Walking on Carter road

Took a walk along the sea face today in the evening. Perhaps my only break in the entire day spent outside the house and by god i utilized it to the fullest. Walked till I was out of breath and then sat on the promenade watching people walk by. Carter Road is in Bandra and is a long promenade that stretches for about a kilometer and a half by a rocky sea side. Since this road is near the posh Pali Hill area it attracts a lot of people from there who come there for a walk or a jog depending on how inclined they are towards fitness and speed. I prefer jogging though I dont do that all the time but it is a lovely feeling to run by the sea side as fast as i can go with the wind whistling by my short (almost clean shaven) head and reaching the end of the promenade out of breath but totally alive. I sat there and watched people,children, the aged, the cripple, the rich and the poor all walk by the same sea unmindful of each other and yet horribly aware of where they were. The rich and well to do walk faster for they have an exercise regimen to stick to, the poor amble by staring enviously at the rich and enjoying those few moments of freedom from their daily burdens, the children trot alongside their maids or their parents depending on the wealth of their parents, the aged sit and watch the others rush by and wonder about how at one time they too were consumed by the same sense of urgency and smile occasionally at anyone who looks at them perhaps seeing a bit of themselves in that person for a fleeting instant. Its sad to see some of the kids of today with jaded looks in their eyes even before they have truly experienced childhood. I firmly beleive that to know the fate of the world look into the eyes of a child. If there is no innocence, if the smile is fake and the child talks like an adult then you know that the future of the world is doomed. The children of today grow up too fast and we expect them to join the rat race, we run in daily, too soon. Its sad but perhaps one of the prices we will pay for a fast and hectic lifestyle that we have created for ourselves. Another fantastic feature of the present day is the amount of skin suddenly displayed by people. At one time if you wore shorts and walked about you were a maverick of some sort and if you wore revealing clothes then well the less said the better. But suddenly skin is on display everywhere. Guys, girls and evreyone else seem to have realized that the time is ripe to show off the skin no matter what lies beneath those clothes. So suddenly arms are being bared, stomachs tucked in and prominently displayed, underpants making more than the normal peek-a-boo appearance, as my friend Kaustubh would say its the awakening of the Indian middle class. He may be right but at times the sights are a plain assault on your senses. At times of course its not so bad (as long as the skin visible is feminine) but then at times the amount of skin shown would take away your attention from anything. They say there are more accidents occuring daily on Carter Road, walk down the road and if you are the average red-blooded guy dont be surprised to find yourself walking into a lamp post.