‘A Asailor went to see sea sea
To see what he could see see
But all that he could see, see, see,
Was the deep blue Sea .Sea .Sea.’
Yes , sea seems only a vast span of water to bare eyes.
But there is lot more to its seamless depth than what meets our eyes, ask a marine, a scientist, a mystic, a poet,a painter, philosopher, even an ordinary sea lover visiting or having or strolling its shores!
Not only its beauty and mystery has fascinated us, explorers and pirates, both have returned to sea again and again to fathom it out .
The sea seems infinite and timeless !
Perhaps the most astonishing thing upon entering the ocean is; that it is not just a place filled with rocks and water only. It is like a soup, a special kind of minestrone, where the bits and pieces are alive and wandering! These “Living fossils” are everywhere. Nearly all of the thirty-three major divisions of animals and a dozen broad categories of plants and other organisms that have existed for hundreds of millions of years are at least partially represented there; only about half of them are terrestrial.
In our long relationship with sea we have only surfed and cruised on its waves. Earth’s oceans still remain largely unexplored. We have barely begun to imagine the energy potential of harnessing the waves, the healing powers of marine bacteria or the sustainable possibility of feeding the world’s hungry through algae. Really a wonderful food bowl with its fishes, crabs, oysters etc.Sea is a treasure trove and valuable sustaining resource. Apart from sustaining earth, the ocean’s greatest gift may well be the Earth’s history captured in so many forms – from the remains of a shipwreck to the yearly bands of a coral reef.
We barely remember the infinite good it does to our world. Role of the ocean in shaping climate and weather is big. Water evaporates from the sea’s surface and forms clouds that yield fresh water back to the land – and sea. About 97 per cent of Earth’s water is sea water, and of the remaining only 3 per cent other, out of which 97 per cent is frozen as polar ice and snow. Water, of course, is vital for life. There may be water without life, but nowhere, even in the most arid deserts and driest valleys , there is life without water.
In this issue of Lekhni we have focused on sea from a writers point of view, have tried to see the world in a grain of sand.
Hope you will enjoy reading . A feedback from our readers will be much appreciated.
Next issue of Lekhni is on classic Indian epic Mahabharat . Quite a few writers and poets have pondered on it, both from east and west. If you want to have your say on the subject, get busy in writing. Last day for submission is 10’th July and issue will be out in first week of August.
-Shail Agrawal.
