'Observation Report' Duh.

Life is not fair. When I REALLY BADLY wanted to get Mass Media as my IDE(ok.. for the non-MOPiians, Inter Disciplnary Elective), all I get is Basics of Journalism. People who had given mass media as their 3rd or 4th option got it, and not me, AND it was my 1st f**king option! A lot of people consoled(?) me saying I shouldn't have given it as my first option, Duh- late realisation. Anyways, coming to the point, my journalism teacher(who is called 'RathiChitra' by the way) wanted us to write an observation report. Yeah, OBSERVATION REPORT. We'll have to observe some public place and write what we observe. I know I can write a story, but this is definitely better than 4/14(0/3 log 0/3) - 3/3log3/3 -4/14(2/2log2/2)- 0/2log0/2 bull shit calculation I had to do for Data Mining, so I thought I'll give it a sincere try.

Ok... credits : Thanks to Srashta for his *enlightening inputs* and no-thanks to Sandhya for her..whatever (there was a blond foreigner chick in spaghetti, I was sitting with two people on a semi-date(?!?!), an intelligent lady with pink top sitting with two dumbos, two aunties with fat but empty wallets(now how did she figure that out?!?!) ).

Out in the open

If there is a place where you can see adults making out, children playing cricket and 'maami's making fashion statements, it has to be the this. On a lovely sunday evening, perfect for catching up with old friends, and making new ones, I happened to go to the cloistered Thiruvanmiyur beach, just to do that. But only after I went there I realised that a visit to the beach gave way to all this and even more.

There were dogs all around, black and white ones, brown ones, ferocious ones, not-so ferocious ones- dogs of all kinds. Then, there were beggars of all kinds. People who demanded, begged, pestered and forced us to give money. A visit to the beach is never complete without seeing couples hidden in corners trying to look for some privacy in an absolutely public place. People in oblivion to everything that is happening around them, even if someone stares right at them(like what my friend did).

If I flunk my exams really badly and don't find a job, I want to be an ice-cream seller in the beach. Selling ice-creams at double the cost and actually having people to buy them is something that you can't find everywhere. The beach is a good place not only to sell your products, but to market your products too. There were lots of commandos in black shirts('flavours of India' with a pizza corner logo) distributing pizza=discount pamphelts to everyone in the beach(including the secluded couples). They didn't forget to place pamphlets in the car wipers too.

There is a saying which goes like this- "Sometimes I wish I remained a kid, because broken hearts hurt more than broken knees". When I saw two boys(twins!) playing with a little tennis ball(aka பந்து), despite the heaps of sand, having the time of their lives, this quote was the first thing that came to mind. If I ever wore floaters to college with a salwar/saree, it would be a great fashion faux pas. But people walking in the beach are exceptions. You can see maamis with salwar and sneakers, with a headphone swaying to some unheard music and people in cars doing whatever.

If you are wondering, "Are there any people who go into the waters?!", don't even get me started on that. Men showing their 'family' packs with just a boxer on, is NOT something that we girls would like to see. So, all you Michael Phelps reincarnates out there, it's time you gave up. There are quite a few expats who have fun at the beach though. I happened to see a family having relaxed fun there. Now that's something we like to see!

I could've sat there the whole day just looking at the waves and people-watching. But when I told my friend she was really lucky to be living close to the beach, she just said, "I come in here maybe once in 6 months". Also, living in Perambur keeps me 'insulated from Tsunamis'. The grass is greener on the other side.