Beach life in-between land and courage

For a city person, beach is a photo for Instagram.

For a coastal person, beach is life, food, and God.

This is not just about Honnavar. This is about Karwar, Kumta, Bhatkal, Mangalore, Udupi, Malpe, Goa, Kerala, and every coast where the Arabian Sea touches India.

5 AM - When the Beach Wakes Up Before You

From Kasarkod to Kanyakumari, the story is same.

The first footprint on the sand is not yours. It's a fisherman's. In Honnavar it's a Kharvi. In Malpe it's a Mogaveera. In Kerala it's a Dheevara. Different names, same bare feet.

He has already pulled his boat ashore before your alarm rings. His wife has already taken the fish to the market in a basket on her head. The sea has already given and taken.

You come to beach with slippers and sunglasses. He comes barefoot, because beach is his temple.

What is a Beach Actually?

Beach is not sand and water. Beach is a border. Where land ends and courage begins.

- For a fisherman: Beach is his office, his highway, his parking lot.

- For a child in any coastal village: Beach is a playground no money can build.

- For an old mother waiting at home: Beach is tension. Will her son return?

- For you and me: Beach is where our stress ends. You shout, no one judges. You sit silent, no one disturbs.

Every beach is different but the pain is same

Kasarkod has silence. Malpe has lights. Goa has music. Marina has crowd. Kovalam has tourists.

But every beach is crying for the same reason - PLASTIC.

Karwar fisherman says same as Honnavar fisherman - Bale alli meenigu kinta plastic jasti.

Mangalore fisherman says - Net alli plastic.

Goa fisherman says - Same, plastic is more than fish.

One beach is dirty, whole Arabian Sea becomes dirty because sea has no compound wall. Plastic thrown in Mumbai reaches Honnavar. Plastic thrown in Honnavar reaches Kerala.

The beach is tired all over India

One chocolate wrapper you throw in Bhatkal - it takes 5 years to go and kills a turtle in Kasarkod.

One beer bottle you break in Udupi - a fisherman's son in Kumta bleeds while walking barefoot.

One plastic cover you leave in Goa - a dolphin in Karwar thinks it's jellyfish and dies.

We come to beach to clean our mind, but we leave the beach dirty. From Gujarat to Kerala, same mistake.

A Small Request - For ALL Coastal Beaches

Next time you go to ANY beach - whether it's Honnavar Eco Beach or Om Beach or Malpe or Kovalam:

1. Sit for 10 minutes without phone. Just listen to waves. The waves are same everywhere.

2. Take 3 pieces of plastic back that are not yours. If 1000 people do it, beach will be clean in one day.

3. Don't write your name on sand. Sea will erase it anyway. Keep the beach clean - people will remember you.

Last Line:

From Honnavar to whole India - Beach doesn't need us. We need beach.

Beach was here before you were born. It will be here after you are gone.

If we don't protect it today, our children will only see beach in photos.

Nanna Plastic, Nanna Javabdari - My Plastic, My Responsibility.

Apeksha R. Tandel