Where the sun sets..

"I am a mountain person", she said. "Me too" he replied. With that thought they left for the coast together. They traveled across the nation from north to the centre and then extreme west. Not only did the languages change with each passing state but also the scenery, food, cultures, people, air and most of all their perception. The diversity of our nation was served on a platter to them in one train journey across the country. It was enlightening. While gazing at the Western Ghats passing by with each second, he sighed, "That's what beauty is, what mountains are!" They passed through a dozen tunnels that were transporting them to a completely different land. A country completely theirs yet different and what was to unfold at the end of those tunnels was nothing less than an experience worth the forty hours spent contemplating it.

They reached their destination at dusk. The sheer beauty and simplicity of the railway station made it seem like a movie. Who expects to have a hill alongside a railway platform ? The sheer joy of getting down the train onto a platform so scenic had amazed them enough to not feel the load of luggage on their backs. They were mesmerized. The air was different. The sky seemed painted with a few strokes of red and orange casting its reflection on the larger blue surface. It was out of a canvas, really. To witness something so picturesque had never crossed their mind. The smoke laden air of their city had blurred those images and tainted them with smog forever. 

At night it revealed itself to them. But, barely. It was so dark that it seemed like the night but more. They could hear loud roaring sounds and flashes of dispersing froth. "I am already scared, It doesn't end." She had carefully drawn a horrific picture in her head but what she saw and heard was worse. While sketching the mental image, she had totally forgotten about the noise its movement creates. It was an encapsulating sound that dominated all the human disturbance around. When the waves spoke, they conquered. Gathering herself and facing her fears next morning, she accompanied him to finally meet the long desired, and, there it was. An expanse so limitless that nothing they had ever seen could compare. It just didn't end. They stood right there on the sand and facing the sea for the first time in their lives. There it was, the angry field of gold, reflecting the sun on it's surface.

She was unwilling to step foot on the water that the waves brought with them to the coast. He held her hand and said, "Don't worry, I am here. I will not leave your hand". And they entered the all encompassing waters. Soon the waves started to rise and fall. Some pushed them out and some took them a few feet within into the depth and that is when she befriended the sea without knowing it. She stood there with eyes closed facing the depth of the sea and letting a few waves devour her. Soon she began to dive into them so as to be a part. A part of that whole new world which resided inside the waters, a world unknown to her, beyond her reach.

The sea still scared them at night but they continued to spend hours watching it. As if they wanted to feel the fear. It's strange how something can be so beautiful yet frightening at the same time. They sat there on the sand under the star lit full moon sky witnessing the angry waves, each night thinking about the captivating beauty of nature and the sheer littleness of us humans compared to it. 

On their journey back home, none of them declared their love for the mountains. Each time they closed their eyes they met the sea. Then came a voice from his corner, "You never really part from the sea, it remains with you, always".