Saturday, January 12, 2008

She sells ,sea shells ,on the sea shore!!

I was just going through a website looking for sea shells for some school project reference. It amazed me to see such wonderful creatures...and all I did these years were collect them from beaches , wash them and kept them in strategic places...showed them off to the kids who gazed at them so lovingly...
They were the ones who actually saw them for what they were...I did see the colors but they saw the changing patterns, those beautiful streaks of light passing through...and then this year it came back
On our visit to Goa we stayed on this beach which was filled with shells....starfishes..which I had conveniently relegated to the encyclopedia. God!! they are such amazing beauties.




Now my 'show off' collection has tripled and so has my need to know more about them. Like my lil one repeats a definition from his school..'teacher helps us to gain knowledge' but no I gained from these glittering eyes, that of our lil children...

They could spend hours just looking for that little crab that would crawl out unsuspectingly out of the small nooks and shells, and the sand..Can we as adults devote an entire day just looking at shells and searching all over the bare sand for them?? I wonder??

15 comments:

Keith's Ramblings said...

I live just off the beach and I love nothing more than poking around looking at shells and starfish. If only they could speak. What tales would they tell about their journey? I am a regular visitor to Goa, and I've picked up some amazing bits and pieces from the beaches there which I keep on a ledge in my bedroom.

I too would like to add you to my blogroll. I hope it' ok with you.



A lovely post!

Anand said...

hey cool..but theyr sea shells?...arent they actually star fish?
reminds me of the time I went scuba and actually held a starfish in my hand!

Prats said...

@keith...aaaw, thats a lovely location to be in. Now I ca understand the love for the sea...I really wish they could speak, it'd be like a fairy tale i'm sure...
its very OK with me...roll on

@anand...hey, thanks for dropping in...and you're right...holding a starfish in your hand, is a beautiful experience...

Preethi said...

Hey Prats.. you have kicked off some nostalgia.. I remember my vacations in chennai.. scouring the beach for hours in hunt for shells... I bet I couldn't do that now... both for lack of patience and due to the huge crowds in the besant nagar beach these days!!

Aarthi said...

Thats a cool one....even I love collecting shells but I end up filling my house with beach sand..so I stopped doing that...:(

Tys on Ice said...

u bet!...can spend a whole day at the beach collecting shells but its so hard to finsd complete shells in the beaches here..a beach covered with starfish shells! wonder how tht happened?

i hve this thing for rocks...one day i will take a picture and send u my rock collection...i just love hunting arnd for rocks whn i go for camping or trekking...

aMus said...

I can...ican :))

elder S and I are sea shell freaks :)

and did you notice when many, many crabs walk, they make a beautiful design on te sand...?

Prats said...

@preethi...oh yeah, i'm sure you couldn't find the sand in the first place there ;)

@aarthi...thankfully, the washing up is done on the spot, and then final rinse in the resorts...so my house has lesser sand washed ashore....

@tys That really was something for us all to really get hooked on...starfishes are so brilliant....
You collect rocks...wow!!! my younger will cling to your knee for his life now....i've carried more weigth in the form of rocks ...would love to c ur collection....please put up the pictures...


@TA that itself is a whole day of workshop....watching the designs by crabs in the sand....

Unknown said...

I remember the times when collecting the sea shells was so exciting. Sigh!! Not anymore.

Prats said...

@j Maybe it'll all come back....once you have a reason :)

--xh-- said...

when adults cease to see the wonder in small things, life become boring. i love beaches, and whenever i am at a beach, spends time looking for shells, flying kite nad building castles.. :) yeah, i can spend a whole day (and more than that ) watching the shells :-D

Hip Grandma said...

I agree.we learn much more from others than we could ever teach them.More so from kids.

Prats said...

@xh Thats so interesting...flying kites and and building castles...

@HHG So true, and its so humbling when you hear their explanations....so out of our expanse of thinking..

Sumana said...

That will be a fun workshop with the kids. Should give it a try.

Anonymous said...

heyy! the pics look soo awesome... i can imagine the effect of the original..:) Me quite a beachbum too...:)