On May 17 at 6.10pm precisely, I got out for my daily walk. Sun was still quite high. I had decided to go Versova beach, which will get dark after sunset, as there are no lights there. On the way there is an entry to Seven Bunglow beach too. Just for the heck of it, I turned in. I love to take sudden decisions and check out my hitches… At the edge of the lane I realized something was missing. ‘Parekh House’! It had been demolished, obviously to make way for an apartment block. It had a sturdy stone structure and its interior had an old world charm. Parekh House had been a well known landmark and was regularly used for film shootings. I too had done many films here. ‘Aangan ki Kali’ was entirely shot here… never mind; old has to give way to new. And especially if you can't maintain something, let it go.

Last time I came to this beach, Arohi and Uchit were with me. It was their first day with us. There was a cluster of illegal huts all over. And the beach itself was full of human dirt. We had to dodge and walk. I was feeling very bad for the kids. They had come down from a squeaky clean Canada, to watch this …?  Today again I decided to take look. If it is not clean, I will walk along the beach to Versova, I thought. But surprisingly today everything seems to have changed for the better. Huts had gone and there was no dirt. Kids were playing cricket and football on the long beach.

Seven Bunglow beach is quite interesting. As you leave the road and step on the sand, you see a hump of sand going across the length of the beach that blocks the vision of water. You have to climb the dry sand for sea to reveal itself.

From top of the sand bump, I looked towards Juhu and was stunned. I had never seen so much clarity in the air. I could see Juhu, Bandra and even Nariman Point very clearly (even without my specks). It looked so gorgeous that I stopped and turned back to get my camera from home. I wanted to capture the scenes for everyone to see. I don’t remember seeing such a beautiful panorama, in my own backyard beach. But then I stopped and thought that it is a long walk home. If in the mean while, the light changes, I will miss everything. The pictures and enjoying it live too. God knows when it would look so pretty again.

From the sand hump there is a little slope down to a wide inviting beach. On the right is Versova beach, my usual walk destination. I started walking towards left. After a 500 meter walk I reached the edge of Seven Bunglow. Here a sea water channel separates Seven Bunglow from Juhu beach. The Mumbai sky line was looking even better as I came close to the edge. The stream flows towards land during high tides and goes back into the sea during low tides and that is when you can easily go across it.

Southern canvas looked like a carefully painted background for film shootings in studios. There was a uniform spread of clouds across the horizon in the distance. And under that long belt of clouds, city sky line was uniformly lit up by direct soft light of setting sun. Yet the sky on top was blue. Every known building was clearly defined. Sea Rock hotel, Taj Land’s End, TV tower at Worli and finally Air India and other buildings at Nariman Point. I could see the NCPA tower clearly. Soft sunlight was falling on entire coastal landscape and on the cloud-belt. Suddenly I noticed a white color spray of light or water near Bandra and was wondering what was it? It had a starting point from top and spread downwards left and right. Thanks to the magic of diffuser in my eyes, the secret opened after I had taken many rounds. It was the cluster of ropes that was holding a part of Bandra-Worli sea link, bridge! I thanked my memory stick, not the eyes.

Direct sun and its glare in water were making it twice as bright. I had to change angle of my walk. I took many rounds between the dividing stream and last cricket pitch. Many people especially young couples were crossing up and down the stream to reach Juhu beach. They had to hold their footwear in their hands and wade through ankle deep clean water.

Around 6.30, sun hid behind clouds close to the edge of water, making it very pleasant. Breeze had turned cool on my sweaty body. Around 6.45, I sent the sun to wake up Rimko in NY. Skyline had changed from the ‘Color’ film look to nostalgic B&W. Only a splash of flaming orange remained on the edges of clouds. A Jumbo jet rose quietly from the dark left. As it moved over Juhu, it lit up warmly in fading sunlight…

Now the sky got a color that I had never seen in my life. A band of purple color was spread above the stretch of clouds. I stopped and started staring at this never seen before, color. Clouds were totally in B&W now. Purple was also gradually changing its saturation. Effect of color kept reducing as proportion of black grew in the mix.

For a few moments I was getting this weird but strong feeling that I was on a wrong planet.