SAILING IN CHOPPY WATERS

Fort Lauderdale:

From a distance, it appears like a languid canal, with sexy boats dotting both the embankments in a free display of affluence. Now this is what I would call affluence on the sails. This ought to be filthy rich man's world, you'd bet. It indeed is.

Only thing is that it's 2009, and not 2007 or 2015. It's all about timing, a smart and shrewd hotelier I spoke to the other day said. "You got to have your timing right in life; 'cause that's what determines where and how ya'd be!"

Well... I am talking about palatial bungalows along the serpentine canals that run through the Fort Lauderdale town, making it the "Venice of America." I've never been to Venice, so I don't know if the adjective fits this town or not. But that's what they call it here. The Venice of America, because you've got these clean canals - part of backwater rivers pouring into the Atlantic ocean - running through the town.

Last Thursday, my mentor - Antonio Fins, who is the Editorial Page editor with my host newspaper the Sun Sentinel - took me for a boat ride; his brother-in-law owns one. It was fun. I could meet Tony's family - wife and two kids, and his brother-in-law's family. It was a kind of late evening family outing in the Venice of America.

As we sailed on the waters, we passed by these eye-catching bungalows that we get to see in those lucid family operas or Hollywood films. We literally could peep through the windows to see the big celluloid sized flat TVs, glittering chandeliers and stuff. Most houses are second home to some of the America's wealthiest, who escape summers from wherever they are to be along the coastline for relaxation.

Saturday, I went through the same experience, but with a difference.

Chan - Chaning Lowe, who's my other mentor and a well known writer-cartoonist with Sun Sentinel - came in the afternoon with a Canoe and we went paddling it all along those streams, only this time the waters were choppy. This was a more than close look at some other mansions in different part of the city. I am still soar with my back and arms. Chan brought his little dog to keep company and she hopped on to the canoe to accompany us on what was my first experience paddling our own boat.

I'll mount a picture when I can, but this description shall help: People get out in the waters for an evening sail after their work and enjoy a beer or so before they come back for dinner or supper. Isn't that fun? But maintaining that boat means a price. In recession, that has taken a hit. People still try and keep up with that though. That's American affluence. Sadly it sucks fuel that we badly crave for.

Sunday, I drove to Miami beach to get some driving practice. And gosh, some one help me with those highways. I'm still grappling with my geography. Did we go east, west south or North??? I have no idea. It was thanks to John Dahlburg, my third mentor with whom I will get to work in the month of June when I join the team of metro reporters in thee Sun, that I could drive to Miami and reached home safely.

You need to maintain a speed of 70 miles lest you shall piss off many of those on your sideways.

Coming back to the boats and canals. As we sailed past the houses on Thursday evening, you could see the notices of rentals and sales every alternate bungalow. "They are on sale or rentals, because most of them have run into bad mortgages," Tony's sister, who works in real estate sector, told me.

That was just small tip of the bad home mortgage iceberg, an issue that America is awfully concerned about. People are vanishing like thin air overnight from their homes, unable to pay their loans. Want to know where they are heading? Don't know. But what I learn is that the numbers turning up at shelter homes across this county and the whole of the country are rising every day. Reporters talk about it. Editors talk about it. Common people discuss it across the table. It's everywhere. And it's getting worse. It's no more just people losing jobs; they are looking for shelters.

Most of those boats may not be sailing for until the economic storm calms down. It may take years, who knows?

Those who are still able to enjoy their evenings with bottles of beer on the cruise are lucky. And a canoe trip could be worth to find out who's doing well along those canal streams and who's not. It may throw up some great inside story.

From India this ocean look good. Take this: don't always go on the calmness of those waters. Stay alert, for there's always a storm brewing up beyond those.