Horsing Around, Alibaug Style!
Come summer and the longing for a vacation starts…
The seeds for this yearning must have been sown in most of us during childhood, when summer holidays were planned with great zeal, by children and parents alike. Quite simply because summer holidays were the longest ones. Final exams were written and results declaring whether we had passed or failed were awaited. Rather the appearance of the postman was awaited. In my time the report cards were mailed. And we hung around the building compound waiting for the postman with great anxiety. The humble man, who knew us by name always got his baksheesh, which was proportionate to the ranking we got! My parents used to take us to Panchgani for two whole months! We’d leave first week of April only to return just before school would re-open on June 9 (and invariably the first rains would come crashing down on the first day at school). Our happiness knew no bounds and the memory itself gives me goose pimples.
I experienced a similar feeling in Alibaug recently, when I was working on this issue. It is a perfect place for long holidays, if you are fortunate enough to have your own home there. A cottage on the beach, a house on the hill… Alibaug is a sleepy town, village-like. You can go cycling, climb trees, or steal mangoes from a neighbouring plot. You can indulge in hobbies, laze, read comics, sleep under a tree, play card games like ‘bluff’! Of course these days children have changed as much as the lifestyle, yet that essence remains buried somewhere if you choose to discover it within yourself. All you have to do is have the will to sniff it out, track it down.
I found that willingness and child-like quality in Abbas Jasdanwala who at 75 still pursues his hobbies and indulges in activities which gave him immense joy as a boy, 60 years ago! He loves horses, always has. A good rider, his ideal form of relaxation and exercise is to go riding on the beach, every morning that he spends at his bungalow in Alibaug. I was ecstatic merely horsing around with my camera.
Or take Karla Singh who gives a tree a face and prances around her garden like a youthful elf, playing with toads. Or Niloufer Patel and Sajid Peerbhoy who go for long walks and cycle for miles, organise sufi evenings at Nyasa, their peaceful abode. Or Naaz and Remu Javeri who skipped building a pool because neither care much for swimming, but have a cozy Jacuzzi on their terrace in which they really chill out, holding hands, sipping champagne! Or Sunita Saxena who lives life on her own terms, free as a bird, sleeping like a baby in a pram, in her 400 square foot fully furnished open-air bedroom, which has mosquito nets for walls.
No wonder I got all nostalgic. I had loads of fun in Alibaug, but as an adult with a childs’ heart. Guess there is no other way to be.
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