The Beach

The Beach

A near perfect, freshly made round dosa was placed on my plate.

“Take some more chutney” my mother said, pointing at a steel bowl towards my left.

“I changed the wi-fi password” I saw my father across the table, grinning at my uncle “Wisest decision ever!”

Kannan frowned at them.

“And Bala” my grandfather asked “Isn’t he up yet?”

“I woke him up” I replied “But he went back to sleep as soon as he finished having his breakfast”

“Let him” my aunt said “He must be tired after his tenth grade board exams”

“He sleeps almost all the time now” Kannan said.

“Eat more” my grandmother said to my cousins.

The little girl and boy of seven and five smiled at her.

“ They’ve been here for almost a week and we have not done anything worthwhile !”my mother complained.

“What do you mean?” my father asked.

“The kids must be bored of sitting in the house and watching T.V all day”

“And video games!” Kannan exclaimed “Yesterday I taught them how to play some games from my collection!”

“I meant, we could go out somewhere together for a change!” my mother exclaimed “And breathe in some good fresh air!”

“Okay then, make up your mind on where we should go” my father said

“That boy’s still asleep! Ammu, go and wake him up!”

Kannan whispered something in Ammu’s ear with a sly grin.

“Huh?”

“Oh, come here! Tell him as I told you”

“We’ll go to a mall then” I suggested

“We go there pretty often”

“Then maybe a restaurant or a park…”

“The beach!” Appu exclaimed. I remembered reading out a story to him set in a beach.

My father seemed to like the idea. Kannan and I sighed.

“Is it true?” Bala walked to us, his eyes still narrowing with sleep though sounding bewildered “Are the results out?”

“Of the elections, of course!” Kannan guffawed “Two months back!”

“Oh then!” Bala rolled his eyes, least bothered about his brother’s joke “Since my results haven’t come, I’ll go back to sleep”

“No!” my father shouted “Go play with your cousins”

“Play what?”

“Hide and go seek… tomato…potato…whatever!- Just go out and play!”

“Okay children !” Bala spoke in a drowsy tone “Let’s play!”

The giggling siblings followed him.

“Are you both done eating?” my mother asked us.

“Yup”

“Then go to your rooms and study!”

I got up, but Kannan kept sitting

“I’ll have one more dosa”

*-----------------------------------------*

“I can’t believe I haven’t finished it yet” I exclaimed “I’ve been on this chapter for hours!”

“You would have finished had you not dozed off in between” Kannan said.

“You could have woken me up!” I decided to go back to my studies.

Kannan looked at his cellphone in desperation.

“Who do you keep chatting with all day?” I asked him

“It’s a group chat” he replied “Our batch in college has created a ‘whatsapp’ group. We chat, exchange study material, post photos and memes”

“Memes? You guys know how to make them?”

“Make them! Yeah, pretty often!”

“Can you show me some?”

“Why not?” Kannan picked up his cell phone.

But before we could proceed, our mother came to our room. We quickly hid the phone under our books.

“Get ready! It’s time to go to the beach”

*-------------------------------------*

“Comb your hair properly!” my mother shouted at me “Even Bala looks more presentable today!”

I looked at my fifteen year old younger brother, munching banana chips and chuckling at a cartoon playing on our television even my little cousins were bored of. He had already wrinkled his shirt our mother had neatly ironed for him.

“That’s enough, toddler!” Kannan snatched the remote from him and switched the channel to one that played English songs. Then he plugged on his earphones.

“You’re not watching it anyway! Keep the channel back!”

“Can’t you see? I’m multitasking!”

My mother pulled my hair with a sharp jerk.

“OUCH! It hurts!”

“Now it’s better!” my mother said, proudly “Needed more oil though”

“Since everybody’s ready now, let’s go!” my uncle said.

Within no time, we eagerly jumped into the car.

*---------------------------------*

It took almost an hour for us to reach the beach. It would have taken only ten minutes, had it not been for the traffic jam. The search for a spot to park the car was tiresome, and we blamed it on the holiday. The beach was claustrophobic, and voices of people chatting, laughing loud, the vendors selling toys, the sound of the seagulls and youth splashing water and shouting in mirth made it really noisy.

The view was still strangely satisfying. Bottled and preserved slices of fruit sold well by the vendors, children playing with glowing toys and kites. The seagulls glided very close to the water in flocks.

The most mystifying of all was the golden glow of the sea and the orange spot in the pink sky. The moon had a pale presence in the deeper blue part of the sky.

My grandparents sat on a rocky area and Bala accompanied them. The kids collected shells and chased waves as the elders watched over them. They came to me and showed me their collection.

“This one is my favourite!” Ammu pointed at a large, twisted, butter coloured shell.

“Keep them safe” I told her, wishing that I had done the same when I was younger. Our previous trip to the beach remained fresh in our memories.

“It’s just plain physics, but this palette is still considered as a sight of wonder!” I heard Kannan’s voice.

“It was always here, but still, we do not get to see this often” I said “Have you seen anything else like this?”

“The ceiling of our hostel rooms were always the colour of sour cream” he replied.

“Do you remember the time we bought kites here when we were kids? We did not know how to fly them properly then”

“They are still in the storeroom of our ancestral home”

We smiled at each other. I closed my eyes. Then, I thought of nothing, Like my mind was completely blank. Nothing from the past, no worries of the future. I was there, intoxicated by the smell of the sea, not noticing the salty, muddy water wetting the tip of my jeans.

“We’re flying kites! Come join us!” Bala called us.

We still did not know how to fly kites properly. But we managed to fly the big red one out of them. The scarlet quadrangle fluttered in the breeze like a big butterfly. Then we cut the string. It flew far away to freedom, to the seeming infinity of nature’s bliss.