The clear green water comes alive with orange. Just as I catch up to them, paddling furiously, they break away playfully and change course. I find myself kayaking past it, for the second time in my life, when I set off on a 3,000-km solo kayaking trip from Kutch to Kanyakumari. And it’s tentacles run a Mexican Wave. And Orange.The beauty of our own backyard is often lost on us. I dip my hand in the water when the plastic pumps.So, when my kayak draws up next to a flat orange piece of plastic, I decide to pick it up. And the orange jellyfish that I was going to pull out with my bare hand drifts away majestically. All it needs is for you to think of them. However, one always wants to preserve it. Then when I am clear of the near and present, I laugh. One lone wolf consecutively dives out in glee. I know this land like the back of my hand.The waters of Maharashtra are blue.I barely snap my hand back as the water around me changes. I paddle hard and fast out. I turn around and kayak back. He recently kayaked the 3,000km west coast of India solo). My kayak is swarmed with jellyfish. Being on the water everyday for 7-9 hours, paddling in the harsh sun, doesn’t allow for too many detours. They’re Green.(Kaustubh Khade is an IITian, Asian Silver Medalist in kayaking & a Limca Book Record holder. But when I am 4 km out of the port of Ratnagiri, I am optimistic and feel I can make a difference. Often, I’m too dehydrated or out of the way to pick it up. I get the GoPro out and take a moment to be with my new found friends. My paranoid mind tells me they are here to window shop for their lunch. Grey.

It is the enemy and no one knows this better than someone who’s seen it strewn all along our coastline. Surely not coastal Maharashtra or Malwan. And I have 47 more to go. I’ve China cosmetic packaging Factory carved up my first state of Gujarat. It’s day 36. Plastic.The next day, I chase a pod of dolphins surfacing together, forming lines of breaking spray just 3 metres ahead of me. I laugh and maintain mine.When we think of beach destinations or possible tropical paradises, we think Maldives or Greece

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