The Echoing Waves of the Gopalpur on Sea.....

I heard This Tale From The Waves

The purple sea,

Had called his soul.

Driven by the spell

He left his home.

Her eyes had tears,

But uttered no word.

He boarded the Yacht

And gave her a word.

“I shall have a good catch

And come back soon;

When the red sea couches the sun

And awaits the moon.”

His mast was high,

And his sail was tight,

The orange sea twinkled

In his eyes so bright.

Thus he set out

With the sun

And she too knew

He would return.

 Tossing on the opal ripples

The Yacht had reached the horizon.

And she in her mundane work,

Wished the day had shortened.

On seeing the sun

Completing his voyage,

Her restless heart pined

To hear his voice.

She rushed to the harbor

And tried to sight his Yacht.

Alas! All her anticipations were lost.

As, the sea from red

 To grey had turned,

Eventually all the colours,

To black had succumbed.

But he didn't return.

The following day showed

The same old spectrum;

Only that it had failed

To bring back her husband.

Ten decades have passed;

The shanty has been washed,

But the hours of retreat

Still echoes her jingling toes.

And her sari sweeps the surfs,

Her wails can be heard,

On the new-moon shores

Of  Gopalpur.

A SEA-GULL BROUGHT THIS NOTE TO ME 

My yacht is sailing

On the crystal ripples.

I’ve sailed too far…

Guided by the star,

Befriending winds,

Accompanied by tides,

Evoked by the moon;

Rowing hard.

Hark me not!

With the morning shells,

Nor with the mid-night turtles;

As I’m on my voyage…

To that green patch

Beyond the horizon.

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 Just 16 km away from Berhampore, the commercial hub of southern Odisha, lies the tiny town of Gopalpur on the Bay of Bengal. It used to be a popular sea port in the medieval times. But now apart from tourism, fishing is the most important source of income for the inhabitants of this place. Be it in the ancient times or the modern times, sea is the most important entity of this place.

The hotels here are constructed on the beach. One can spend the day by sitting on the balcony watching the kaleidoscopic changes of the sea transforming itself with the movement of the sun. Or  stroll down to the shore to collect sea shells during the dawn or feel the turtles twitching around the feet after dusk. I went there in April. Maybe because of the season, the sea looked mesmerizing.

 The place is no less awe-inspiring to its denizens. On one hand, it is like the benevolent mother who provides them bread and butter. On the other hand, it wishfully takes away their lives whenever she chooses to. Each morning the fishermen leave their shanty for a good catch without any assurance of coming back .The saga of their struggle does not end here. Phailin, the super cyclone that hit Odisha in 2014 has left Gopalpur in debris. Still the people here have not succumbed to despair. With their indomitable will power and faith in the Divine, they are trying their best to stand up on their feet. And I must add that they have succeeded to a great extent.  

    

For all these reasons, Gopalpur on Sea has become my muse for this verse piece. Through this poem I have tried to pay my tribute to these brave hearts who take birth, thrive, breed and perish in the clutches of this ravishing beauty----- The Sea.