The Rocky Tryst-V

A post describing the same adventure is on the Sailor's blog...that one has pictures...but this is slightly differently written.

That out of the way, onwards.

It so happened that the our birthdays happened to find us in Mumbai. One fine afternoon, I had to go meet a friend, and the sailor tagged along. He said he wanted to spend sometime by the sea. They had bonded during his short trip to Goa, and he kept getting drawn to it, like a bosom buddy he wouldn't get to meet for quite sometime. Plus, if he was out of the house, he'd be able to smoke. An added advantage. Irrelevant. The point being, we found ourselves on the promenade near my house. We got out of the auto and set out in our two seperate directions, me to meet my friend, and him to spend some quality time with the cigarette and the sea.

My meeting with my friend done, I decided to see what my dear blood relation was upto. I called.

Me: Maccha, where are you??

S: At Bandstand.

Me: Wait there. I shall join you.

One short autorickshaw ride, I strolled up to the sailor, looking thoroughly out of place amidst the couples who didn't really notice too much. We took a few pictures, stared into the horizon for a bit, and then decided that we should really be home. He protested, and I thought,"Well, we do have some more time. Why not go check out the old fort?" Now, before images come springing, this isn't the kind of fort which you find in old hamlets which smugglers use as their secret base. This run-down fort is pretty much the major tourist attraction. You got a food-court, vendors selling their wares, and other such stuff. However, the fun part is outside the fort.

Outside the fort, there is this strip of rock which seems to stretch all the way into the sea and back. After pottering about in the kiddy section(The easy portion of rock where a lot of couples were around) and observing some crabs, the sailor decided that one could get a really awesome snap on those rocks. Not one to shy away from an adventure, I agreed. "Let us go. Besides, there are plenty of couples all the way over there. Shouldn't be too bad!!"

Famous last words.

Well, not really, but I do love the occasional touch of drama.

So we set off, on the rocks, me in the lead, looking over my shoulders, occasionally barking instructions to the sailor to watch out for a particularly wet patch of rock. Thus, scrambling here, walking upright there, we reached the halfway point. A sudden urge to look up possessed me, and as I did, a wave crashed against the rocks and managed to drench me partially. I shouted a word of caution to the sailor, and he soon scrambled to stand alongside me. As far as we could see, there was none but the two of us in the entire stretch from then on. The sailor wanted to stop for a smoke, but realised that he'd be drenched before he'd taken two drags from the firestick, so he decided to postpone it. We moved on, this time, literally on our knees, trying to find footholds and handholds where there were none. The sea was starting to get furious, and I was starting to wish I'd never suggested this idea. The thought did cross my head to turn back, and as I said it to the sailor, it somehow seemed foolish to abandon the trip once we'd come so far. So we continued.

Now, here's where the rocks started to get extremely slippery, several stretches going underwater everytime a wave hit the reef. We had to scramble across when the water had receded, before the next wave hit, which meant that the rocks were still wet, mossy, and extremely slippery. So, on hands and knees, we crossed those piles of rock. We finally were close to the end of the journey, when the biggest problem presented itself. There was a break in the rocks, with no visible means of making it across. The link was underwater and two wave cycles on, showed no signs of surfacing. On a dry patch, given our heights, we could have jumped across, but I wasn't ready to take a chance with the slippery rocks. I turned back to ask the sailor what to do when he shouted "CAREFUL!!!!" the next thing I know, a huge wave has drenched me, and I slipped into the water. The sailor screamed an expletive, but I waved him back as the water was only ankle deep. I picked myself up again, and climbed the remaining portion to safety. Two minutes later, the sailor came up, soaked to the skin, but grinning from ear to ear.

We sat down, rolled down our jeans, lit a smoke, and watched the sun set over the city that never sleeps, and a few couples who really ought to have gotten a room. Just as this scene seemed like it could get no better.....

TRING TRING TRING

MOM: WHERE ARE YOU PEOPLE???? IT'S GETTING LATE!!!!!1111

So much for that.

It was fun anyway though.

V