Happy 4th of July!

(Now where was I? Vijayawada, right, thanks.)

After one very hot day, Vijay (our host) suggested we drive to the beach. All in favor? – YAY! Opposed? (crickets, crickets…)

Vijay is a prominent figure in his village but if you think Vijayawada is named after him, you are wrong. No one thinks that – and I asked everyone. It’s probably like Indians thinking Santa Fe is named after Santa Claus. Wrong.

The east side of India is an almost unbroken stretch of beachfront property. About 2000 miles worth. (The west side of India has even more.) The first time we visited Vijayawada, Vijay’s energetic young team showed us how to play cricket. 

On my turn at bat, I told the bowler (pitcher) to go ahead and burn it in.  He did, it bounced in the sand, knocked my wicket off and I was out.  Didn’t even get to swing and I was out! On my next ups, he bounced me a big fat meatball and I whacked it over everyone’s head into the Bay of Bengal. Bad form but deeply gratifying.

This trip, we visited a beach at Visakhapatnam. (You may not believe this but I actually mispronounced the name of that city the first time I tried to say it. Boy, did I ever get the horse laugh!)

Visakhapatnam was made famous during the 1971 Indo-Pakistan War for being the place where a Pakistani submarine was spotted trying to sneaky-pete around the Bay of Bengal. The Indian Navy sunk it. (If that’s the right term – a submarine’s already kind of sunk.)

We spent a couple hours cavorting on a beach which we had all to ourselves. Then we got to tour an Indian submarine. A pretty head-clonking experience for a bunch of big-headed Americans. (It would have been pretty cramped for Indians, too. Imagine 80 sleeping sailors leaping up at the call of “Battle Stations!” (CLONK!) Then, everyone dashing off at full-speed through steel hatchways and under iron pipes making all kinds of coconut head-pocking sounds.) 

After the team finished their business, the ladies went shopping while Vijay and I sat in air-conditioned comfort at this very Hollywood-like restaurant. 

Jumping around chronologically, here’s a previous group of ladies posing in their saris. The lady on the end didn’t know it when this was taken but she would very soon marry Vijay (who had no clue at the time either.) A little village girl photobombed the shot.

So I took a picture of her and her friends.

Then we all had ice cream. A good day.