A Very Beachy Affair This...

Every one, without exception, always has someplace where they find Peace. The place can vary, and so can the kind of peace that they are looking for. For the menfolk(I love commenting on them), it could be as silly as dropping themselves loosely on a bean bag with a gaming joystick in hand and punching the air out of an animated figure. For me, it has always been the beach.

Life threw me into City(Read this), and City had a beach, a very long one at that. Mind you, City was always piping hot, with tropical weather at its best 9 months out of 12. The other three months were bearable, considering it was winter. So, I always loved the beach at night. City has a beach which i'm going to call Ellie, of course.

Being in City all alone, made me fall in love with Ellie. Normally a very stressed out day at the workplace, would normally end with me calling ThunderBird (one of my best friends who helped me get past City), and zooming off to Ellie. The long paved red walkway for 60-something couples to walk along, after a wholesome dinner was the first thing that struck you as different. Ellie was rather small, but the market, food and entertainment section (often like a fair) was restricted to one stretch of the beach. The other half was for regular thinkers (like me, ahem) and young couples (City had very few of those) to plonk themselves by the water.

Each time I made my way to the sea-side, sand in my shoes, a strong-warm wind blew towards me, and I'd trod carefully, looking for any sharp objects that I'd like to avoid stepping on. Plonking myself on the sand, I always made it a point to look in the direction of the fair. A little giant wheel (oxymoron that) with its rotating lights, carts selling awful chilli bajji's, the little Gas-lights that lit them, and my favorite object of attention - The Balloon Shooting stalls. These stalls normally had a bunch of little children, waiting for a strong gust of wind to blow these balloons off the flimsy cloth wall. Once that happened, they'd tear down chasing behind them, laughing loud, eventually bursting them on their way back.

Then, a long hard look into the sea, which almost always decided to blow some peace my way. Thankfully ThunderBird never asked why I wanted to go. I've thought hard about my transfer, work problems, mended a broken heart, made my will stronger by Ellie. Everything that needed hours of pondering over, would be reserved for a trip to Ellie. This, had to be followed by dinner at Mash and that was a ritual. I'd always look forward to those heavenly plates of hot food. So, decide to walk back to the road, towards mash, tousled hair, salty lips and the smell of the sea.