Friday, February 6, 2009

MAHE

It was a Thursday evening, we [me and my wife] had worked very hard this week and the weekend seemed far away. Weekend for us starts at 8 pm on Saturday and is over by 6am on Monday. We were stressed and I was insisting on a break from this hectic schedule for a long time. She looked at me and told me lets pack our bags and leave.
We did not know where to go, she called a travel agent and he suggested to us that Pondicherry is a good getaway. He offered to arrange for the travel and stay. He told us to visit Mahabalipuram which is near Pondicherry. So Pondi it was.
After a small mishap and a delay we were in Pondi by Friday morning. Pondi is a small bay side town where everything is a stone’s throw away. It was previously a French colony but now it’s a union territory in India. We loafed around in Pondi, saw few places but it was as if something was missing. We had dinner at a sea side restaurant, not exactly a sea side restaurant but a restaurant overlooking the sea. My wife suggested we visit Mahabalipuram which was an hours drive from Pondi, I was not keen to see where the Pandavas had parked their chariots and a broken sun temple. I hinted to my wife that I was not keen but she was all excited about visiting Mahe [ Mahabalipuram].
Early in the morning we hired a Taxi to Mahabalipuram, after an hours drive we reached the place. There was nothing in Mahe but for this scorching heat and an half broken temple. I just wanted to sip a chilled beer and get back to the comfort of my Air conditioned room in Pondi. Meanwhile, as usual my love found out that the most happening place in Mahe was the beach side restaurant. Though I was reluctant, like a good husband I agreed. I asked the driver was there a remote possibility of an A/C eatout, he just smiled and dropped us at the beach. From a distance this restaurant called THE SAND did not look very appealing but we did not have much choice the others looked worse.
As we walked towards the Sands, the weather from a sultry dry afternoon changed to a pleasant tropical evening. I looked at my watch it was 12 noon, I looked towards the sky the sun was blazing down but could not touch us because of the tall palm trees. It was as if the trees were grown just for our comfort, there was a nice shade from the trees and a cool breeze as well. A young fellow, Ramkumar asked us whether he we would like to sit on the beach or inside the restaurant. As I had mentioned earlier the restaurant did not look tidy, we opted to sit on the beach in the shade.
Ram disappeared for a while and reappeared “ its ready saar” only to point us towards an umbrella. This was a dream come true, I had dreamt of this in my childhood that one day I would be lying on a recliner with my wife next to me, on a beach with a cool breeze around.
It was all there, a beach side restaurant, an umbrella, the recliners, cool breeze, a novel in my left hand and a beer in my right and to top it all, my wife next to me. I could not ask for more, every sip of beer tasted better, the air smelt as if somebody was blowing the best room freshner to make it a pleasant stay for us. With every wave hitting the shore it wiped out all the stress. If my beer got over I just had to turn around and Ram would come running with a chilled beer. I don’t know whether the food was good but the ambience really made that food taste good. I ventured into the water every now and then. After sometime I settled on my recliner, the waves would rise and hit the shore a couple of feet from where we were and die down to return to the sea. After a while all the stress was gone and sweet memories of my school and college days were the only things on my mind. I shared everything with my wife, I could recollect most of the things. I was living my dream and I would not wind it up, I turned around to see my driver walking towards us, he looked a bit upset. He looked straight into my eyes and then into his watch, he shattered my dream “ its 6.30 saar” and reminded us that we had a bus to catch from pondi at 9pm.
All good things have to come to an end, we had to get back to Pondi and then to Bangalore. I was rejuvenated. No I am still rejuvenated and I know where I have to visit if I am stressed out at work.
Atmaram

9 comments:

Madhukar Hebbar said...

Cool man!

On a sunny day, nothing can beat the Shanti of tree shade with a cool breeze. Reminds me of udupi.

VidyaShankar Harapanahalli said...

Excellent Doctor....

After reading this I am planning to visit this place with family now... probably we all can go together as group... Keshav do you hear me?

Keshava said...

Pretty Nice, Atma. Have been to Pondi twice, but never got a chance to visit Mahe. Yes, even I would like to have a bit of Shanti and Mahe seems to be the right place. VSS, I can definitely hear you. Early Winter would be the correct season. Lets plan something.

Anonymous said...

Hello,

I chanced upon this article while browsing the internet. A small clarification if i may...

Mahe and Mahabalipuram are two different places. Mahe is a small town in Kerala, which is part of the Union territory of Pondicherry. Mahabalipuram is a place in Tamilnadu. Your article seems to suggest the two places to be the same.

I am not sure if you intended MAHE to mean something else/some other place. But if you are under the impression that the two places are the same, then i think you need to correct your understanding.

Atmaram said...

Hi
It is just that we decided to shorten Mahabalipuram, so Mahe came up.
I did not know there was an another place by Mahe. Thank you for your comment

Anonymous said...

Ok. Happens i guess :)

Apologies if my comment sounded too curt.

Gulmohar said...

Doctor!! Wunderbar.
Bays, let's plan for Mahe in Apr/May..

Atmaram said...

Apologies for what???
It was a good comment.
And as you written IT HAPPENS

Maald said...

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Mothers Against 'Loosers

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