Next morning, Pluto and I went for a walk. At 6 am in the morning, there was quite a crowd on the beach, all of them in a mistaken hope that the early morning breeze would clean out their pollution laded lungs. As usual, overcome by the surroundings, most of the pot bellied Bengalis and Marwaris did a few hop,skip and jumps also. Pluto looked up astonished, pausing in his permanent pursuit of interesting smells. A watery sun, previously obscured by the morning haze , suddenly spread a swathe of golden ripples across the sea, enough to cause a local fishseller to look up away from her customers, and the religious minded to dip their feet in the cold foam of the incessant waves and fold their hands in silent prayers.
We all then decided to explore the Mohana, where the tributaries flow into the sea. This part of the beach is quite deserted except for the fishermen. One end of their long blue nets are taken far out to sea by the boats, while the other end stays on the land. This net is slowly then dragged in and the fishes are beaten into the net by the men who thrash the water and shout and splash vigorously. It's hard backbreaking effort and requires coordinated strength.
The fishermen start working from sunrise and continue till sundown, day after day, bringing their lunchboxes to the beach every day.....
Meanwhile the tourists are warming up, as the new rides and riders get ready....
Large crowds gather to see the catches which are increasing hour by hour.
Mainly mackerel, sardines, pomfrets, bholabhetki are caught and specially sold at Rs. 20--Rs 50/Kg.
Our appetites are whetted!!!!!
In the next post ,I will detail our Konarak excusion.
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