Water, Sun, & Sand

Water | In seeing the water dripping down the tall walls onto the dusted grains of sand from my shoes, I felt a deep unfamiliar sense of solace. For today, even the Grand Mercure was not beyond the sun-drenched summers of Bali. As the sun beat like a hammer on the sands of Kuta beach, the whole building was sweating from every surface and gland. The air was so thick that I could practically taste it on my tongue. Yet this union of water, sun, and sand was what drew me here – These are the littoral states of my life.

Sun | Bali was truly like no other place in the orient. Unlike the soaring skyscrapers of Shanghai, the bustling intersections of Tokyo, and the vibrant colors of old Delhi. Bali had a tranquility to it, a deeper meaning at the centre of all the chaos. Outside the temples that were sprinkled across the fringes of the city, there stood a giant eagle statue from the ancient Hindu legend of the Garuda Vishnu. His iron skeleton stood unperturbed, entirely detached from the vicissitudes of the seasons and the years, as well as the lives of the passer-by. Casting the ghosts of its past over the city, ritualistically submerging back into the darkness night after night. 

Sand | Yet, there was another side to the city. Bands of tourists flooded the streets every morning, riding on their rickshaws, taxis, e-bikes, and still some on foot. All flowing towards one or another of the city’s palm-fringed shores. But as I sat on the beach and watched the waves crash against the shore, I noticed a strange impermanence of everything around me. The waves, which seemed so powerful and eternal, would dissipate into the vastness of the ocean. The sand, which felt so solid and unchanging, was in a constant state of flux, shaped and reshaped by the turquoise forces of the water. As I watched the sunset over the horizon, a sense of peace and acceptance washed over me.