there's a place where...

As much a reminder for us when we finally return... and a gentle one for you too...



Whatever you're up to on a Sunday night, you can be sure that on the beach at Mamallapuram, as the light begins to soften after another bleaching bright day, the spaces between the fishing boats and their nets will slowly be filled. As the sun sets behind the village, the group of girls and the group of boys will be taking turns playing on the bouncy black rubber buoy that the sea brought in. A young lad will come to join the boys, sent by his mum with his little brother who's just walking and who will be promptly buried to his waist by his brother's friends. There'll be a group of older lads playing cricket and shrieking each time the ball is hit, watched by two brothers as they take a break from walking their dad's sandals along the beach on fishing lines. An older fisherman is proudly walking a dog, watched by tens of strays weighing up the situation. Another group of girls dancing are as if they're on the telly and a couple more strays are settled in piles of drying nets to watch them. The fishermen are picking slowly through their nets, no longer caught under the palm shelter that protects them during the day. A cotton-clad tourist struts semi-confidently across the sand, wondering quite what his foot will find next and a lone women walks along the shoreline, keeping her head down and trying to enjoy the evening light too. Neither are noticed by the family of the sandal-walkers, dad stretched out on a net, mum sat nearby, boys running and girls playing in the welcome breeze...