Weekend @ Eastbourne

There I was, buried neck-deep in configuring and referencing data for the global rollout phase, when Sethu and Sudarshan (Sud Gopal) ambushed me at my desk.

Sethu: Sashi, do you drive?
Me: Absolutely — and I love it. What's on your mind?
Sethu: How about a drive to the countryside this weekend?
Me: Not sure my Indian license works here.
Sud Gopal: It does, for the first 12 months. That's what I've heard, anyway.
Me: Let me check online, then we'll decide.
Sud Gopal: Meanwhile, I'll hunt for rentals.

Cue me frantically Googling whether I could legally drive for those first 12 months. Forums, FAQs, endless threads — nothing conclusive — until I landed on the DVLA website. Their reply came two days later, gloriously vague, but one line saved the day:

"As a resident, provided your full license remains valid, you may drive any category of small vehicle shown on your license for up to 12 months from the time you become a resident."

Barely three months into the country, and I was itching to get behind the wheel again. Equal parts thrilled and terrified about driving on foreign soil — though driving on the left, just like home, took the edge off.

The next few days went into trip planning. The tour party was Sethu, Sud Gopal, and me — the default trio. Work chaos put Nagendran's spot in doubt (soon to be immortalized as NASa Nags after this trip), and Vijay-superfan Vignesh was a maybe. After much deliberation, the "Famous Five" was locked in — NASa Nags and hero Vignesh making the cut.

Sud Gopal handled the car booking, complete with a co-driver (yours truly) and insurance, while I took charge of the itinerary. After heroic amounts of Googling and a deep dive into the National Trust website, I settled on Eastbourne and mapped out the whole thing: Tilgate Park, Arlington Reservoir, Cuckmere Valley, and Eastbourne.

Then the experts stepped in. Tilgate got cut. New plan: straight to Cuckmere Valley, then Cuckmere Haven, and wrap the day at Eastbourne. Sunday would be Beachy Head. Naturally, the famously moody UK weather tried to sabotage us — a sunny forecast flipped to heavy showers mid-week. We deliberated. We proceeded anyway.

Friday night was a whirlwind: a snack-hauling raid on ASDA, booking rooms at The Big Sleep hotel facing the sea, grabbing the car from Enterprise Rent-A-Car, parking it at Vignesh's, then off to Croydon.

Saturday, 9 am, we rolled out of Crawley in a Vauxhall Meriva 1.6 Petrol. Smooth sailing down the A23 onto the A27, until a stop at Cuckmere Valley met us with serious wind — so we made straight for Eastbourne and pushed the South Downs Walk to Sunday.

The weekend delivered: exploring Eastbourne, a cheeky flutter at a tiny casino, and a rowdy night at the Duke of Devonshire with drinks and dinner. This is where Nags officially earned his stripes as NASa Nagendran.

Day 2 kicked off with a hearty English breakfast, checkout, and a drive to Beachy Head, Birling Gap, and Seven Sisters Park. We hired bicycles to coast down to Cuckmere Haven. The weekend closed with a long drive back to Crawley, a feast of pizzas, pastas, and garlic bread, and finally home to Croydon.





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