The Beach

The Besant Nagar beach at Chennai is a walker's dream come true! The brilliant stretch of sand scattered with people and trash is a visual experience for some and an eye sore for most... Our opinions were just about even...

P.C, Ann, Reema, Maria and Myself took a mad bus ride to the beach.... The bus started out empty but just when we thought all was well, a SEA of people burst in from seemingly nowhere and the bus was sagging under the weight of the idiotic bums who were hanging out of the door despite the conductor's repeated warnings.... We finally reached the besant nagar bus stop and walked to the beach.... A smell of warm idlis and hot sambar reached our noses.. We, however, were on a very tight budget... so...... we just walked past! *sighs*

The beach, spelt B-E-A-C-H, is a vast expanse of sand that is bordered by water enough to fill a sea... Quite often, the water is filled with an equal capacity of human urine... So if you happen to visit the beach, do be careful not to drink or accidentally swallow any water.... :)

The sights of the beach range from hawkers selling everything under the sun from bajjis to balloons, a crowd of kids kicking around a football like there's no tomorrow, LOTS of couples cuddling into each other, Ice cream vendors and an occasional foreigner who's come to "take in the sights" of the beach, but invariably ends up drawing a lot of attention from curious locals!

We walked right upto the shore and found people in the water, fully clothed.... (Wearing a bikini anywhere in India (except Goa!) attracts a lot of unwanted looks) A bunch of young men in their underwear were having a blast in the water, splashing water on each other, jumping into the foot deep water but coming out seemingly unscathed and going back for more... They pose for photographs while the girls in the group snigger..... Ann, to her dismay, found that she lost her purse on the bus and P.C, my misfortunate friend, sat on a dead octopus/fish/sea animal... We never found out because it was squashed beyond recognition....

We decided to go to this place called "Pupil"... Apparently, they served very good french fries and mayonaise... How Innovative... We go plonk ourselves at a table and ordered a bowl of french fries and five lime juices.. I mentioned that we were on a VERY tight budget... ;)

As we wait for the food to arrive, we test the limits of our insanity... Ann tried to lick her elbows and succeeded at it, proving that she was not human.. Maria used her "burp voice" to great effect to keep people away from us! We engage ourselves in a burp-off and I win! Our food arrived.. Although it wasn't GREAT, it was palatable and we were hungry... So we didnt bother!

We finally decide to leave and take the LONG walk back to the bus terminus... On the way, the girls find vendors selling beads amd earrings... Girls, being girls, spent a lot of unnecessary time there while P.C and myself were left to fend for ourselves! We got into a bus and waited for the driver... Maria and myself sat together, and me, being the show-off that I am, show her my works of art and she was impressed to say the least. We discussed religion! I've never dreamt of doing that!! I finally reached my spot and we bid our goodbyes.. P.C and myself took one of those maniacal contraptions they call share-autos.... Frighteningly rickety and fast, we zipped around town to get back home...

At home, food... Ah..... :-D


I shall post better stuff later... I was bored....

Until then, Peace!