One afternoon in a weekend!
We drove nearly an hour to reach the Moss Landing State Beach, California. We took our little girl, her beach toys, two beach chairs, a mat to sit and a water bottle. While seeing my child play, a question was traversing my mind.
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I was enjoying the cool breeze, and the infinite blues above and in front. My daughter Chirantana was accumulating sand inside her beach toys in one moment and throwing it all away the next moment.
She was happy and content. It was a contradictory scene from the conspicuous consumerism, (which I feel is a vicious cycle of happiness and unhappiness), that I see all around every moment.
A question once again surfaced in my mind – Do we really need more and more things to be happy?
Children on the Moss Landing State Beach
The answer came that very evening on the Moss Landing Beach, when I saw a beautiful scene in front of me. You must be thinking what was it that answered such a fundamental question? Here is a short video of that scene.
On the seashore
Did you too get the answer now? We need some fresh air and a bit of imagination to be happy. Things can never make us content, experiences can. Isn’t it?
When I was growing up, I read a beautiful poem – On the seashore by Rabindranath Tagore.
Decades have passed since I read the poem, but I still remember it. Let me share it with you all today.
On the seashore of endless worlds children meet.The infinite sky is motionless overhead and the restless water is boisterous.On the seashore of endless worlds the children meet with shouts and dances.

They build their houses with sand, and they play with empty shells.

With withered leaves they weave their boats and smilingly float them on the vast deep.Children have their play on the seashore of worlds.

They know not how to swim, they know not how to cast nets.Pearl-fishers dive for pearls, merchants sail in their ships, while children gather pebbles and scatter them again.They seek not for hidden treasures, they know not how to cast nets.

The sea surges up with laughter, and pale gleams the smile of the sea-beach.Death-dealing waves sing meaningless ballads to the children, even like a mother while rocking her baby’s cradle.The sea plays with children, and pale gleams the smile of the sea-beach.

On the seashore of endless worlds children meet.Tempest roams in the pathless sky, ships are wrecked in the trackless water, death is abroad and children play.On the seashore of endless worlds is the great meeting of children.

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