Faluda, Feluda etc.

On Saturday we went to the beach. Vai-Vow and I both loved it. It was a different experience for me even though I had been there many times. I realized it was not the same sea.

Usually when I go there I walk from one end of the road to another munching on roasted peanuts, salted mango, pineapple and guava (calicut has the reputation of putting anything into salted water, vinegar and chillies) and in the end have masala tea at Alibhai's Thattukada. This time I was in the mood for faluda. 

When I went to Calico Centric with kappa he asked me if Kolkata was known for faluda too. I said no. He asked me then why it was that Satyajit Ray had named his sleuth faluda. I laughed and said that it was Feluda and not faluda. He gave an embarrassed smile and pleaded that I not say it to anybody. So I thought I'll write about it. ;-) 

Speaking of Feluda, after reading the first book of 'The Complete Feluda' I had bought a tee shirt from Anand bookstall in Gariahat which had 'Feluda and Com.' written on it along with drawings of the three main characters. Some months ago I realized that it was not in my cupboard any longer. A Facebook status asking people on campus to return it if found also proved to be useless. It was Pal, batchmate from Cinematography who told me where to get the shirt. I had spotted her wearing one. When i put up the status she told me that she had lost her shirt too. Then she said that it was possible that Feluda from both our shirts had gone to solve a mystery.

A month later she got her shirt back. I did mine too, the day I had faluda with Vai Vow at 'Hollywood' ice cream parlour, Calicut beach. May be Calico was right. There was something between falu-da and Felu-da. 

faluda at 'Hollywood', Kozhikode beach

The beach was almost eaten up by the sea. Vai said that he liked areas which had less number of people. So even though it was not crowded we went to a secluded portion in South Beach. There it rained. We walked more ahead to another area where one could see the pillars from the time it was a port. Vai and I were there for a long time doing nothing. Then it rained again. It was windy too this time and I realized that my pretty little pink umbrella was very flimsy. It was threatening to break. Vai and I clicked pictures of each other trying to battle the rain. Two men were fishing. They got nothing.

vai vow at the sea, calicut

me battling the rain. click: vai vow

I longed for tea. Vai showed no sign of getting up. He asked me if I was bored. I wasn't bored but I had to have tea when I had to have tea. So we went to 'Papa's and Mama's'. He had good coffee and I had obnoxious tea. I hate it when they give tea bags. Vai Vow had an unnakkaya.

We had our faluda and returned home. It was a great day. Tiring too.

vai's unnakkaya at 'Papa's and Mama's', Calicut

What we didn't know then was that the sea had come home with us.