KOCHI:Come rain or shine, umbrellas are always up at Marine Drive.Huddled under them are the youngsters in Kochi, who seem to have found a haven to spend some sweet time with their you-know-who in the stretch between KINCO boat jetty and Goshree bridge of the promenade.
The parasols not just protect them from the sun but also from the prying eyes of suspicious onlookers, giving them a moment of reprieve from the moral policing of both the beat constables and fellow beings of a state which still thinks public kissing is a threat to Indian culture. Sitting next to one another, some are clearly going through times of grief.
“Then, or, now, the city offers little privacy for young people who want to spend some time together. In my time, we used to sit in Subash Park. Thinking back, I wonder what did we speak of for the whole day,” says writer Bipin Chandran who has had his share of such moments with his wife before marrying her. “Three sections who disturbed us continues to do so,” he quips, “policemen, public, and of course, journalists.”