Thursday, May 3, 2007

Durban day 4 – Umhlanga Rocks.

It was a nice sunny day and Caroline told that I should go to the beach. I strictly followed what she told me and went straight to Umhlanga Rocks. I got myself an umbrella, a beach towel, a book to read and laid myself down on the beach. It’s a nice beach with lot of people around.

I was reading Richard Feynman’s ‘The pleasure of finding things out’. It’s a very nice book. I have often come across some books, which suddenly change my flow of thinking in a much-unexpected direction. As this has done, I have started reading physics and such stuff nowadays. Believe me. But it is good to get such unexpected turns and twists once in a while. Life will be interesting. I suggest this book to you guys to read, especially if you like physics or science or if you like exploring things.

It was afternoon and the tides were rising high and I could no longer lie on the beach. I was also getting hungry and decided to get something to eat. I went to Sibaya again, had some lunch there and started playing again with the slot machine. I lost some money and won some. In the end it equaled out I guess. Then I was watching Black Jack being played on a table and asked another person standing beside as to what the rules were. He was happy to see an Indian there J I guess it knocks on some door of their heart and makes them happy. Ravi also worked with the SA police. Trust me; I was meeting a lot of people from the police. I don’t know why. Anyways he told me that if he had money I could go and play on another table where the bets were low – 25 rand. I said ok. We went to another table and I started with 200 rand. I played for some 15-20 minutes and I had 300 rand in profit. Not bad at all. But it was actually Ravi who played and I decided that we must divide the profit. He was my working partner! I gave him 150 rand. He did not insist of course. It was fun.

I met another Indian by name Kugen. He was from the Tamil land. It’s the same story that his forefathers came during the sugarcane boom. He was working as a technician for audio systems. He was happy to see an Indian too. He said that the Indians there still feel that one-day they should go to their roots in India. I was surprised to hear that he was sending his daughter to Bharatanatyam classes!! Not even people in India do it nowadays. They don’t want to lose the link. Somewhere in their hearts, its still there, that, they are Indians living in an alien country. Kugen also told that the Indians in Durban are very hardworking. On weekends the South Africans go to the beach and spend time but the Indians go to the market to buy stuff! I told him that his kids will start doing that stuff!

I think its man’s eternal quest to seek what he does not have. It’s very difficult to live with a sense of completeness. We always need a purpose in life without which our life will be like a ship in a storm with nowhere to go. We are always in search of that Lighthouse.

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