Interpreter of Maladies
Thursday, June 08, 2006
The tourist in me-2Work again. And I am so not in the working mood. Its almost time to go home and I can feel the troubles of a new semester at business school knocking my head down. Between luncheons, dinners and breakfast meetings, I am slowly trying to wrap up my work and then gear up for a grilling flight back home.
Continuing the tourist update, I shan't miss talking about Niagara, the more tourist place to go. I wanted to see the falls because I had seen them in postcard photos and thought it would be great to see something so powerful and elegant by my own eyes. Niagara happens to be in New York-bet, you didn't know that-the state, I mean but it takes some 12 hours to just get to the place. Boarding the cheapest thing we could find on the internet, we finally set off on a sleepy Saturday morning. The thing that we bought on the net was a tourist tour done by a Chinese bus company-sounds shady !! I hate a bus tour simply coz it gives no time to you to o your own thing. You can't carry out your heart's will that is. But, at US of A, we did not find nething cheaper than this tour and finally succumbed to the cost benefit analysis.
The bus we boarded was full of INDIANS. Not for a moment would you feel homesick in that bus. It did have a few Chinese-the ratio would be 1:10 and even some Americans..!! The journey was a solid 12 hour haul with a break at a glass musician in the middle of nowhere. Corning Glass is the world's biggest glass making facility and the museum displayed history and facts abt glass. At best, it was okay. Didn't think twas nething great. It seemed to be more like an archway to the gift shop where Corning sells beautiful glass pieces priced in an outrageously insane fashion.
I bought a small tinkering bell. Thought it might be good just for kicks !! and a glass candle stand for a friend. I was so sleepy by the time we landed at Niagara that all I wanted was the comfort of a nice, comfy bed. But, the falls surprised me.
They are kinda the best thing I have seen in a long time. Set between a flange of mountains, the water falls from a majestic height over the rock bed on the surface. The force is so great that all one can see of the falls is a foamy mist unless you are really close. That makes picture shooting insanely tough. At night, as the sun set I heard and saw the waterfall. The noise being enough to mute one down. I saw the birds flying over the water back to the safety of their migratory hatching nests. And, then I felt homesick. :) maybe it was the birds or the fatigue, don't know.
After the night darshan of the falls, the guide did give us a comfy place to stay for the night. There, I slept like a baby. All fresh in the morning, I was famished. Ontario being a non-busy place like NY, no food joint was working at the unearthly hour of 7 am. Voila, what did we come across then. An Indian place, right in the middle of the Niagara falls hoopla. Wasn't I happy !! As me and the rest of the Indian crowd marched in, we temptingly looked up the menu and the whole Indian gourmet spread was there. Unfortunately the diner only served chola bhatura at that time.. so not much of a choice. But I think its stupid to complain. The Chinese people were fighting hard to adjust to the chola bhatura place. Some even ordered the Chola and were wondering what on earth it was supposed to be. Most of us had a good laugh at that !!!
The morning was booked for taking boat and sailing right under the falls. The MAID OF MIST as the trip the falls is fondly called is a journey to uncharted waters. Taking you directly under the American falls and then bang close the Canadian falls-it was the most awesome thing one can do. Looking at oneof nature's deightful paradises right in front of your nose was great !! Later in the evening we found out cranks and nooks to take snaps and were even able to catch glimpse of the rainbow that forms between the falls and the Canadian side. Coming back home- I was pleased. The Trip had not turned out to be as bad as I thought it will be, considering the cheap Chinatown bus and all that. And in the end I think I ended up enjoying more than I ever expected to.
Now to go back and look at some last minute stuff, reminders etc. Lets hope I don't forget anything.
