My
childhood summers were always with
my cousins at Madras. And during those vacation times, apart from the simple
family times we spent at home, outings meant going to relatives house, hotels, temples , bazaar
streets, parks and the beach. While most
of the outings would be in my Thatha’s sturdy Amby MSR 2277 which carried 2
elders and 8 children( some times our maids nieces too would accompany making
it 10 and my elder mama would tease us as “Mazhalai pattalam” ( childrens army) , the beach outing alone would be by walks & cycle rickshaw since thatha never accompanied us.
While
each simple chore and incident of those stolen days of my childhood is worth
recording, right now I will make this a beach
post as today August 22 is a special day.
Beach
as I said was one of our regular play outs. Although beach was walkable from
our grand parents home, the planning would take more than a week because our
elders who accompanied us like mami,
chitti, amma or perimma at home were
busy in the evening. They had to cook meals, go to temple especially if it was
Friday it would be the special archanai at kapali koil, attendng to unexpected
guests( guests were regular and generally most of them came unannounced). So,
till the beach outing came around, we had to be content with catching the beams
of the lighthouse which fell on our terrace at night and enjoying the cool sea
breeze all through the day on the terrace even on hot summer noons.
Finally,
when the time came for the beach outing, we would be suitably dressed in frocks
so that we don’t carry beach sand home and merrily prance on the serpentine
kutcheri road and reach the Santhome beach sometimes stopping to gaze at some of the shops enroute.
Santhome beach was generally an unmaintained beach where the fishing community lived while Marina a few kms away was the fun spot. So we would walk on the sand, our legs
would’nt carry fast on the sand but we
would try to run and catch one another and walk a while till our feet came in
touch with the surfing ocean of Marina. The next half hour or more would be fun
and frolic in the salty air with the
ocean tides… building castles in sand
with tunnels,, ducking our feet from the
crawling crabs, sitting on the waves and drenching ourselves , burying our legs with each approaching wave, collecting shells,
splashing a hand full of water on our cousins, spitting the salty beach water
if ever it got into our mouth, running
away and into the wavy beach , looking out for the beams from the light house. ….all
these till it almost got dark and the final warning came from our elders who
till then were calling out our names like in attendance register inbetween their family talks.
Amidst,
all this we would notice the “Sundal
boy’ – a little boy in a worn out dress
and a metal tin carrying ‘Sundal” and calling out “ Manga Battani sundal”. This is one of the signature street eats of Chennai
beach . Despite our many requests , our elders never got this for whatever
reason and I have never tasted this during my childhood days.
On
our way back home, we would be treated to a Choco-bar or a softy ice cream at
the corner shop of Kutcheri road across the Santhome beach and then with
darkness around, we would hire a cycle rickshaw , huddle into two rickshaw and reach home carrying the
beach sand in our wet dress. The whole pathway from the front door to the
backyard would be scattered with beach sand that fell of the dress and we had to wait turns to get into
the wash room and freshen up.
Such
simple moments that were part of my glorious
childhood that I have spent at Madras are the reasons I love Madras.
Rest of the reaons like “hot weather”, “ sweat”, “ conservative city” etc pales
in front of my childhood memories. Thank you Madras for giving me such fanciful
moments. These will not be forgotten for they are stored in the crevices of my
heart and in such blog posts for eternity. All I need is some solitude and a trigger like your
birthday to bring out such posts.
In the past many years, I have made many short visits to madras but I could never prioritize a beach outing there. Last year, on our way back from Singapore trip, my teens insisted we must visit the Chennai beach and so with just 12 hours at disposal to exit Chennai, we took off some time in the early morning to visit the Marina. It was a different experience this time, I never felt like stepping into the bay, I was sulky about getting wet and the sand sticking to the wet dress. I just sat on the shores and watched the bobbing ships, the waves surf up and down. I was more into observing the joggers the kids playing around, the early morning tea shops and hotels on wheels. I was also on the look out for the “Sundal boy” and realized It was too early for “sundal” since they do brisk business only in the evening.
The elusive ‘Sundal’ which by the way is a medley stir fried
boiled lentils, grated coconut, carrot , finely chopped mangoes sold in paper
cones. . Years later , I did eat this
just once and that 6 sense taste still lingers now ofcourse, I make them at
home….but I still want to experience that Sundal popping them slowly ,gazing at
the azure waters , sitting on the beach of Chennai under the evening sky.. This
is on my “to do” list on a visit to Madras.In the past many years, I have made many short visits to madras but I could never prioritize a beach outing there. Last year, on our way back from Singapore trip, my teens insisted we must visit the Chennai beach and so with just 12 hours at disposal to exit Chennai, we took off some time in the early morning to visit the Marina. It was a different experience this time, I never felt like stepping into the bay, I was sulky about getting wet and the sand sticking to the wet dress. I just sat on the shores and watched the bobbing ships, the waves surf up and down. I was more into observing the joggers the kids playing around, the early morning tea shops and hotels on wheels. I was also on the look out for the “Sundal boy” and realized It was too early for “sundal” since they do brisk business only in the evening.
And as i mentioned before today's beach post is special because only the first city of modern India can boast of the second longest beach - The Marina (after Miami) and somwhere down there on the shores and waves, it holds the foot prints of my childhood.
Happy 376 birthday to you Madras - my birth town and the city that gave loads of lovely memories.
