Evenings On The Horizon

               A couple of weeks ago I went to the ( Marina ) beach. I went alone to the beach after an interview which I knew wasn't a great success because the interviewer and I had a moment of realisation that that job role wasn’t anything remotely related to my area of experience, studies or even my game. The deed was done and I am grateful for the experience of visiting a new place, I am excited about the part where I get to meet new people and go to new places most of the times. 

I met somebody named Aishwarya on the Thiruvanmiyur train; talked about Chennai and how I was new to the place, listened to her life story in the brief moment of passing. When she asked where I wanted to get down I guess she saw it in my face that I had no clue where it was that I wanted to go. I told her I should probably be getting back home but wanted to go elsewhere and she immediately told me I should hit the beach. A few minutes into our little conversation I re-realised that persistence is something I need to work on - she told me she landed her dream job at a bank now after two years of temp work at ..... drumroll....an IT firm. She got down at Thirumayilai MRTS station and I went on in the train until another older woman came along and suggested that I get down at the Lighthouse station if I wanted to go to the beach. Now, I know that google maps exists but some days I just don’t feel like draining my phone’s battery so I got down to the old fashioned way of making the most humane and effective connection while navigating a place - a simple ask around. 

I got down at the station after the Light House and made my walk across the road, to the shore and toward the water. I must tell you it wasn’t as great as my friends had hyped beaches to be. I might still not entirely understand “ beach please “ and the whole vibe of beaches although I was surprised that the place there was much cleaner and the water, bluer than what I had imagined. 

I was glad I was in a different place until the I noticed water droplets had sprayed on my glasses and people who wear glasses would get me when I say it’s not the most satisfying of all the things that happen to you or your lenses. Can’t change the way things are so I continued on with beach navigation. There were families, a harbour with pretty lights almost waiting to glow in the misty fog at the shoreline, people selling things, people playing cricket, people doing the things that you see on TV. I snapped some pictures like always and sat on the sand waiting for peace to hit me. The only hitting happening was the waves hitting the shore.

I gave it solid five minutes and nothing really happened I should say. Nothing epiphanic, nothing ecstatic, really. 
I was only really happy to be on the border of the map and I remember smiling when I arrived there, mostly because I was proud for some reason. It was just another day but with the beach included in my monotonous schedule.

I thanked an Instagram friend that night for posting beach stories on her Instagram sometime before and told my friend that I was at the beach and wanted to know my way back home, thank god for such friends man I mean they could be tired sick from work but they’d still pick up your call. 

The moral of the story ( if you were excepting one ) is that sometimes, beaches are cleaner than your imagination, sometimes Instagram helps you get the right vibrations from the right people if you know where to find them, sometimes you need to go to the beach alone even if you’re not a beach person, sometimes you need to have no company at the cafe or restaurant or whatever term for eatery sounds fancier, sometimes, talk to strangers and smile and send them off but do not, I repeat, do not take candy from a stranger at any cost.

Beach Evenings & Small Talk