The Sea Beckons
Back in the day when mini-vacations were normal (and necessary), we have had several day trips with Aadyaa. Of those, she spent most of the time sleeping during the journey back and forth...so not much to say about them. There were also several which were weekend getaways, some of which are definitely worth sharing.
When she was a little over two, we decided to make a quick beach trip. Mumbai was the closest and most obvious choice. My sister and I spent all our summer vacations during school life in Mumbai, and Dadar and Girgaon chowpaty were an integral part of those...I don’t ever remember going crazy playing in the water, but I do remember making sand castles, staring at the waves, enjoying the short horse-cart rides on the beach and relishing the typical food items you get on a beach. I was eager for her to experience all of this!
It was a comfortable drive to The Resort at Madh Island. We had booked a sea-facing room and the view was lovely. We waited for evening so it wouldn’t be too hot and took Aadyaa to the beach with a running commentary of how lovely it would be, how she would love the waves and on...and on!
She stared at the open ocean and watched the waves come and go. She watched the surf come in and hit our feet while we held her. While one of us held her, the other tried to point out all that we could...the swaying palm trees, bobbing trawlers on the horizon, people splashing around in the water, kids building sand castles and whatever else was happening around us that was worth drawing a baby’s attention to! We walked around for a bit, watched her soak in all the views and then thought that it was time for the real thing. That’s when all hell broke loose!
While she seemed to like everything till that moment, she hated the feeling of the clingy wet sand on her feet and the waves rushing towards her. She screamed as loudly as she could and demanded to be picked up right away! We had not expected this at all! We tried the ringa-ringa roses kind of games, tag and other silly stuff to distract her. But she was crying her lungs out! The moment we picked her up, she would stop...if she sensed we were going to make her stand in the sand again, she would cling on with her life and refuse to even point her legs remotely in the direction of the sand. While our futile attempts may only have lasted a few minutes, it seemed like forever! It’s amazing how much resistance a little person can put up!
We spent the second day of the stay at the resort with a quick walk on the beach with no attempt to get her anywhere close to the sand. It wasn’t worth the fight she would have put up! We did end up making short trips to some beaches post this and her resistance continued for at least two more years. She finally let up when she discovered the universal joy of looking for colorful shells hiding in the sand and giving the waves a high five. Now she gets excited even before we can complete saying ‘beach trip!’
I wish I could remember what I had felt the first time I saw the ocean, but from her expressions at the time it seemed pretty overwhelming to her. In retrospect, I can imagine how threatening a wave must seem to a little person standing right in it’s path. The sand slipping under her delicate little feet must have been an unnerving feeling and a sense of being dragged away from the most comfortable place in her tiny little world...her parent’s arms.
But I am glad she came around to enjoying the ocean eventually, because there is nothing more calming to me than the sound of the waves! I could probably sit on the beach for hours doing nothing...the only place where I do experience moments of thoughtlessness...when nothing and no one seems to matter. As she grows up, I hope she finds this zone somewhere in the noisy world, beach or not!