The Sands of the SeaShoore..

Today evening, I met my friend Paru after some 2 years. The last I saw her was before I left for singapore. And then she left to the US when i was back in India, and finally all the planets found it appropriate to allow me her darshan today evening..

But the blog is about what happened before the meeting. Waiting for her, back to the sun, at besant nagar beach, I was silently typing smses, when a sight so delightfully reminded me of those days gone by..

Four small boys (average age around 10)(and lets call them A,B,C,D), armed with a bat and a tennis ball, dived into the soft sand, and went berserk. With loud cries of the now famous 'lakalakalakalaka', the chubbiest of the guys, say A, forgot the rest of the world and threw the ball as high as he could up into the spotless evening sky. He only looked chubby i guess, coz the ball hardly went some 2 stories high before it was dutifully dropped by a diving wannabe, say C.
Resting the bat for a mo, these kids started playing 'catch-catch' and then one of them (D) inevitably threw the ball to the other group, ball landing way short of the waiting duo(A,B). Angered by the apparent violation and for arrogantly snatching away an unfair point, B picked the ball up and threw it straight back into the sand, and ceremoniously called 'One All !!'. This now piqued the ire of the opponents (C,D), but they were the ahimsa cult i guess, for they repentantly retorted with a 'Ok daa.. Re-throw'.. I couldnt help laughing to myself.. those days... When the game resumed in all fairness, loud laughter followed by a lakalakalakalaka was the highlight, every time someone dropped a sitter. Notable was how C dropped the easiest of catches and then proceeded to vent his frustration on the ball, throwing the ball way beyond the AB team, ball finally hitting a small child who fell on the sand with the force of the impact. Next moment, these 4 guys are at her side, and yelling at C for his carelessness. It simply was oh-so-good.

When ABCD dispersed, still no sign of Paru... I looked around, and there was this small boy, rubber ball in hand, gazing out into the distance, quite obviously waiting for someone. And thanks to all that lakalakalaka-ing, I was so much in the mood.
'nee velaiyaadaliyaa'
'varuvaanga'
'namma aaduvomaa catch-catch'
'mmm'
And jump into the sand i did! Sheer joy for the next 10 mins. And i had an audience too, thanks to my powerful throwing arm which sent the ball quite a way into the sky, even eclipsing the evening sun for a fraction.. A tired ABCD now had someone to 'look up to', and craned their necks and cheered everytime i sent the ball soaring. Thanks to the strong breeze, 'my' kid dropped most of the catches, but the enthu was so nostalgic and sublime..
(As a last-ditch attempt to convince Paru that i was not the same hawai chappal - mukkaal pant - muppadhu rooba shirt Girish that she knew me as back in undergrad, I had worn a decent full sleeved shirt, neatly tucked in to a new newport jeans, belt et al.. )
But now, ball in hand and kid in sight, nothing doing.
Sleeves rolled up, Shirt let loose, pant folded up, forget the rest of the world, and fly...
And when paru eventually shone on the shore and we went to planet yum, she drank some tropical delight-or-whatever drink, while i scanned the entire list to order Assam Tea.. Thanks to Baristas, one of my all time fave drinks that. Yeh jo des hai mera..

Anywhere in the world, anybody(TRS style), the sight of schoolkids running riot on chennai beaches, is yet another definitions of the phrase 'true joy'.
Life is Good...