The lady at the beach

I have made this more of a habit lately....play (cricket) my heart out over saturday...catcha movie or something...crash at home late in the night and carry the mood over onto sunday...and then get panicky by the time it is 3...so get on my bike go over to a friend's place pull him out of bed and drag him for a cuppa at murugan's idli kadai..and then go gawking at beasant nagar beach nearby..the satisfaction of wasting a good one hour and then onto another friends' place...one who is on the same path to glory as me....and then onto thiruvanmiyur beach :-)..for some more gawking...and generally cursing some people in our lives....and then push off home for some good home made rasam chaadam and vazhakka mazhukkupuratti...CRASH!!
This week was no different..for the fourth consecutive week...but then some thing interesting happened on the beach..not beasant nagar, there was the usual hip hop crowd at barista's the families on the beach, lotso cops, and of course couples cosying around without a care in the world. It was Thiruvanmiyur were the action was.
The movie Garden state was on star in the afternoon...a movie that glorifies slacking off..one that questions the basic purpose of achievement....the central theme being "lemme be...what is the rush people"...it was like manna from heaven ...but only as long as the movie lasted..
The titles were hardly on ...and my mind already started playing the usual tricks...tricks which have become agonisingly more frequent...I have managed to find solace in the beach..when alone even with company around...It is mostly yakking that goes on between the 3 of us..nobody even remembers what anyone says...everyone talking as though on some sort of auto cruise mode..all the while lost in their own worlds...i was deeply into one...as the movie went ...exploring the infinite abyss..with the hauting sounds from Simon and Garfunkel chiming away in the background..
Dusk had given way to the night, but the beach was well lit by the tall neon lamps..the waterfront was dark though..only the reflection from the lights from afar...i was sitting with my legs folded..knees upward..and my hands holding them tight...my whole body in some sort of a shell...like u subconciously do when u feel sad/ when u r in deep thought/ or just for the heck of it...
i was scanning the waves to my left for some time and then slowly turned to look straight ahead...the waves were lapping rhythmically to the sounds of laughter from a happy family ...the scent of camphor burning near a clay ganesha...and to gently shake me out of my stupor a silhouette appeared...i couldnt see her face...only a slim pavadai and dhaavani... flutterng in the breeze...of all the open spaces in the beach, i will never know why she chose to stay right in front of me...gently letting the water catch up to her toes....the crimson pavadai getting wet all the time ...a lil shift to the right and the added light shows the golden mango coloured blouse and the matching paavadai neatly tucked up in the tummy.
As she ran back to wherever she came from...i feel a strange surrealism around me...a smile on my face even.. i don't know if my friends even noticed it..
she comes right back in front of my as i am back to staring at the water...her back turned to me still...here torso a mere silhouette but the paavadai lifted up gently till the knees..the reflections from the water revealing the most beautiful pair of legs that i have laid eyes upon...outside of monica bellucci that is..
a lil more into the water this time and the added mystery of the water covering her legs fully and then revealing those baby soft calves as it went back..i don't really know for how long i was staring....or was it just staring???
she just stood there for what was an eternity and i could feel the sand being pulled away from under her feet..sand slowly covering here toes as she sunk in one little step at a time....the time and the light adding up to create the perfect moment...a fleeting moment that ended with my friend running up closer to the water front to catch better look..
I do not know how long the moment was..a minute...fifteen maybe....but that was arguably one of the most profound moments that i can remember in a long time...compares closely with the funeral in american beauty...
i never managed to see her face...only those perfect legs...i do not regret it though...probably she never realised what she had just been part of...was it surrealism or a plane sensual moment..i do not know...maybe it is just my horny mallu mindset that has been seasoned by the craft of a few great artistic filmmakers..i do not care...my only regret though..if only i had my digital SLR that i had planned to buy long ago