I distinctly remember walking on an empty stretch of beach in Goa a few years ago. The setting sun had streaked the sky in pastel shades of orange, red and pink. The soft glow of the evening light, dispersed by the stratocumulus clouds, reflected on the waves of the Arabian Sea. On the other side of the beach, a reddish-yellow full moon was rising.

Normally I would have taken some photos to immortalize the moment, and noted down the words rising through my body like the tides rising up in the...