The Beach

“You know what the Mexicans say about the Pacific? They say it has no memory. That’s where I want to live the rest of my life. A warm place with no memory. Open up a little hotel right on the beach. Buy some worthless old boat and fix it up new. Take my guests out charter fishing.“ – Andy says this to Red ,in the movie Shawshank Redemption, few hours before he escapes from the Shawshank Prison , after spending about 2 decades in the prison for a crime that he did not do.

“It has no memory”, thats the strongest word one could use about the sea and the beach.The beach I usually go, has got benches to sit, for the beach walkers.Every night, after work, I used to sit on one of those benches and look at the sea as I would look at the eyes of my beloved people to hear the words the sea would say.It never said anything.Never.It kept quiet all the time as if ‘Silence’ is the best conversation between two people.

It has been there for a long time, Nobody knows since when?!. How many people it would have seen? How many steps would have been walked on its shore? How many words it would have heard? How many promised and broken loves? How many ‘loud cry’ of the hearts? How many stimulating thoughts, inventions,dreams,hopes – It would have offered?,Still, It keeps quiet, as if being silent is being powerful.May be all the great people learned to be silent after learning it from the sea.

I never thought: ‘Sea’ is neither a non-living thing nor it has no Life – for the sound it makes through its waves, for the stories it hears,for the comfort it provides to the broken hearts, It is alive all the time, forever.Every time I see it , It makes me understand the eternity of the Universe and the fragility of the Humans and their life.It makes us realize our self-consciousness as if it is a mirror of one’s own conscience.It is also one of the stimulants of beautiful and powerful thoughts apart from loneliness and darkness, sometimes along with loneliness and darkness.

At nights, When the moon is brighter, It casts silver lines of enduring happiness on its surface.It makes me feel ‘Sea’ as a smiling friend.I used to wonder why do people love to spend time in the beach, even if many people go together , they don’t talk much , because, sometimes, All one wants to hear is ‘Silence’ and to talk through one’s own heart and that silence makes us feel that the entire universe belongs to us – including the sea and its elements.

In the morning,The vibrant white waves gives hope,energy and the determination to ‘go on’ in life.Sometimes, It is a compassionate mother who forgives one’s mistakes and makes one a new born baby , Sometimes a shelter , Sometimes a playground , Sometimes a home , and at times , It is – heaven.

Each of us is like a tiny dust in front of a huge mountain to it.Still,It accepts , loves, and allows us to play with , to befriend , and even, to curse it.Thats the greatness of it.Truth be told, Spending time in the beach, looking at the sea, are my passionate living moments.

One of my dreams is to travel in a ship through Atlantic Ocean, as how Jack Dawson was able to in ‘Titanic’ , and while traveling I will remember all my happy moments , including this moment of sharing this with you, and to cherish them along with the Ocean for – “It has no memory”.

Whats your Philosophy?

Whoever knows me would not complain or yell ,If i say “Oh I forgot” or “I don’t remember” for their questions, because, I forget things very easily.And, Every time , I say these sentences , I am proud of it. I don’t know why. I still consider forgetting things is a boon in Life.At only a very few times, Its a curse – for Instance , If you forget your favorite character in a movie or in a book.Even then, It doesn’t hurt , as long as you have access to Google.

I cannot justify , Why i had written such a stupid and contradicting opening paragraph for this title?! hmmm .. May be there is a justification. I don’t exactly remember When i first started thinking about philosophies and about Philosophers. I have a very vague memory of well-built , bearded , differently-dressed , saint-like people Who were shown in textbooks as Philosophers , especially Greek Philosophers and were described as “Greatest minds”. Socrates , Plato , Aristotle - The three famous Philosophers, of that age and generation, Whose works are still respected and read all over the world.

“Philosophy” did not seem to be just a logic to me at first. But When days went , I realized it as just a rational thinking which holds true always, and forever. For example: If you are convinced , ‘A thing of beauty is a joy forever’ – is a philosophy , One can go on quoting so many examples like these : ‘A face is the index of the mind‘ , ‘Tell me who your friend is , I tell you who you are‘ , ‘The greatest thing is to love and to be loved‘ and so on.

Philosophy is the crisp form of saying a truth. You could call it as a ‘quote’ or an ‘adage’ or a ‘proverb’ or even a ’sentence’ but i love to call it as a Philosophy – If it is a rational truth.

Ever since I liked Philosophy, Ever since I liked rational minds and their processing power, Ever since I liked to think about the ultimate truth , I wanted to have a philosophy with which i can guide my life simply. Since then, I have always had philosophies in my life.

Until few years ago , My Philosophy was ‘If you do not compare or compete with others everyone will respect you‘ ,this was by a philosopher called ‘Lao tzu’, When i first read it, It was eternal and enlightening, I felt like as if I have found my perfect Philosophy. I liked many of his philosophies especially his philosophies on “Leadership”. But No Philosophy lasts long because sometimes your guiding philosophy will not help you or It might not suit well for few occasions and in certain contexts. This philosophy did not last long.

When i saw Shawshank Redemption, I liked the sentence Andy Dufresne wrote to his friend Red and it became my philosophy – ‘Hope is a Good thing and no good thing ever dies’. You would not believe the power in these words. You can only realize it.

At times, I tried to find my own – ‘ To live with no fear in doing things that one likes and if it hurts none‘ , ‘To influence others life positively ‘ and so on.

But you know what , As someone has already said, “change is the only constant thing in the world“. The Philosophies or the guiding philosophies keep changing.If you have already found one which you don’t have to change , Please share , I would like to think about it.

By the way , I did not mention – my philosophy now is ‘move on‘ – I wanted to make this as a tagline for one of my upcoming brands and so I searched in web to see if it is already being used , I found that this is the tagline of the famous Watch and Glasses company ‘fasttrack’.

So Whats your philosophy?