A soft crackling noise can be heard from below, tiny crabs letting loose of the rocks, fleeing for the sea with the sound of our feet landing on each new stone. The air smells like salt with a hint of coconut breeze between, or perhaps that’s just what’s left of the island’s native beverage of choice lingering on my bottom lip. I lift my eyes slightly to see his feet leading the way, and up just farther into the expanse of the never ending horizon of the sea. After a 24 hour delay, we made it – this was India, on the shores of Port Blair of the Nicobar Islands.
After much ado, welcome into a few of the first moments of the travels across the world to a tropical escape tucked just far enough away to escape the touch of most human contact. Like a hidden corner of the earth left just as it was intended to be, those privileged to venture so far are surrounded by tropical forests, curious natives and coral reefs hidden just under the first layers of crystal clear waters.
We traveled light – aside from the bundles of gifts we couldn’t wait to deliver to friends and family on the mainland. For the first time in ages, I hardly even noticed those things which a blogger normally finds themselves most attached to. In the first lag, nearly all digital communication was nonexistent, forcing visitors to let go of all that drags from places past. My phone stayed tucked away in the baggage abandoned in the room, and attire was chosen to be cool and comfortable.
Even during monsoon season, the air was hot. And while we escaped the presence of such summer storms, the air was wet in anticipation of the earth’s spin bringing months of rain.
I slipped into a Joah Brown cotton dress. And while tracing along the rocky beach, the feeling of freedom pulsed through my body as the coconut breeze lifted the hem of my dress away from my skin. It felt like breathing for the first time. Letting go. Faded, lost in the in the fantasy of the untouched shore and endless sea.
“You were the shadow to my light, did you feel us?
Another star, you fade away
Afraid our aim is out of sight, wanna see us alight…
Where are you now? Was it all in my fantasy?
Where are you now? Were you only imaginary?
Where are you now? Atlantis, under the sea…
Where are you now? Another dream
The monster’s running wild inside of me
I’m faded… So lost, I’m faded…
These shallow waters never met what I needed
I’m letting go a deeper dive
Eternal silence of the sea. I’m breathing alive…
Where are you now?”
– Alan Walker, “Faded”