WCC goes on a Break

Come leave everything,

There is no need of anything,

You will dissolve within me.

And nothing will be there to see.

On Thursday the 16^th of February’ 17 the WCC team decided to go out for a break and what better place than ‘The Ocean’. We waited on the harbour near The Gateway of India for the boat that would ferry us to the Sail Boat. The boat arrived and we were dropped to the Sail Boat and the scenery until now seemed like it always did near the sea, a few boats, seagulls, the glaring sun, the water and the skies. It wasn’t until we got onto the Sail Boat that something felt different. It was the same sea and the same wind but it felt different, something calming and soothing.

Slow and Calm,

Smooth and Quiet,

I wonder if life was like this,

Would the world be the same.

We circled around and saw boats as big as a two storey building and boats small enough to fit only about six people. We saw seagulls swimming in the sea, sitting on the boats or flying in the sky. It was beautiful to see them in multiple ways.

The sea can lift you from the boundaries of land and drift you into a reality better than fantasy. It has the smell, sweet enough to make you forget your hunger. The wind could sweep you away into a deep sleep.

A silence heard,

Only by the one who listens,

A silence heard,

Only if you let go,

The  boat floated along with the waves and every time we tried clicking pictures it felt like the ocean didn’t want to be caged into this small screen and so it shook the boat. J The ocean is wide, it is open, to anyone and for anyone, it gives. The ocean has a slow and deep whisper. It feels as though it would take you inside and nurture you and as said by our sailor Ms. Shibani – “ The ocean to her is like the Womb to the Embryo”. Thats what it felt to be a part of this journey.

Death could be like the ocean…

Still and Calm.

Healing life’s wounds,

Caressing every broken part.

With its soulful balm.

I think all of us are hurt, maybe broken too and the sea gives us a chance to forget that and it heals us, makes us a different person, a better person. But however open is the ocean, is it breaking from inside? Tetra packs, Cauliflowers, Plastic Bags, this is what we found floating. The poor aquatic birds feed on this plastic thinking its food.

The ocean is wide and that’s true. But it’s not wide enough to digest plastic. Plastic clogs the oceanic life, killing it every moment. From Stone age to copper age to iron age, every historic age has left us a lot to learn. What will our plastic age leave? Not fossils but the same plastic in environment for centuries to come………………

It’s time to ponder about the biotic life around us. It’s time we behave with responsibility and realize that there will be a future generation to whom we are answerable. It’s time to connect with life around us. It’s time to connect with the nature around. Maybe go out into the sea without a selfie stick and a camera but just for a dip, feeling the cold, smooth current of the sea. Let us make a difference to the environment not because we have to save it but because it is time we connect to what gives us life on this planet.

Written by Adrian Ferreira

Poems by Omkar Bhatkar & Adrian Ferreira