It was yet another Saturday evening. Li’l Alice was on
her way to the beach, as usual, with her elder sister Rachel, on Rachel’s
bicycle. Today, however, seemed different. Rachel was in a better mood than
usual and Alice felt quite happy. While parking the bicycle they
noticed a small group of people gathering under the old tree. Probably a
meeting. “Come let’s go…” said Alice to Rachel tugging at her
shirt. Alice was impatient to get to the beach. “Wait, let’s
listen to what they are going to discuss” replied Rachel in a curious tone.
Rachel always liked to listen to such talks. “It broadens one’s mind” she used
to tell Alice, although she knew her li’l sister wouldn’t understand what
exactly she’s trying to say. Alice didn’t mind as long as it made
sense to her and luckily, this time it did. At least some part of it.
The chief guest
was a man named Tenzin Tsundue, from a place called Tibet. “I need to
find it on the small globe that Amma bought me for the school project”
thought Alice. Tenzin looked different from the rest of the crowd. The way
he was dressed and the way he spoke was different. But Alice liked
him, especially how his red headband shone bright on his forehead. He had taken
an oath to wear it till his country gained freedom.
Alice and
Rachel stood there spellbound listening to him. He spoke about his country far
far away, up in the mountains, its fresh water lakes, its yaks and about nine
months of winter. He also spoke of how his people and their leader were forced
to come to India because a red country had taken over their land. Rachel
was quite impressed and proud of the fact that she stopped to listen. Alice,
on the other hand, was still observing Tenzin, his red headband (a little
different from the red elastic hair band she wears at school), his attire and
the prayer beads around the neck which reminded her of the Rosary. When Tenzin
looked in their direction she waved at him and he waved back. They smiled at
each other. She was happy. She felt that he was a kind man.
Alice was no
longer patient to listen to rest of the discussion. She dragged Rachel to the
beach. It seemed odd. Every week the beach looked different. Lately water has
been rising and taking over the seaboard. It was a thin strip of shore now.
Soon it will reach the huge black rocks laid along the walkway which extended
to the two ends of the beach.
“I feel the
beach has grown smaller” complained Alice.
“This isn’t
surprising,” said Rachel in a matter of fact tone, “didn’t you hear what the
climate critics said on T.V. Alice? It’s global warming. The ice in
Antarctica is melting. So the water is rising. Very soon the queen will drown.
We will lose our land.”
Rachel was
brimming with confidence regarding the information she just shared. Rachel
always acted like she knew everything under the sun. ‘Miss Know
All’. Alice hated that. Being eight years older doesn’t mean
she should know everything in this world. She felt a deep sadness within her.
Her eyes started to well up.
“Where would I
go to play if the beach didn’t exist? Where will ‘we’ go if our land is
taken over by the sea?” She felt angry and sad. “I wish T.V. didn’t exist. I
wish climate critics and global warming didn’t exist” she told Rachel in
exasperation while tears rolled down her cheek.
When Rachel got
up to pacify Alice someone from behind said, “I have a proposal”.
They turned around to see who it was. It was Mr. Tenzin Tsundue, the kind man
with the red head band. Apparently, he had noticed them during his talk and
while taking a walk along the beach, after the discussion, had overheard the
sisters’ conversation.
“You know,
Tibet is more than 4000 metres higher than sea level…” he said, kneeling on the
sand.
“Mmm…”
replied Alice and Rachel in unison, recalling the information they
had heard earlier.
“If I
promise you that I will give you a place to stay, in case your land is
taken by the sea or floods, will you both help me in my fight for my nation’s
cause?” asked Tenzin.
Both Rachel
and Alice stood silently thinking and then said Alice, “I don’t
know how to live in the mountains. From what I understand, life is different
there. I don’t want to leave my home, my beach… But we will help you.” She
looked at Rachel for approval.
Rachel nodded
in agreement. Tenzin smiled at them and shook hands with both Rachel and Alice thanking
them. The sisters bombarded Tenzin with a lot of questions. After a while it
felt like they've known each other for a long time. They decided to sit there, eat
peanuts and watch the waves swell and crash while the sun descended into the
sea. The Chinese nets dipped with the expectation of a huge catch. On the
walkway a group of men marched with red flags shouting slogans “communism
zindabad*, janathipathyam** zindabad, socialism zindabad!”
*Long live
**Democracy
