April 14, Ratheesh and I were trying to stay awake at the Bangalore airport. And I did not realize it's going to be a lovely two months forward. The Lufthansa flight to Frankfurt, the Air Canada flight to Toronto and another twenty minute flight to Ottawa, we finally reached after a 24-hour journey. There was a lovely thirty minutes during the journey when we were flying above Iceland, we got to see frozen clouds; call it tiny creeks flowing over a snow mountain range, or a huge ice cream dessert, or just a pool of milk, it was amazing!
The first weekend was a walk in the Ottawa downtown, finally we were able to see people walking on the streets. We crossed the Ottawa river from Ontario to the adjoining province, Quebec where we had a glimpse of the Civilization museum, one memorable experience was the I-MAX movie. It was an amazing one hour to watch a movie on a gigantic concave screen, there is a portion of the screen straight above your head even if you are seated in the last row! The picture on the left is the Parliament hill clicked as we came back on the bridge.
The next weekend was a trip to Toronto and Niagara. We started on an early foggy Saturday morning in our Yaris. Our first stop was at the CN Tower, Toronto and we saw the world from its tallest building. We reached Niagara that evening, walked over the bridge to the US and then came back to Canada to watch Niagara by the night. Thankfully both Ratheesh and I had our US visas. The maid of the mist boat ride was closed because it was off-season. There had to be a signature snap, so I had to get it clicked.
Ratheesh had to leave the next Sunday, so we went for a quick trip to Montreal. Montreal was a full French city, there was no board that read in English. We could see the Montreal Olympic stadium, the biggest slanting structure in the world as we crossed the Montreal river to enter the island. But the best part of the city was the live ecological museum, it's called the Biodome. Believe me, it was a thorough feast to the eyes to watch a bunch of penguins stand, walk and swim, all in a row.
Ice hockey and Tulips are the passions of Ottawa. Being in Ottawa during the summer and to not watch the Tulip festival, nay! Ottawa's the Tulip Queen of North America, the festival has hundreds of varieties of tulips, mostly imported from Holland. The entire stretch of the road from Dow's lake to the Parliament hill had tulips all along. We had a great drive along the Rideau canal. Not often will you come to Ottawa and even so during summer, we were just lucky!
The next weekend I flew to Boston to the Cisco, Boxborough office. I did make a visit to the MIT and the Harvard Business School campuses. I didn't want to miss out on New York having come so close to the city. It wasn't a bad drive alone in the car, for it was the right season with green everywhere. I met Chendur who stays in New Jersey and we went for a night's walk in the Manhattan downtown. Times Square, Empire State Building, Wall Street, Statue of Liberty, finally I got to see them all. I agree, New York never sleeps!
I came back to Ottawa and then there was a trip to Vermont and New Hampshire. NH doesn't have a state tax, so you can see malls all over its border so that people from the neighbouring states can do some tax-free shopping. But Vermont was easily my best jaunt, miles and miles through the green mountains, crossing a number of rivers and lakes, all of them so scenic. How can I forget getting caught in the hailstorm on the highway! Somehow we managed to drive faster than the storm and reached Lebanon, NH for the night's stay.
The historical city of Quebec was the only place left in the vicinity. I managed to form a gang and we drove to Quebec the following week. Forts and war parks, citadels and museums, the Notre Dame basilica, the Montmorency falls are all still fresh in my memory. Whatever the British and the French have not left after their wars, they have managed to leave their colours behind; the Canadian flag has white and red stripes on it along with its maple leaf. We walked around the city to click the lit garrisons; I never knew night photography was this difficult.
It was a really amazing two months in Eastern Canada and the US driving a whopping 5000 km in the process. The funny part was that I crossed the US-Canada borders thrice during the two-month stay, the first time on foot across the Niagara, the second time by flight to Boston and the third time in my car to Vermont. The Thousand islands, Hershey's chocolate factory, the lobsters, the New York subway paths, the Manhattan ferry ride, the Boston duck tour, the late night hotel search in Quebec, watching deers in the backyard ... finally I started back!
Homecoming was such a lovely feeling, I was literally counting every hour back on the flight to Bangalore. For a few days after I returned I wondered if India could ever reach the Western standards - the roads, the people, their manners, the respect, the common sense, the first-you attitude; for a few days I was trying to use my indicators while trying to change lanes on the road, I was giving way to vehicles trying to enter the road, was making an attempt to yield to pedestrians, but I no longer care about all those because I've become an Indian again!
I've lost myself again in the alarmingly huge population and an even appalling corruption that exists right from the streets to the palaces. Sometimes, I go back to my album to relish the reminiscences, but at the end of it what remains in me will just be a sigh! Anyway, I am more than happy to stay near my parents, friends and well-wishers rather than trying to find a place for me in an alien land amidst a set of funny swayers. Let me hope that the Indian air becomes less polluted in the decades to come.After a little bit of thought I feel that there are three highly inter-dependent factors in every place - the people, the money and the human character. These exist everywhere, just that different places have it in different proportions and that explains it all.
