#44 Our World is Eternal. We are not.

It’s been over a year. But, I felt the same sense of excitement as I stepped foot on the beach. There were hundreds of people around me - walking, jogging, playing frisbee, taking selfies, and playing ball with the waves.

The morning hues reminded me of the time I visited the beach with my mom a couple of years back. For a minute I felt like I was in the past. The sound of the waves, the soothing breeze, and the dull morning hue recreated the past. Sometimes, nature brings back memories - some good and some bad.

I once visited Thiruvannamalai for a travel photography assignment. My job was to document the temple and its surroundings for a retired bank officer who was writing a book on Thiruvannamalai. As we climbed our way to an ashram on the hill, we saw a Caucasian woman sitting at the edge of a huge rock that overlooked the town and the temple. She stared at the horizon without minding the harshness of the sunlight. She came to her senses when we walked by. I saw her tears rolling down her cheeks when she looked at us. She was having her moment and we ruined it. Even though it was unintentional, I felt bad.

Nature does that to you. It brings out your hidden side and let you be open with it. Like a sun that shines it’s light on dark places.  Sun - I can’t help but think of sun as a metaphor to human life. It comes to life out of darkness, burns low and slowly glows to its peak brightness and eventually fades into the darkness. The cycle starts fresh the next day.

Our lives on this planet are no different. When I looked around the beach, I realised that none of the people who walk the beach today will be doing so in a hundred years. Everyone will be replaced. Didn’t mean to end this piece on a negative note. Just wanted to say that life is short. Let’s make use of it by living it right.