Thursday, April 22, 2004

I went turtle walking wednesday night. It was hmm..interesting. First, Tushar came and picked me up at around 8:30 and said " We arent expected till 10:00. I've got a full tank of gas and the scooter does not belong to me, where do you want to go? ". So we went through every road in Adyar, Annamalipuram and Mylapore.

While we were driving in Mylapore, we saw a girl driving her scooter get rammed by a PTC bus. There was this huge BANG! I got off the bike and ran towards her,certain I was going to see a gruesome mess, Tushar following me closely. I got to the girl. The bike had some structural damages but the girl was unhurt. A small crowd formed around her. She insisted she was okay, got onto the bike and drove away! You ought to have seen the way she rammed into that bus, I thought she was a goner for sure.

After that, we drove rather slowly back to Adyar where we were supposed to meet Tushar's aunt and uncle and also our very own turtle of the class, Chandramohan. Tushar then very unwisely asked me to sit with Chandramohan on his bike. The chap drove like a maniac all the way to Neelankarai beach. We screamed down the highway with Chandramohan clapping his hands as he made me listen to awful rendition of " Manmatha Raasa". I spent the entire journey telling him about the accident but the chap didnt care. We never slowed down.

When we got to Neelankarai, the rear tyre became flat. No puncture shop was open so we left the bike in front of one of those numerous vilas which dot the place.We got to the beach and found our guides were 3 kids who were just out of school and had very long hair. They knew what they were talking about anyway and we commenced our walk. We walked for about 20 minutes after turning back. Turtles werent expected so they asked us to go see the hatchery. The hatchery was a small hut like structure, surrounded on all sides by wooden poles. We went inside and got to see baby turtles hatching. About 12 hatched in front of us and we kept them in a basket. It took some time for them to become active. At around 12:30, we took them to the shore and waited for the waves to carry them away.

We spent the night on the beach and it was so damn cold! With Tushar sleeping on my legs, it was even more uncomfortable. Small crabs kept running over my hands and legs. At 5:00 AM, I finally got sick of it. I kicked him off said it was time to go home. Chandramohan said he'd wait for a friend to come and pick him up, so I took a PTC bus and left. Got back home, had a bath and deposited enough sand to have my own mini beach in the bathroom. Then I went to my room and crashed.

Went to Nungambakkam, Spencer's plaza and the British council.The British Council looks amazing after the makeover. Got back home by 7:00.

I guess I have to start sudying today.

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