Weekend Retreat - Kelve/Kelwa/Kelva Beach - II

Contd... I am not really fond of beaches. I love the ocean though - I have enjoyed couple of evening sitting on Marine drive, simply gazing into the ocean, feeling overwhelmed. The reason a beach makes me uncomfortable is that I have never learnt to swim and every time I have tried to venture into the water, it has always been something of a disaster. I chose to join the trip to Kelve, as it is suppossed to be one of the least crowded beached closer to Mumbai. two hours drive from Borivali. Train should take less. On can board an intercity train from Borivali or take a train to Virar and then take another train to travel two more station on the western line. When we stepped on the actual beach, a gust of wind came rushing towards us to extend an invitation to embrace the 7 kilometer long beach. The beach wasn't crowded at all as we had expected. The sight of long stretches of sand sorrounded by a long long row of trees of various kinds was a welcome change from the monstrosities that choke beaches in Mumbai i.e. Juhu, Dadar, Girgaum etc. We decided to take a ride on a buggy driven by an old tired horse. For 50 bucks we went as far as the poor animal could bear. The sun was high and we were in no mood to get a tan, so we headed towards a shady groove. A lazy afternoon, yawned and gaped at us. We decided to open the bottles of spatkling wine - a first for me - its chocolaty flavour was amusing/interesting to say the least. Many a forgotten conversations got a new lease of live as the wine dive in and rose straight to our heads. Memories pleasant-unpleasant began to shed the dirt of time and began to get dressed in new words and distant impressions. When ever I am with my old batchmates from Pune, Department of Communciation Studies, we end up having a discussion our beloved and much respected Samar Nakhate. I didn't know that Rahul had the previlege of sharing cups of tea with Nakhate. He provided some new insights into life of Nakhate sir. To be contd... More in the next post