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Ocean's Eleven

I recently went on a short trip to a seaside town with a group of ladies, mostly middle-aged working women and it was indeed a trip to remember. We met at the railway station. Initially the conversations revolved around husbands stranded at home with zero-knowledge of cooking, much at the mercy of food delivery boys; and teenage kids who were more than happy to say good-bye to their hovering moms.

The train arrived. We got on board and soon the clanging wheels got us excited about a lot of other things. We chattered on about being free from domestic responsibilities for two full-days and being on our own. The compartment was filled with silly jokes and senseless laughter as we got younger in years. My mind travelled to my college days and I was reminded of the educational trips I went with my friends. Yes.  We were teenagers, once more.

As the night wore on, we realised we were teenagers only in terms of our endless giggles and jokes. We were given several upper berths for bed and climbing them with our 40-something inflexible bodies was quite the hurdle. Some of us did manage to do it eventually with a lot of cheering from our travel buddies and also fellow travellers in the nearby coaches. I must say I felt like I had reached the peak of Mt. Everest with all the cheering. No less a feat, I guess.

The next day, we arrived and headed straight to the beach. Lo and behold, we, the middle-aged women were now prancing on the waves, laughing excitedly; collecting shells and squealing like six-year-olds every time the waves rushed towards us. I could see age and worldly worries wash away with the crystal-clear waters.

A considerable amount of time was also spent trying to make Instagram reels to mimic the fads of our teenager kids. And I must say we were reasonably good at it, aided by a friendly, neighbourhood lifeguard who readily became an impromptu director and cinematographer for our reels.

We also tried to go on a bird-watching expedition on one of the mornings and spent more time trying to get the binocular in focus rather than actually watch birds. After several failed attempts, we did manage to catch sight of a few exotic birds. We did have the help of a very enthusiastic father-son avid bird watching duo who were staying in the same hotel and who willingly gave us free lessons on birds, even though we were rather unwilling students.

The sunset was magical. As the tides set in and the sun went down and the waves glimmered as gold, we stood together- eleven women, from different walks of life, world-worn with so many different stories of our own, mesmerized and rejuvenated by the beauty that is nature. I turned to my side and looked at this little sisterhood of the traveling kind – fellow travellers in the journey called life and I could see life’s wondrous strokes in each of them.  

Published in Decccan Herald, 16 November 2022

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