Boating? No, it's gymming

Last weekend, hubby and I decided to take a break from boredom. Aarey Colony's Chota Kashmir. Wonder who named the place so. It's green. Grimy green being marauded...by the ever-so hellish traffic that passes through towards Thane, Kurla, Powai and Mulund. If that's not enough, visiting tourists do their bit by dumping waste.

The real experience however was the pedal-boat we hired. My first date before my hubby proposed, was such a boat ride on Sankey Tank in Bangalore three and a half years back (guess boating is shut now out there).

The next time a friend who was studying at IIT Powai, his wife and we two did a pedal-boat ride at Sanjay Gandhi National Park after an exhausting trip to Kanheri caves. The Park authorites had built a barrier over a moving stream, converted it into a boating-worthy water pool and got the pool dotted with boats. Sad. That was peak summer. But our boat ride was so refreshing!

We were no doubt eager to do it this time. Hopping on to the boat, a hunch told me something was amiss. The boats looked like they were at least over a decade or two old. 

The pedals were so hard to move! It gave us a feeling we would topple if we did not put all our energy to cycle the boat pedals. I was struggling, so my husband took over. In five minutes, he was soaking in sweat. The lever behind was proving tough too. The instructor told us that the boat would turn right if we pushed it left and left if we turned it rightwards. 

It wasn't necessarily behaving the way we wanted it to! His hand on the boat lever, legs on the pedal and another hand to get the right balance while holding on to the boat, it was anything but pleasure for my husband. The boat's pedals squeaking and screeching with every moment only added to the tension.

Add to it the possible chaos of other boats with families and couples moving in practically every direction! My heart would skip a bit every time I saw a boat moving in our direction even if about 15 feet away. My husband was obviously pushing hard, trying everything possible to steer clear of them. 

It was sunset time, but with so many boats jostling for movement in a tiny little water-body, we had to make best we did not crash into another boat! Heavy traffic is not limited to Mumbai's highways and suburban routes alone!                                                                        

We did steal some visual delights in the 20 minute madness. The sheer contentment of being there in the water and feel surrounded by trees! The sun turning pink from its golden yellow in a matter of minutes! Flower-laden plants dotting the artificial banks....and white ducks paddling away unmindful of us intruders gawking at them... 

Nevertheless, when our 20 minutes ended, we were relieved. ``I will never come back here,'' my husband declared.

Once back, we were more shocked to look at how loaded with dust the toy train area was. Bangalore's Cubbon Park toy train is any day better!

Three days before this, my co-sister with her baby, my brother-in-law, my husband and I had made a desperate dash before it grew dark, hoping to catch up with the boat ride. It did not work.

We left the club, glad that it did not work earlier! I still find it a mystery who named the place Chota Kashmir.