If it’s Sunday, it may be beach time

 

Chennai: Do weekends turn Chennaiites into mall rats or beach-goers? Going by the crowds on Marina beach it seems as if the sea wins, the visitor to the mall usually hurrying down the escalators, alm­ost tripping over fellow sho­ppers, with arms full of shopping bags, desperate to make it back to swipe the parking ticket before it rises into the higher hundreds with the clock ticking.

 

If the city slicker has it tough, his cousin sits in a leisurely fashion on the sandy beaches of the Ma­rin­a or better still, on the ro­cky beaches of Ma­h­a­­balipuram. 

 

Sukumar M, a marketing professional, who was at the Marina beach with his family on Sund­ay, says, “Almost every wee­kend we are here. The children like to play in the large pavilions and the sea is always pleasant to watch.”

 

Even couples seem to have taken the same road. P. Murugan, a resident of Tiruvanmiyur, and his fiance prefer to spend the weekend at the beaches and shop in the jostling crowd of T. Nagar. They describe it as an economical option. “Though we do go to the malls, we don’t do that too often. Even shopping is more fun in Pondy Bazaar, with all its noise.”

 

K.S.S.V.P. Reddy, director of Vandalur zoo, says, “The footfalls at the zoo are on the rise with an almost 10 per cent incr­ease every year. At weekend, we have a crowd of 10,000 people and weekdays, it is 3,000. The tickets are also minimal at Rs 30. Anybody can have a good time here without digging deep into their pockets.” Sugata Roy, communication specialist with the UNICEF, says, “ Even my kids prefer the openness of beaches and parks to the malls.”