The Dead Sea. For me, the name first cropped up either during a quiz or in Geography lessons in school. At the time, it was just another point in the map; it's location and features, something to be crammed about and memorized for tests and exams. Yet it was the first place on earth to intrigue me and have me piqued enough to scurry to the well stocked Library in KVCLRI and bury myself into the tomes of the Encyclopedia Britannica to read up about it. There have been other places since, but the Dead Sea was the first.
Growing up alone, it was easy for me to turn adventurer/explorer/discoverer in my head at any point I wanted. So I traveled, all over the word and into space even, when fancy took me. I was dragged to quite a few nooks and corners of our country thanks to my father's transfers. I took it for granted that this is what life would be in the future as well and that I would travel its length and breadth many times over. However, travelling abroad was a remote possibility to the nth degree, to my mind, impossible even given the times.
Travel to the Land of the Dead Sea? Never in my wildest dreams did I think it would be possible in the physical realm. Yet there I was, looking at it from the balcony of the hotel at first and then standing on its shores, white sand on my feet, powered sunglasses on, protecting my eyes from the reflected glare of the Jordanian sun. There were warnings all around about not ingesting the water or letting it get into your eyes. Many had trudged into the waters and were floating in it. Having your picture taken reading a book or the newspaper, is a favourite with most tourists to this destination. As is the mud bath, of course.
As the sun began to set, I took a little walk in the palladium overlooking the beach. Just across the still waters, one could see the lights of Jerusalem, glittering in the distance. The sea looked opaque, almost still.......tranquil, yet alluring. Almost as if it was speaking to me and urging me to submerge myself in its vast expanse. Looking around, I felt a sense of peace and oneness with my surroundings. I was overwhelmed with emotion. Had never felt anything like it before.
What was the point of being a tourist if I did not take pictures!! Took a few with my cellphone and each picture inspired a few lines. Have been meaning to blog it for quite some time now. Here they are.......
Nothing can quite capture the beauty of the Dead Sea.....my Geography textbooks did not do it any justice.
As the sun sets, there is a hush despite the people milling about.....an absolute stillness in the air, as though afraid to wake some special being
It drew me close as if about to share a secret.....
The canvas was spell-binding and tugged at me without any qualms
And suddenly it was like a huge cataract had settled over its gleaming eye!! It was quite clear it would not divulge any secrets.....and yet it held me, close....
And those gleaming lights....they laugh at my naivete!!
For some reason thought of Rumi and Gibran here and asked, "Shall I run into that alley and hide? Or shall I laugh right back?"
And decided that, I shall walk through the bright lights to what my destiny holds.....laughing all the way!!
The lights in the distance, they beckoned. And seduced by the starlight, I went back but it did not even whisper!! Not a whiff, just eerie stillness of the night...
