By the beach

I'm on the longest beach in the world right now. It has been a while since I last came here, almost eight years I think. I remember being ecstatic about coming here the last time. This time around, however, I was looking forward to a quiet time because I'm an adult now. But who was I kidding- the sea beach is one of the few things in the world that brings out the child in all of us.

We are staying at the Sayeman Beach Resort, which is gorgeous by the way. You step outside the hotel compound and you're on the beach, literally. I don't think I have been to one during the winter before. Even at 2 pm, the sand and the breeze alike were cool. 

With my jeans folded up to turn them into three-quarters, I run to the shore. Just watching the huge entity in front of me made me feel alive in a way I don't fully understand. I could feel a smile spread across my face, ear to ear, and I don't know why. As the sea roars, all other sounds around you become inaudible. It's like I'm in a dream- but not the kind you have when asleep at night; the kind when your mind is awake but drifting.

As I watch the waves crash against the shore, I lose myself in deep thoughts. One can only snap back to reality when the cool water rushes over one's feet. As the water goes back into the sea, I can feel the sand from below my toes slide. I try to hold the wet sand by sort of clenching my toes, but that only makes them slip by faster.  I'm only left with froth between my toes and a pleasant tingling feeling. In my otherwise thoughtless mind, all I can think of is the sea and how vast it is. 

A heightened sense of liberty is unanimous across all the sea beaches in the world. It is just so difficult to care when you're by the sea. Sunglasses to protect my eyes and coconut water to keep me hydrated is all I need right now.

I turn around and walk towards an empty beach chair. I don't remember seeing this many children playing in the sand the last time I was here. Or maybe I didn't notice. The wind in my hair emptied me of all my worries, reservations and cynicism. Even the greatest cynic can't help but think of and want the conventional, and widely believed to be ideal, life.

The jewellery vendors approach all ladies and you are bound to take a look even if you aren't interested in buying something initially because everything is so beautiful and there is so much variety. The same things in Dhaka would cost almost three times the price. My browsing for souvenirs for my girlfriends is interrupted by the smell of shutki in the air. Only in Bangladesh, huh?

So far it is pretty perfect. Settling in my beach chair, I lean back and look into the horizon- where the sea and the sky become one. This is where premonitions can't even reach me, let alone haunt me.

By Maaesha Nuzhat Nazmul