DARK STRETCH

Another day off from work; another bout of hectic and haphazard planning by the three of us, only to have a slightly unexpected turn. This has been our norm since our UG days, which would have been explicit to the people who know us / those who have read the previous blogs

Three good movies. Three of us. But each of us had seen one of those movies and no one was prepared to watch any of the movies again. Hence we narrowed down the already narrow choices.

We ended up at my friends’ house which was close to our chosen destination that day. Our destination for that day was the hidden lungs of the Chennai city. That place is a totally sylvan enclosure, lying along the course of a water body (one of the most stinking, at present). If the clues have not been enough, the densely vegetated area, by the estuary houses the largest banyan tree, in Asia, I guess.

Though I have walked alone from the main common entrance till the common area, a couple of times, enjoying every moment of the serenity and beauty, I always wanted to go further (lure that the restricted places always exert). I had read that the vegetation was denser and more beautiful; and that the path would end in a beach free from the crowd. In our famous common beaches (Marina and the Elliot’s) we get to see a big human sea and their pollution, before going close to the real sea. I have always longed to see an unpolluted, uncrowded beach, as a live experience. But I had to wait for more than 3 years to get a chance to see that and I got it today.

My friends luxury sedan , shorts( yeah – truly , because those who we met inside were all in the same – more like a dress code- a formal dress would have brought on queries , I guess) and his presence of mind happened to be the pass that day into the restricted area. We had the privilege of walking about 25 minutes up and down the narrow mud/ tar paths winding through the vegetation. Though the upward journey was not frightening, as there was enough light during the early twilight. But the same cannot be said about the return journey. We had spent only ten minutes outside the gate which existed between the little forest (that’s the feeling I got when you walked in the dark) and the beach. We just went a little further close to the point where the estuary met the sea- but there was nothing dramatic, except that you don’t get to see that very often. It was a little late for us to walk into the sand as it was getting darker; I was more worried about walking through the path back in the near dark. Twilight had passed and it was quite dark even at quarter past six on that humid evening. We had to rush our paces on the way back, searching for the little light strewn paths, so that we wouldn’t get harmed by any of the nature’s weapons (reptiles of any kind was possible there!). And we were quite relieved to get back into the car; off we went to the unrestricted Elliot’s beach and walked and talked till we got bored and ran out of things to talk. Now, I really have second thoughts about whether secluded beaches are any good as the common crowded beaches. May be it’s because, we wrongly chose a humid, cloudy day to go to the place I longed to see for a long time ; probably I need to go there on a fine evening to ascertain that !!