Day Eight; Go fish!

Water as far as we can see, horizon as far as there is water, lush islands as if oasis, glistening sun, yachts gracefully sailing among colorful gondolas, clouds scattered like a fluff around the sky in all shades of ivory! Once again, we are on the upper deck of same boat, we sailed on yesterday, all set for evening fishing trip.

There are three other families, apart from us. Friendly Siddiqui with their three adorable kids, an Indian elderly couple and a European family. None of us are wearing life jackets today. We are told that we are not going to deep waters and there are emergency jackets on the boat. We instantly realize our mistake the moment we settle on the upper deck and boat takes momentum. When I say deck, I merely mean the upper part or rather roof of the boat which has barely a foot high railing. We are reclining against this dangerously open railing which is low enough to let any of us directly stumble into the waters. Non swimmers like me won’t have a chance to see the surface.

 I am just angry at the guy who stopped us from wearing the jackets. It reminds me how Aleem whenever we travel to Northern areas says never rely on a guy living in mountains to tell you the walking distance as his parameter are entirely different than yours. That’s what I think happened, someone who is born and raised among waters, cannot possibly understand the limitations of people from land, those who can’t swim.

Boat comes to stop after sailing for ten minutes and real threat comes when engine turns off and boat starts swaying and when it’s at the epoch of sway, our guide’s head appears who asks us to come down as we have reached the place where we’ll be trying our lucks to catch some fish. We haven’t yet grabbed our baits and he calmly prophesize that there’s a rare chance that we’ll be able to catch any fish! Weather is choppy and soon it’ll get darker, and fish won’t be able to see the bait. I admit that we are feeling betrayed, we have paid seventy-five dollars per person and going home empty handed seems a bad idea!

Our boat is unlike the one I had in my mind. I imagined a basic boat, exactly like the one we used to watch in Tom and Jerry where Tome used jerry as a bait on his fishing rod. Instead of fishing rods we have fishing lines with cut pieces of fish used as a sit and a boat with shower area, rest room and a small sleeping cabin.

Mattu is our guide today. He is the one who gave us snorkeling lessons. He explains the process, we will let the line go into the water till it stops going any further, roll it back a little and patiently wait for fish to be caught.

There is another guy named Muslim, he is putting chunks of raw fish onto the hooks. One by one we take our lines from him and move to the front deck, Siddiquies are with us while other two families choose the rear.

I throw my line into the water and look around. Sun is about to set and there are no clouds today to cast shadow. There is magic in this moment, in this view…while sun is setting and waves are basking in it’s parting glory…a stillness reigns the air, a transcendence…and amidst all this calm we are obliged to hassle over our lines, winding and unwinding them, fussing over evasive and clever fish who are smart enough to devour the bait and let the hook dangle alone.

I am abhorring it all, I’m abhorring to hold on to the line because at this very moment, I just want to be…

I just want to be in this very moment, apart from the rest… a part of the nature…to inhale it… preserve it all to cherish it later… to cherish it later while sitting on the golden sands of red sand dunes, getting crimson with the last rays of sun…at that moment when my feet will be sinking in the …at that moment when my feet will be sinking in the warm sands of Riyadh, I want to remember this moment where breeze is unfurling our hair but letting the clouds be… letting them loom over us like a delicious canopy of white cotton candy!

Sun is setting and there are hues which captivate the sight and melt the heart! Crimson tones blending seamlessly and in this perfect ombre, a stark orange tinge appears, and your heart miss a beat!