the beach

          Standing on the seashore you can clearly see the city’s stark contrast. There are imposing 5-star hotels facing the sea behind a huge wall. Ahead of this wall are cheap food stalls, handcarts and hutments on the beach. Welcome to Juhu Beach, Mumbai.

          Once you become a regular visitor at Juhu Beach though, you notice that it is the cheap stalls that define Juhu Beach and not the hotels. The hotels just stand there, silent, cold and indifferent to the crowd on the beach, whereas the stalls are where all the activity happens. The stall owners compete with each other shouting at the top of their voices, inviting you in to have a bite or quench your thirst. It is just a matter of time before you get enticed by one of them. They make sure that you have a large variety to choose from – Indian cuisine and snacks, ice-cream, popcorn, candy floss, cold drinks, coconut water and so on. The aroma of sweet corn cobs been barbecued on live charcoal is just as much a part of the beach as the waves. It makes the experience of that place complete. But the sad part is that you find the leftover of all these things on the beach itself. You find garbage everywhere, on the beach as well as in the sea. It becomes very difficult to take a walk without stumbling on anything!

          Nevertheless, you always find people on Juhu Beach, no matter what time it is. Some come for morning jogs, some come to enjoy the cool breeze at night, while some come in the evening to see the sunset, a must-see sight. A friend of mine had once gone to the beach early in the morning expecting to see sunrise, but the poor chap realised on reaching there that the beach is on the west coast, and the sun rises in the east, a universal fact that he has been studying since childhood!

          Whenever you take a walk on Juhu Beach, you notice that some things are always there. You always see some pet monkey dancing on the beats of the drum being played by his master. You always see people clicking pictures with their camera phones, and I am sure you will hear the words ‘camera’ or ‘photograph’ every two minutes. You always see excited children either on merry-go-rounds or making sand castles in a corner. And you always see the omnipresent garbage…

          The beaches of Mumbai are the dirtiest. Despite this, they are the favourite spots of the people of Mumbai. When they are happy they come here and enjoy; they party with their family and friends. When they are sad they come here and take a silent walk; the waves come towards them, give them a hug, and then go back, taking away all their sorrows with them. The beach is their friend in bright as well as dark days. The beach is all they have. The beach is and always will be special to Mumbai.