Meeting crocs

Little Bean could not make his tryst with St. Andrew's Kirk and the halleluiahs on Sunday since his father decided to take him, and the rest of us, for a jolly ride on the East Coast Road, where Chennai's really good roads are. It was partly meant to enjoy the new car, meant for good roads, and partly to give the kids some entertainment.
Hence we decided to check out the Crocodile Bank. Since it was nearing lunch time by the time we hit the ECR, we looked for the ideal veg restaurant that would have the right fare for Ash.

With the kids clamouring for lunch, we finally drove into the Ideal beach resort rather hesitantly. Two years back, a New Year buffet dinner at another resort's restaurant had left us sick and incapacitated.
But Ideal's restaurant turned out to be good - it did not give us with a bloated feeling and it was tasty to boot, despite V asking for a less oil, no ajinomoto fare. While Ash concentrated on his veg noodles and french fries, we adults had some chicken fried rice on the sly.
We then drove back to watch the crocodiles enjoying their afternoon siestas. They looks like little rocks but the "Keep your hands out" warnings outside some enclosures made us eerily aware that many of those rocky masses had an eye open to lug at unsuspecting human hands on the wired fence.After watching venom extraction by Irula men at the 'photography prohibited' snake enclosure - which had cobras and vipers and other poisonous snakes safely harboured in earthen pots - we rushed to watch the feeding of a full-size marsh crocodile. The caregiver taunted the giant reptile with chunks of flesh, goading it to move forward to collect its food while the milling crowds outside the enclosure watched in rapt attention. It was huge and probably old and hated the effort.
There were crocs from Africa, Thailand, Australia and Brazil. I found the thin-snouted gharials more interesting - apparently they dont attack except when they are guarding their eggs and chicks. We even watched a gharial swim in a underground aquarium along with turtles.
Ash, however, kept reminding his father that he had to go to church in the evening but the tired parent promised to take him the following week. Anyway the little boy had enough excitement for a day, and kept talking about all the reptiles he saw until he fell asleep.
Thank you Romulus Whitaker. I need to take my boy to the Snake park next.