more clearly the goals to be attained.

Chopra sees the soul as a process, not a thing: “It is a continuum. It is a dynamic, constantly evolving bundle of consciousness.”

He concludes: “The human spirit is degraded when we confine ourselves to the span of a lifetime and the enclosure of a physical body. We are mind and spirit first, and that places our home beyond the stars.”

One may wonder at why I am smitten by such a terrible fellow as Yama, the Lord of death, but isn’t it part of life just like genesis and growth?...it may be the inability to grow out of an early fateful incident, it may be a continuous state of mourning that I am not able to break away from?..it may be all of it.

So, despite Shakespeare’s best of advise in the poem “The Triumph of Death”;

(“…Do not so much as my poor name rehearse,
But, let your love even with my life decay;

Lest the wise world should look into your moan,
And mock you with me after I am gone...”)

She is a part of me not in this world but beyond and though I am told to forget, how can I, for Memory is a way of holding onto the things you love, the things you are, the things you never want to lose…and we may not share days together anymore, but the special moments that we shared will last forever… one a friend, one more than a friend, their lose in me, nothing will ever mend.

She strides on,
Drifting left, to right,
Always fumbling, always crumbling,
Away from disapproval.
She strides on,
Backing up, dashing forward,
Nearly losing, nearly dying,
Away from destruction.
She strides on,
Lifting high, digging deep,
Maybe seeing, maybe living,
Away from uncertainty.
She strides on,
Never returning, never stopping,
Away to a better place.