Puri beach is very different from its cousin further down the Bay of Bengal Coast, Pondicherry. Both have lifeguards dressed like traffic cops, but the similarities end there. It is a much more welcoming, playful beach here.
The surf was up the saturday I visited Puri, so no one was in the water further than knee deep (no boogie boards or body surfers in the crowd). Most beach goers sit or stand in their street clothes on the sea side of the dunes, in the wave zone, allowing the water to wash over them. Kids, parents, grandparents, men, women — everyone is there.
When you first approach the beach it doesn’t seem crowed, until you look over the dune. But these ladies don’t mind having the beach to themselves– it makes it easier to find an umbrella!
Dez in India 
The panorama seem funny- practically no one sitting or lying down. As if they’re just passing thru, or anxiously waiting for someone or something. I’m wondering how cold the water is.
That pic of the bovine ladies had laughing out loud.
The water is pleasantly refreshing, but not too cold (or too warm). They wait for the waves to crash in on them — and giggle and scream and shriek, all in good fun.