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Published: October 30th 2010
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‘Pacific Beach’ on the Arabian Sea
No, please do not open an Atlas or do a Google search on these words. The Atlas would frustrate you and the Google would mislead you into many directions and give you all sorts of unwanted information about Karachi, Muscat or Oman beaches as well as sea-turtles in Costa Rica.
I alone know that this ‘Pacific Beach’ is not located in Washington State, USA, but exists in nearby Kashid, about 140 Kms from Mumbai. Other people call it simply as ‘Kashid Beach’ but it is actually a replica of the Pacific Beach of USA.
If you think there is something ‘fishy’ about this statement, you are right and you will know why, in a moment.
Children’s puzzles often show two pictures which appear identical but there are small differences hidden in the details, which the children are supposed to spot. If I showed you the photos of Kashid Beach and Pacific Beach, you would be able to notice only one difference - The Kashid Beach is littered with dead fish at the high-tide mark while the Pacific Beach is quite clean.
Of course, this difference is also temporary. The dead
fish on the Kashid Beach is a recent phenomenon as a result of the oil spill from MSC Chitra. (This sounds like a girl with a postgraduate degree in Science but it is not. it is only a name for a merchant ship.) Had I taken a photo of Kashid Beach before 7th August 2010, you would not have been able to spot ANY difference. After all, the difference in temperatures does not get recorded on the photos.
Pacific Beach weather is quite cold compared to Kashid Beach weather. The water too was bracingly cold, while here it was pleasantly warm.
{The ships MSC Chitra and MV Khalijia collided with each other in Mumbai Harbour on 7th August 2010. MSC Chitra was carrying oil. Refer to the following link for details
http://today24news.com/breaking/mumbai-oil-spill-disaster-msc-chitra-collided-with-mv-khalijia-iii-092795 }
Hopefully, the oil-spill gets diluted enough in the sea so as not to cause the unnatural fish-deaths. Let them die ‘naturally’ in fishermen’s nets.
Except for the unpleasant sight and smell of the dead fish on the Beach, our stay at Kashid was very pleasant. The Resort, where we stayed to celebrate our 40th wedding anniversary has all the five-star amenities and
many foreigners seem to have discovered it.
(The ‘home-stay’ at Pacific Beach, USA, was equally pleasant though it did not have the five-star amenities. We did our own cooking and swam in the cold Pacific Ocean.)
The beautiful road to Kashid winds through ever-green Konkan. Plantation of coconut palms and ‘areka’ nuts (supari) border on both sides of the road till, suddenly you turn around a hillock and the Arabian Sea starts lapping at the shore on the right. It is an exhilarating sight.
At the Resort in Kashid, we swam in the lovely swimming pool in the gathering dusk of the evening. The velvety warmth of the water enhanced the enjoyment of floating on the surface looking at the yellow gibbous moon that DID look like a slice of Gauda cheese. I had not quite appreciated this simile before.
Relaxing in a hammock hung between two coconut-palm trunks, in the mornings after a heavy breakfast; with sunlight filtering through the coconut fronds, was heavenly. I have now plans of replacing my flat wooden bed-and-mattress with a hammock hung in the bedroom, though even I agree with Avi that it would look odd.
Avi would
rather have wi-fi in the bedroom. (Please note that this word is an antonym of ‘wife’ and they are mutually exclusive.)
We are, after all, an ‘odd couple’.
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