Children of The Sea 6: I Looked At You, You Looked At Me!

We were six grown ups, and more than half of us possesed a bigger than average physique. Yet we were all exhausted from the extremely hectic and tedious journey we had to bear with. Naturally, everyone wanted to get fresh. We were also really hungry. Eventually we went out looking for a place to eat. I really insisted that we should give the sea a visit then, but I, too agreed that water bathing in an empty stomach didn't sound like a great idea.

We went to a medium sized restaurant for food. The guys in there assured that lunch can be arranged within a short time. It was around 4:30, and Tom and Jerry was running and rampaging through the digestive system. I couldn't even remember when I last ate something! The menu was rice, vegetables, chicken chilli fry, fried hilsha fish, etc. We ordered the food, and decided to visit the nearby shops. There were 2/3 Barmese shops there. I brought a pair of sandles with me. Infact, I vested the entire responsibility of my precious feet upon that pair of Bata sandles--I had no shoes with me. But some of the others relied on shoes, and they wanted to get a pair of supposedly cheap Barmese sandles for rough using.

We entered a shop, but me and Ashique couldn't find a pair that could fit our huge feet (yeah, I opted for buying one, too!). The shopkeeper went to another store, and borrowed two pairs for us. We all liked the sandles, and then we started the purchasing process. Sadly, the price was too high, and according to Murshid, Barmese sandles could be bought in Dhaka at a much cheaper rate. So we returned to the food shop, hoping that we'll soon see the face of man's best friend, hot white rice.

Ashique and Ishtiaque Eagerly Waiting for Food!

But God had different plans for us. We spent a good half hour at the sandle's, but yet the food was nowhere to be seen. We waited patiently. 30 mins passed...40 mins passed....and when we were thinking about passing out in hunger, the food arrived. The chicken "jhaal" fry was literally jhaal, and we used a lot of drinking water.

After what seemed like forever, we finished eating. The day was long, and it was still sunny. Pintu was saying that we shouldn't go down to the water with a filled up stomach. I agreed, but only having unexpressed, different plans in mind.

Sujit and Tushar never touched the sea before...it was their first tour to any place near the oceans. I felt so envious of the duo. When I first visited the sea, I was a mere kid, and yet I can remember how excited I was to get myself wet for the first time (wet in sea, of course!).

And these were grown up guys, with all the poetry in mind, and all the romanticism in their eyes. Tushar even brought a copy of Shesher Kobita, which I already mentioned for being a source of pain for my bag. Someone suggested that we take a walk by the beach, and a devillish smile escaped me.

As soon as we reached a suitable location, I walked straight towards the water. Who cares about filled up stomach when you have the gorgeous foams just a foot away from you? I was dying to get in, and I did so.

The first contact with the sea

I always love it when the first wave hits me. When I was younger, my mom and dad took me to Coxsbazar twice. I don't have much memories from those trips, but the journey last yearwas really memorable. I stayed in Sea Gull hotel for two days, with all my GP sales and marketing colleagues, and I had an excellen time with my friends Shafayat and Shahriar, whom were also colleagues. During that journey, I discovered a marvelous place, which we (this group) visited later on.

Everytime you go down to the sea, you get a different feeling. No two wading experience can be compared. The sea is like a versatile firearm--it uses a new kind of ammunition every time it fires at you. Every wave felt differently. I watched and enjoyed the ecstacy of the others. It is indeed an incomparable feeling when the wave hits the body. During that time, the waves were not that strong, and the hits were gentle. It's like pouring water on the body from a mug, but the direction being horizontal, instead of vertical. This reminds me how I got rid of the horizontal versus vertical dilemma. When I was doing BBA coaching in Sunrise, these two words really bugged me. I was almost always confused with this. But I did knew that "Vertex" means the highest point of a pyramid/triangle. So how do you find the vertex? When you approach vertically. Haha...it's that easy. I can be a good teacher, can't I?

Speaking about teaching, I think someday I will become a teacher. But not now, maybe some other time, or in some other life. Let's get back to Coxsbazar instead.

So we spent almost 2 hours in the sea. When we got out of the sea, we weighted a lot more than what we usually do. It was due to the fact that our pant pockets and foldings got stuffed with sand. I tried to drive away the sand, but it refused to end! It was like I am taking out sand from a never ending supply of it.

There was a long nylon cord, attached to two trees outside Borsha 2. As soon as we got back, people started competing for bathroom space. From previous bitter experience, we unanimously decided that the womanly marathon bath of Tushar will be hosted last. One guy got in, came out, and hanged the deserted laundry in that cord. Soon the entire cord, which was supposed to be shared by two other cottages, got filled up with clothes from us.

After settling down, we decided to relax, and I decided to charge my mobile. I was still using the GP mobile and test GPRS handset (Nokia 3220) till then. But to my surprise, I found out that I forgot to bring the charger. I still can't forgive myself for leaving the charger on the table. I was 100% convinced that I inserted the charged inside the bag. Ashique had a Nokia charger with him, but we couldn't find a suitable plugging point for the three pinned charger. I had only one unit charge left.

We were pondering over a suitable place for having dinner, and both the cottage cafeteria and the one where we had our lunch was instantly rejected. The first one for the expense, and the second one for the dinosaur's walk like service. As i was there just a year before, I suggested a place which I am sure everyone would love. It isn't almost bad to have experience, which later proved to be deadly accurate.

We got aboard three rickshaws, with two of us on each, and started a peaceful journey at around 9 PM.

That was some day we spent....and who knew that there were still many more things to come.

To Be Continued....