Thanks to my transferable job, I get to see news places every other month. My friends say I live a nomadic life, I have no address. Well, they are right!
The latest city on my list was Chennai. Thankfully I had quite a few friends there. Last weekend they took me to “The Marina beach”. Wait, don’t confuse it with the marine drive in Mumbai because it is nothing like that. However, this extremely crowded beach has its own charm that I discovered that as the evening worn on.
We got down at the bus stop, me and my friend, and the first thing we saw was a huge Mahatma Gandhi statue. It was nicely sculpted with a determined face, a walking stick in his hand, he seemed to be ready to conquer world. As we walked down the street, I observed that the entire beach front was lined up with statues of historical figures like Kamaraj, Subash Chandra Bose, Thandi Periyar and others who had one or the other kind of fascination with the state. The place apparently tops the tourism charts due to those sculptures.
It gives an impression that these great personalities protect the landmass from the wrath of sea. On all the four sides of pedestal that held the statue, scribbled in Tamil were their name, details and their contribution to the state’s culture. Their firm faces and fearsome stance were pretty influencing.
The footpath looked authentic with the concrete spheres laid alongside. As we entered the beach, there was infinite expanse of sand meeting the sea at some indefinite joint. The beach smelled of fish, prawns, crabs being cooked in excessive oil with lots of spices. The corn vendor was constantly blowing his stove to prepare the corn cobs, making the fire sparks look like fire flies chasing each other.
There were vendors selling ornaments made out of shells, conches, stones. However, the main piece of attraction was a huge oval mirror decorated with shells of various colors and shapes. I bought some jewellery for myself. They are expensive but totally worth it….