Syam, Pavan and Naresh had just returned from a school tour Goa. They lived in the same neighborhood and their families were on friendly terms. Everybody has got together at Naresh’s house. The three friends were eager to relate their experience to their parents. Their parents were equality keen to hear all about the trip.

Syam, Pavan and Naresh all shouted together, `let me tell you first.’

`Now’ said Mr. Anand, Pavan’s father `One at a time, please. Naresh, you start first.’

Naresh- it was the most exciting time of my life! I had never seen so much water before.

Syam- what interested us that the most were the beaches of Goa. From the beach, the sea stretched as far as the eye could see. Far away, at the end one could see the sky meeting the earth.

Pavan: - that is the horizon.

Naresh- the golden sands of the beaches were wonderful. We’d lie down on the warm sand and almost drift off to sleep. Then suddenly we’d find the water coming up to our toes!

Syam- we had read about the ebb and flow of the tide, but seeing it was quite something. We could actually see the water slowly creeping up the beach. And, at low tide we could see it receding backwards.

Pavan- I have started a collection of sea –shells. I did not know there were so many different kinds. So far I have many fans –shaped shells, a few cowries’ shells, but only one conch shell. I don’t know the names of quite a few of the shells have collected. I will go to the library and try too finding out.

Naresh- if you put a conch shell to your ear, you can hear the sound of the sea.

Pavan- actually, you can hear the same sound if you put an empty teacup to your ear!

Naresh- we found crabs on the rocks. They cling to your toes and it’s very difficult to throw them off. We also found some starfish and jellyfish on the beach. I wanted to see a sea-horse, but I could not find any.

Syam- we swam in the sea everyday. At first, the waves rushing at us scared me. But when I got used to the rhythm, it was very enjoyable.

Pavan- there was people doing wind –surfing and water –skiing, but our teachers would not allow us to try out these water sports.

Naresh- what we enjoyed most was building sand –castles. We had carried spades and pails with us. We used these to build our castles. We decorated them with sea shells. If you dig a hole in the sand you suddenly find a pool of water!

Pavan: - that gave us the idea of building a moat around the castle. But then we needed a drawbridge. We didn’t know what to do.

Syam- Naresh does come up with bright ideas once in a while. She used an empty biscuit packet to make the bridge.

Naresh- before leaving the beach everyday, our teachers made it a point to see that we cleared away all our trash. They pointed out that we wouldn’t enjoy visiting the beach if we found it littered with debris. So they made us pick up everything before we left.

Syam- we even had pick up trash left by others. That was most unfair!

Mr. Anand- these beaches are our heritage. I am happy to see that you such good teachers, who make you aware of your duties as citizens.