About the sand and the shells

Being the daughter of a navy person, I have this fascination for the sea, the ships, the shore, the sand and of course, the shells on the beach. As a child, I have seen these little and huge marvels of nature, heard them whisper words of wisdom, experienced their anger and felt their love – beneath my feet, on my face and in my hands. And now, after years of pondering over little and huge issues in life do I seem to understand a part of what they were saying…

This is about the shells and the sand and the two contrasting qualities they have taught me. Courtesy DCH and a photo of my Aunt’s I loved, the sand has always been symbolic of the fact – The tighter you try to grip it, the more you lose… Is it really true? Then what about those great thinkers and inspiring men shouting -Never let go of what you want, Your dream cannot come true unless you persevere… Or is it a half-truth? Does destiny really have something in store for all of us, to be discovered only at the right time, right place? And how do we know when the right time and what the right place is? When exactly do we tighten our grip or loosen it?

All these questions remind me of the shells – my once (sigh) best friend and I used to collect. Though I have had the privilege of collecting shells from many different sands, thanks to Dad, it was amazing collecting shells with her right in the midst of a construction site near my place. Old, new, double, single, designed, broken… we had enough classification to take us an entire night long to divide them into, and how fun it was! I always used to wonder why all of them are different – mainly why only some of them have pearls and why none of these construction site ones seem to have one. My Mom told me, not all shells can have pearls – they lack the necessary stuff and mechanism (whatever it was, I didn’t understand then). One day I learnt in school that there is a complex process of pearl formation, and thought maybe, maybe these shells just don’t give the process enough time to get the pearl done. I asked my Mom and she said it might be the case too.

Till I could figure out what the actual reason was, my once best friend and I had parted ways. Without a word, without a tear, without a note… Two souls who once shared a notebook, a frock, happiness and tears and the deepest of expressions parted without a single goodbye. Some say it was because one of us had the pearl, the other didn’t. Some say it was just destiny. And I am remembered of the shells – is it something really intrinsic? DO we really have something pre-written on our foreheads saying whether or not we are capable of doing, achieving, enjoying something? Or is it like the shells that do not give enough time for the pearl to form?

I haven’t the answer yet. Maybe I am not capable of finding it out, or maybe I haven’t given it enough time. In case you know please drop me a line… I still feel the void… Created in std 6^th, after my friend said goodbye, without saying why…