Nostalgia : Incident on the Beach
The incident happened on Parangtritis Beach (Central Java, Indonesia). I’m a first year student in Lower Secondary School at that time. In Indonesia, there are still some people that believe in myths. Parangtritis is one of south beaches. There’s a legend told that south beaches in Java Island are the authority area of Nyi Roro Kidul, a sea queen in ‘other’ world.
Since the queen loves green; there’s a rule for south beach visitors: “Don’t wear green clothes. We can’t guarantee your safety on the beach”. There’s a rumor that some visitors that disobey this rule were drowned while they were swimming and the body can’t be found. Local people said that they were taken by the queen and then they were become workers in her ‘under the sea’ palace.
That day, I wore dark brown t-shirt and my Mother wore green dress. But the one that fell on the beach was me! We were playing with wave until the sea water touched my knees. It was so fun at first. But later, the wave became stronger and stronger; I can’t help to stand still. I fell and the wave was like pulling me toward the sea. I screamed loudly; asking for help.
I remembered that I was pushed forward by waves. My Mother was my hero, she can grab me quickly. You can see in the second photo; we’re hugging after she saved me. My body was totally wet and the sand was over my body too. Some sand was in my mouth! A scary experience. My father captured this moment.