A ride on Chilka lake - Part1

Most might consider this post and the next as ravings of a nostalgia maniac. However, I will still try and evoke emotions from the past.
Now I am all set to talk about the ride of my life – the most memorable 3 hours of my life. These 3 hours, even in the autumn of my life and twilight of my day will remain fresh in my memory. Every then, when I hear pleasant notes played on a musical instrument; every then, when I smell the sun baked summer earth sizzling at the caressing first monsoon drops; every then, when my hand feels the dew wet petals of a tender rose on a quiet foggy winter morning, every then those three hours flash and play back, vividly -though for a split second, in my mind. This was the ride on the lake Chilka. At this point if you jump to a conclusion that it was a romantic ride with my girlfriend then you have grossly mistaken, though she was with me. It was not her nor was it any of my friends on the boat. Though I journeyed on the same boat as they did and visited the same place as they did, my thoughts transcended the human planes. I transcended the three dimensions of human life and entered the fourth dimension of time - a dimension of constant flux if you are outside it and a thought arresting dimension if you enter it. I entered this dimension to preserve my thoughts and emotions that were engendered in this ride, forever and ever.
It was afternoon of Diwali in 2007. I was in Bhubhaneswar for my initial training with TCS. Now, when I close my eyes for a brief moment, I see a motor boat anchored to the embankment on the lake Chilka. The motor kicked to life as soon as the last of us left the ground for the boat. I occupied one of the benches parallel to the sides of boat.A quarter of an hour into the boat ride, I changed my seating location to the gunwale of the boat to let my legs feel the lake waters. I could also feel the bright sun warm on my back. It was water in every direction as far as I could see. I hear people gossip, play a silly game and entertain themselves in whatever manner they could, on this boat. I felt a sudden surge in my heart. I know it is all blood and adrenaline that has got on to me. And, I also know that blood in my heart has hit a frequency to etch something permanently in my heart. That is how bonds are formed with me.
The blue seas that do not have a trace of green on them, the wild seas that jump up and down to swallow anything at the slightest of hints are one thing and these placid lakes with interspersed greenery in and around them are another. My eyes see the sun bathed golden lake waters and floating sparse green vegetation. These serene lake waters are there to carry my weight without a wince or retort. These waters are there to rejoice in my joy and to titillate my soul with unknown emotions.
The lake ripples like a delicate creeper in cool evening breeze. It is a dancing maiden’s waist whose movements go uncaught at the blink of an eye. Now I understand why poets compare sea to a man and lake with a lady. Sea is a savage. It is aggressive and querulous. It is open and warns you of its true character. But lake is slow, serene and surreptitious. The placid superficial veneer of a lake hides the powerful undercurrents. I watch this watery dance and wonder its magnificence till I reach the island, the place where Chilka flows into the sea. On reaching the island most of my fellow troopers settled for coconuts and prawns. But I knew what I wanted. I knew this was my …. To continued in the next post

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A race with the dawn

On Saturday evening, Feb 20th I have decided to capture the daybreak at the bay with my new Canon A1100 IS camera. I noted the Sunday sunrise time to be at 6:29 a.m IST and set my alarm to 5:00 a.m. It is usually unusual that I plan to get up so early. Even if I plan, I fail 90% of the times unless and until my parents are around.And, today the chances of me not waking up doubled as I went to bed as late as 1:00 a.m yesterday.
The alarm cuckooed at 5:00 a.m. Half asleep and with contracted pupils I took a look at my cell phone - the source of the sound. Involuntarily my hands responded to silence the sound and I fell asleep again. But, you know when you are really determined about a thing, it haunts your subconscious - asleep or awake, alive or dead. This thing( to reach the beach before daybreak) in me took 45 minutes to fight my sleep and at about 5:45 a.m forced my eyes to open. I got up at 5:48 precisely, went through the required ablutions and got on to my bike with camera tightly tucked in a turkey napkin, which was tightly packed into a camera bag and which in turn went into a backpack- safety purpose, my cam is hardly a month old baby.
It was 6:05 before I hit the road and all I had was 15 minutes. The coast I planned to reach is along Thiruvanmiyur which is 22 km away from my place. 22km in 15 minutes is a improbable equation, while I was musing thus a realization dawned upon me that made me feel stupid. I could go to beach on ECR which is some 10 km nearer and is as pristine as I wanted a beach to be. To reach ECR, I had to go straight from Sholingnallur junction instead of taking a left turn here.
With this realization I headed for ECR at my top speed.
The connecting road from Sholingnallur to ECR a 4 KM drive is a real pleasant drive. A six lane wide road which goes up a small mount and smoothly descends towards the beach. The road would have been even better if it offered a direct sea view, but phew not so lucky. Nevertheless I liked the road and crows did share the same view. Why I say crows and exclude all other avian species is I see only crows squatting in the middle of the road. It could be pollution or it could be any other factor that made other species stay away.However, I get to disturb the tranquility of crows alone. At the sight of my bike approaching them, the murder of crows flew away. The instance reminds me of pigeons leaving their green ground at the sight of an approaching cricket ball in Lords cricket stadium. After a 2 minute drive along this 4 KM stretch, I reached the the ECR road. It was only once I had been to this beach and had to stop over, briefly, to inquire the directions to the shore. I got the directions from early customers of a tea shop in the ECR junction and sped away to the shore. It was 6:20 when I reached the beach. I hurriedly got down the bike, loaded the camera with batteries and off I went to capture the dawn.
Find those pictures in the below post. Happy daybreak !!

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