Poseidon's Darling

Prafulla kumar Mohanty

I was in a 'boat house', that is an upturned boat raised on the fore, sides covered with plastic sheets propped by bamboo sticks. Often fisherman hit the sack there to go early to the sea for fishing. I had to run into an empty boat house as the Rain's fury increased after 9 A.M.I was determined to spend the night alone on the shore to watch the Bay of Bengal at Konark last Sunday. I was away from the usual haunt  of tourists by almost a mile , almost to an abandoned part of the shore. My day was spent in the temple  watching the filigree on stones, the time eaten, saline wind licked, noseless, handless damsels imagining their pristine forms and fantasizing with them somewhere beyond Eden. Watching the sea in the dark starless night and the beating drops of rain mocked by the roaring waves through a small opening in the boat my face and hair were drenched almost to blindness. But this stubborn me refused to withdraw from the scene to my own endless fantasies. Time was withdrawn from my dynamics. Only dark roar, dashing waves and long withdrawing rumble of  the waves and the lashing rain were my focal points. May be after what  seemed like a millennium, the rains relented to a steady drizzle. My tired body's message was signalled to my eyes, the lids dropped only to open with a start. But what did I hear! Some sound like shoes on wet sand, soft rhythmic but smart, accomplished by the mild splash of water filled shoes ! Who could it be in this witching  hour of rain soaked night! Then materialized a shape, the shadowy figure was shapely advancing towards the sea just about ten yards away from my houseboat which in the meantime was flooded. She held an umbrella. Was she real or a hallucinatory deviation of  my fantasy!

Has someone, a gilted lover or a life- frustrated women come to put an end to her life? I was disturbed. But when she stepped back to avoid the rushing flow of the wave  I was reassured. Why should someone come with an umbrella if death is in her mind? Is she alone or others are with her; other romantic companions? I tried to see in either direction. No, no one is with her. She is  alone, on her own. Is she an Indian or a foreigner ? Such fancy to enjoy the rain lashed sea  at the dead of night is not very common even with our elitist mod, fashionable women. May be she is an exception. Yes, may be...but but what's she doing? She kicked off the shoes as if kicking the drizzle happy heavy air and stood barefoot. Then she folded the umbrella and dropped it on the sand. What! will she strip next I was bemused despite my condition. She opened her wet hair. Watching from behind I could faintly notice her figure, not slim or plump but like a hyphen between them. The wet pyjama-kurta clung to her body and she looked in good shape. Her broad shoulders, plum buttocks, pillars of legs, the v of her back and the pinnacle of bushy  hair  fired my imagination. Then she raised her arm over her head and said something which I could  not decipher. But in a namaskar posture she turned 360 degrees muttering something . And I saw her frontal figure when  she turned towards me. In that split second I saw her oval face closed eyes and beautiful body move away in a stance of prayer. Was she praying  for some dead soul? My guess was wrong...

She again turned towards the sea. This time she almost danced. What she spoke I can't say but I imagine she said:

"O' mighty ocean, O 'Baruna! Am I not your paramour for eternity I was your first lover Euronemo like I emerged from the eternal space to envelope you in my passionate embrace. You swelled , widened and became large to accommodate my for I am vast whatever  be my shape. You are my life element  I am your lover  for without you I have no life. I am your lover in all ages and climes. And you could not hold me in your arms and released me to the gods, demons and men. Since then your complexion is dark , blue , green and you roar in agony for me . I come to you everywhere. I am your essence, beautiful, graceful, songful, lifefull but I too am nothing. You roar away your agony but I cannot even whimper. I swallow my tears and my stomach rumbles with love. Can you now embrace me? Can  you hold my elegance in your heart? No you can't move for if you do you will destroy life. Be there and see me. I have come to kiss you wild...

When I returned from my closed -eyes monologue I saw only blankness. She was gone, Was she my lost love or Poseidon's? Only she knows.