Places impact you for a variety of reasons. And the same place impacts different people in different ways. This is especially true when it comes to spiritual experiences, where every single person’s experience is unique. And personally, every spiritual experience is unique, the same person can have different deeply spiritual experiences at different places, at different times. This thought has emerged because of my own experiences over the years, but especially so this year, with different and unique experiences at various places I have visited recently. I began this year with a visit to Baroda (Vadodara) with friends. It was meant to be a relaxed trip, a touristy trip, with our sons. We enjoyed ourselves to the hilt, but the highlight of that trip was a visit to the Lakulisha temple at Pavagadh. It was the iconography of the temple that I connected with, and I spent a few hours simply lost in the details of the figures carved around the temple. There was an indefinable connect with
Walking on
the sands of Cherai Beach in the rain, our attention was captured by what
appeared, at first sight, to be a ripple on the sand. A closer look revealed a
tiny crab scuttling into its hole. Can you spot the crab in this photograph?
Here, take
a closer look…
These crabs
are called ‘Ghost Crabs’, because of the apparent ‘invisibility’ their
camouflage offers. We saw lots of them over the next couple of days, both small
and big…
But were
especially fascinated by these huge ones…
They stayed
at the edge of the water, waiting for the waves to flow over them, yet
retaining their hold on the sand and staying in their place long after the
waves had retreated.
Can you see the crab in the water? |
Their behavior
was intriguing, and it was only after we returned that we learnt that these
crabs are only partially amphibious, and breathe through gills moistened with
sea water, though they cannot stay underwater for long. Therefore, they stay
near the shore and regularly venture into the sea to wet their gills, taking
care to stay well inland to retain their hold on land!
These crabs
significantly brightened up the monsoon evening on the beach at Cherai! It only
reiterates the fact that nature always has interesting to things to show us.
All we need are the eyes to see them!
Those are some beautiful pictures... what a beautiful creature ..
ReplyDeleteBikram
Thank you, Bikram! It is indeed beautiful, isnt it?
DeleteNice pictures, thanks for sharing
ReplyDeleteThank you, Empty Rucksack!
DeleteNice pictures, thanks for sharing
ReplyDeleteAwesome post of ghost crab thanks for sharing with us.
ReplyDeleteWild Wacky
THank youm, Neetu
DeleteGreat photos! I like how the crab has this great camouflage. You just can't even see it!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Marcia! The camouflage is really amazing!
DeleteHey thanks for sharing this information.
ReplyDeleteyou are welcome.
Delete