By the Beach...

Sanju boy used to think me INSANE for even making an innocent suggestion of going to the beach in the afternoon! “Are you crazy, its so F***in hot”, he’d say!! But yeah, today was one of those not-so-sunny days, and I happened to be with Nish! We were like on the beach road, trying to get ourselves registered for a music competition in AIR.. The beach was way too inviting for us to have let go! I parked my bike and we quickly trod our way to the waters, leaving our footprints in the sands…

Marina beach was oh so dirty today. Not like it has ever been clean! But still! Nish and I mocked our “eco friendly” world, as we sat down and realized we had no living soul other than the crabs, a couple of love birds and some urchins scattered here and there…

Felt so different… To recline amidst such a serene setting! I was amused by the number of crabs that I saw! I was scaaaaaaaaared of them! And Nish and I actually had a crab – talk hehe… From like sizes and colors they can take, to why people EAT those creatures! :)

We sat there for a long long time… Just talking around.. We spoke about “men” – our eternal favorite topic to jabber about! Just then this little sundal boy came by! We were both starved and we couldn’t find food around at the beach at like 3pm! No bajji’s, no butta! And this little child came and said “Akka akka, sundal vaangikongakka!” I must admit I have this fetish for these sundal kids, little flower girls…. I tasted sundal, made sure it was hot! And we bought two moonu-rooba sundals! :D We kicked up a conversation with that child…. He’s one of the cutest kids I’ve encountered… When asked as to what he’s studying, “Third to fourth”, he beamed! And we were like “wow”! I asked him, “What do you intend doing in life? You want to become something, or keep selling sundal?” Pat came the answer, “I’m going to be a doctor, someday, I will”. I was dumbstruck. He left me spell-bound for a while.. He gave us the sundal and went skipping off happily to go about his business…

That reminded me of this little flower girl that I came across, in Besi beach… She’s one girl I absolutely fell in love with… I bought two ‘mozhams’ of flowers from her, instantly! She stole my heart by saying, “Sister, can you buy my flowers?”, (yes in english!) with a sparkle in her eyes that gave away her innocence.. She didn’t beg me to buy her flowers.. She had that self-respect in her and that aura of charm… I still cant forget her face… I was so carried away, I actually told Vinaya (who was with me then), “If only I could adopt her, I would”… I kept turning back to look at her, as I walked my way out of the beach.. And that little girl waved and smiled her best smile, everytime I turned back to see her….. I’m always on the look-out for her, when I go back to besi beach… I’ve never found her again………………

I pondered… how fortunate we are, to actually have a house to live in, lovely parents, friends and dozens of them who care so much for us…. We don’t have to sell sundal or flowers to make a living… I can never swap places with either of the two kids I mentioned, but I admire them for their innocence, their determination to make it “big”, their sense of responsibility (earning for their family and their education), self-respect and most of all, humility… We needn’t learn our lessons from a Vivekananda or a Mother Teresa… “Small” people can touch our lives in their own special way, like they did, mine……

The waves danced to the rhythm of an unknown force. For a moment or two, I got unified with the waves and felt the oneness… Nisha jumped out excitement everytime we saw an aeroplane high in the sky! Time flew…. And we were awakened by the filthy sights of creepy men doting on us.. That’s when we decided to go to Nisha’s home – I mean, Café Coffee Day! :)
We sauntered our way out of the beach, leaving our footprints behind…….