Page 271 - Kolaj Sharodiya Review Edition

With a rough plan for the next day, I headed back to the hotel, which was endowed with a large balcony, to stare at the changing colour of both the sky
and the sea from grey to black, with an occasional glint of white. As the night fell, all that I could hear was the sound of the wave song. And believe me,
there is no other sound which is as riveting!
The high point about spending a couple of days on the eastern coast, is the possibility of catching a gorgeous sunrise. Over the years, however, I have
realized that sunrises aren’t as easy to catch, the general cloud cover always plays a spoilsport. There have been times, when I have been able to spot the
sun almost an hour late. This time however, wasn’t as challenging. The beach was quieter at dawn, with not more than 10-12 people around on the beach. I
found a quiet area for myself and watched the waves break on onto the sand, a continuous never-ending process, but anything but monotonous. The sea
has always brought in a sense of calm for me, as opposed to the mountains, where I always look for some activity. I have attributed this calm to the
constant state of motion that is around us when one is next to the sea. The constant ebb and flow of the waves, has the opposite effect on the mind, it is a
strange sense of calm. And perhaps this is the calm that I look forward to on every birthday. I plan the day out as per my wishes, and do things that
fascinate me. I think self-preservation and self-love are very important ideas, in this world where living everyday is a struggle. It is imperative to give one’s self
the attention that one gives others. Like the preceding years, I wanted to spend the day walking around the town, visit museums, etc. I hoped to find a tiny
café somewhere, where I could spend an hour or so reading, I had carried Howard Jacobson’s The Finkler Question along with me. It was a Sunday, which
meant that the churches were organising the Sunday service.

Tranquebar has two major churches, the Zion Church was set up in 1701, and is the oldest protestant church in India. The New Jerusalem Church was
constructed in 1718. The Zion Church was established by Rev. Bartholomaus Zieganbalg (a Lutheran), who was sent by Fredric IV. I discovered more about
Zieganbalg only in the afternoon, though and will therefore come back to that section in a bit.
I didn’t want to walk into an ongoing service to hung around outside the churches for a while, observing the numerous tombstones around. Most of them
dated back to the eighteenth century, Danes who had come in as part of the colonial venture, and had died on a land scores of miles away from their
‘homeland’. I did also spot the tombstone of Bartholomaus Zieganlbalg. Tranquebar is like a grandmother’s old jewellery box. Intricately designed and
ornate on the outside but, nonetheless slightly worn out; opened sparingly, but filled with pieces which can tell you multiple stories. Tranquebar is dotted with
colonial buildings throughout, some of them newly revamped and restored, under the developmental project that INTACH Pondicherry and the ASI have
taken up. However, there isn’t too much information that is available on these buildings, just like pieces of jewelry who have lost meanings, because their
wearers might have been long lost/dead. Dotted with buildings which high ceilings and columns, antique doors and windows, one feels this is a
walk-through history which isn’t known. The cobbled streets add to the colonial charm. One of the structures that actually makes sense amidst all these is the
Town Gateway built in 1792.