#life – Harleen Gurunay Majithia

England is a country replete with famous fascinating cities and towns with their unique vibe, interesting historical anecdotes and captivating architecture. Each year thousands of tourists visit the country to experience its alluring countryside as well as enjoy the hustle of its metropolitans. Yet what remains away from the sight is perhaps England’s most perfect gift to the world – the tranquil seaside town of Eastbourne in the county of East Sussex.

Eastbourne also known as “The Sunshine Coast” and “The Empress of Watering Places” was originally a collection of four small hamlets of Bourne, Meads, South Bourne and Sea House that developed into a charming resort town under William Cavendish, the 7^th Duke of Devonshire. Situated on the South East coast of England, the landscape consists of dramatic white chalk cliffs meeting the stunning vast blue expanse of the English Channel on one side ; a lovely sheep countryside of gentle rolling hills on the other, and a relatively flat and relaxed coastal plain with pebbled beaches on a third front.

Whether you decide to travel to Eastbourne via the A22 and A27 roads or via rail from London, the access to this intimate but vibrant town is easy and straightforward. I had chosen the latter as my mode of transport and I comfortably disembarked right in the heart of the town. The Eastbourne railway station itself is a key landmark featuring a blend of late Victorian and French Renaissance architectural styles with a pagoda style lantern roof and a clock tower. It opens its gates for you into a warm and pleasant town with lovely Art and Antique shops and restaurants with sunny courtyards lined on each side of the road. The best part is that the station is barely fifteen minutes walking distance from the Grand Parade road which is the heartbeat of the town. This road stretches along the Grand Parade beach and houses the historic ornate Victorian hotels that add a panoramic glamour of their own.

The short walk from the railway station to the Grand Parade road

The Grand Parade beach houses the famous Pier which was built in 1870 and offers a high spirit spot for good food and music (and interesting little shops to buy different souveniers, fishing rods, hooks and baits!) Another enjoyable spot on the beach is the famous semi circular Eastbourne bandstand which is known for its Neo Greco design, firework concerts and live band performances that take place almost every other evening, especially in summers. And if this is not the energy you enjoy, then the relaxed and sparsely crowded beach is perfect for family picnics, leisurely walks and ice cream cones!

The most eminent inviting feature that this town offers its visitors is the juxtaposed experience of the laid back vibe of the beach along with the adrenaline rushing thrill of hiking. As the Grand Parade road curves at the end of the pebbled beach, the town elevates significantly giving in to the white chalk hills which are ideal for beginner and intermediate level hiking. If you’re lucky, you’ll get to enjoy the wild run of beautiful stallions (on private properties) along this route. The hike can be begun either from the Cuckmere Haven or Beachy Head lighthouse (from Eastbourne side) covering the Seven Sisters cliff, Birling Gap and the famous Belle Tout Lighhouse. In either way, the trail presents marvelous sea views. There are regular blue 3A and red tourist double decker (more preferable)buses that stop by every half an hour at different stop points along this 4 hour long hike route, just in case you want to abandon the hike and return to the town.

Apart from this, Eastbourne also offers a rich dose of art and entertainment. The world class musicals performed at theatres in London’s West End can be enjoyed in Eastbourne without fuss. There are also impressive contemporary art galleries; especially the dedicated room to Eric Ravilious at the Towner’s gallery is worth visiting. Then the Eastbourne museum showcasing its 200 years trajectory of a life boating culture only further adds to your stock of experiences. And if you happen to travel in the month of August then the Eastbourne Air show would serve as an absolute show-stopper in your itinery.

There are places aplenty to explore in Eastbourne as it has been essentially designed as an upscale urban holiday town, however it is the comparatively exceptional warmth of the people and a relaxed culture of Eastbourne that wins over the heart. From the lovely lady at an Art shop who helped me handle my little one’s whinning, to our hotel manager who assured us a back up “shall we find ourselves stranded on the hike” (despite the fact that we were leaving the hotel and the town after the hike that day), to the most good hearted chef who reopened his fine dine restaurant late at night when he found that most of the places had shut down and we had missed our dinner (everything in Eatbourne closes at 7 and we were unaware of it)

Food served with love and care. Wonderful chef’s, wonderful hospitality. Experiences that stay with you forever.

Truly, Eastbourne serves as the perfect holiday destination that leaves its visitor with the most enriching impressions and experiences.

Practical Information:

Eastbourne is a leisurely coastal escape and can be easily accessed through the National Railways, however it involves a change in trains en route. The best time to visit Eastbourne is in the months of August and September. The weather is pleasantly warm in the day but gets cool by evening. There are plenty of options available for accommodation in hotels and friendly bed and breakfasts in the town.

If Alice did not fall through the looking glass, and if Snow White’s step mother had not asked the magic mirror on the wall – the stories we live by would have been different. What was instrumental in the deep inversion of lives of these characters was none other than the mirror.The mirror – a portal, a reflector!

Often we don’t pay attention to the kind of mirror we inadvertently end up using in the larger story of our life…
The symbolic mirror held up by a good friend who opined it’s “too early for grey hair”, or the mirror held up by the cousin who believed “salt and pepper, always so classy.” Or the mirror of our dressing room where each morning our gaze greets our gaze and opines “You do what you do!” But what if the mirror is distorted? Like the convex and concave mirrors at the famous Rock garden that entertained my little one and her friends evoking amusing little moments of carefree laughter. For a moment we were bulging outward with long necks like a Brachiosauraus and the next we had eyes popping out like some alien from Mars. And what if the kids really believed that is how they looked. Perceptions and reflections go deep hand in hand, don’t they? Just like the fact that the letters don’t get reversed in the mirror, it is us who flip the letters to read it in that mirror and eventually end up reversing them but the mind believes otherwise.

Thinking of mirrors, I couldn’t help run through vignettes of my memory when I was a kid or should I say the time in sepia for all of us when an entire generation believed in covering the mirror of the dressing table with a sheet or have flap doors on the sides of the portable dressing tables to open and shut the mirror as and when wanted. Were mirrors considered superstitious or magical in their era? Or was it a simple cord cutting between their everyday movement in reality and the world of illusion they could conjure up in their time of leisure perhaps while putting up the bindi or tying the turban.

Mirrors can certainly evoke strong feelings and provoke imagination. No wonder why mirror gazing has become a popular meditative therapy. Simply sit still and look into the mirror. It will either calm the nerves by bringing you into your present or release your inner emotional turmoil in a gush of tears. After all, there is an innate desire in us humans to be seen and mirrors do exactly that. However, they have another Freudian side to it as well when they act as a self portrait that we humans like to project on the outside world. Perhaps,the same psychological fundamental that has addicted the next generation to social media.

Talking about social media, don’t you think dear reader that it is the real magical mirror that should be ritually covered with cloth?! Because logging out has failed to keep people away from it! How we love to tune into our faces; sharing and oversharing our lives in a metaverse that tip toes on a thin rope of self and construct, narratives and counter-narratives. It certainly makes for a far more fancy, complex and interesting mirror that humankind has ever had (in Freudian sense and otherwise).

And I honestly cannot help with the wonderment of what Alice’s experience would be like if she falls through this new looking glass! A dimension yet to be completely explored.