Ummapalm

the sand under your feet, seven anklets and goa. the time im sitting alone on the beach, friends moving intermittently between the sea and to the beer at the shack. im sitting on the sand. watching the sunset and the sky changing colours like someone up there has a job to switch the lights. i have things to think of but im at peace. im leaving them behind, like smoke disappearing after a while. i look at the sea, the various people. there is someone sitting right behind me in a similar pose, with probably the same thinking cap on. the sand feels real good. its granules so fine, a little wet, together, calming, lending the colour to the beach and also the comfort.




an unexpected halt. moonlit waters hitting the rocky shore and making sweet wet tinkling sounds. we need to cross it. along with our car. a ferry is awaited, its going to charge us 10 bucks for the task. the best things in life, if not free, are fairly cheap.

i want to sit here forever. listen to the water, soak in the moonlight.. this mesmerising unknown place i can call mine. a beautiful darkness, not scary, not friendly, just lovely.

the ferry arrives and its spent clicking pictures. we are now on our way to getting lost. on top of a hill with not a soul awake in miles. i was wondering, what if we didnt have enough fuel to carry out the random search out there. what would we do? sleep in the car till morning. i think my warm blanket was the best thing carried in this trip.

on the way back home, im highly surprised that we cross karnataka. so iv seen three places in this trip, goa, kolhapur n karnataka. and the following observation is quite different than whats mentioned afore.


India is a poor country. a very poor country. the majority, with a very large margin, are poor. people are illiterate. they lack logic and are fooled. they dont know whats happenning around them, forget about the world. they get up, cook, work, eat, sleep. they exist. and we exist because of them. because they are the farmers. our morsels, from home cooked food, or five star luncheons, comes from them. from their sweat, loans, the hardwork of the men, women and little children from the little huts. the entire supply chain earns from their toil, except them. isn't that funny? they should rule india. india is a krishipradhan desh, i learnt in the school essay. we should be proud of it. but we ape the west. they havent left india, they are very much around, still ruling us in a worser way, they have changed our mentality forever. what they do is what our aim is to reach. every progress is a polish on the surafce that they can notice. GDP growth, developing nation, econimic stability, india is shining it seems, definitely, only on the surafce. scratch it and u'll see the rot beneath. lavish railway stations, with malnourished homes. industry is important. but why aren't we proud of something that we really are? we are a land of farmers who worship nature. 70% of india is rural. do we have respect for that? farmers in the west are rich, owning cars. here the children still run behind thumping the odd car that strays into the village, probably for some 'real' story. imagine a piramyd. 70% from the bottom up is mud thatched and the remaining on the top is solid, cemented and painted with asian paints royale.

how will it stand?