Turtles

Fall of 1987 - Mandvi-Kutch, Gujarat India Turtles would come and lay eggs on the beaches of Mandvi. I was seven years old. Every night with a big tide, my parents and I would go to the beach, walk towards the parts where the turtles came, and wait. Local fishermen used to steal these eggs -- they were told to be good for joint pain. They found these eggs by following the tracks left by the turtles. We had tried covering up the tracks but the fishermen's dogs still found the nests. So we simulated turtle nests on our rooftop, brought the eggs home and on the schedule of the tides, splashed them with sea water. Weeks later every egg hatched. We rushed back to the sea in my father's jeep, let the baby turtles lose and saw them swim away to the sea. As years went by cargo trade grew, industries came in and turtles stopped coming. Twenty five years later, swimming in Barbados, I saw a turtle swimming in the distance. Minutes later, catamarans showed up, tourists (like me) jumped out. Food was thrown in the water and more turtles showed up. I turned back but I didn't want to.