ONCE MORE!

          How happy I am…to be back after a short and sweet holiday! I missed you very much, dear blog, because you help me put words into my thoughts and feelings! As I sit down to write, my holiday seems to me, like the pomegranate….. You peel the tough leathery skin and lo and behold, you find about 600 seeds – the sweet, juicy, deep pink edible aril! And as you savor the fruit, the juice runs down your chin, leaving behind a sweet tingling sensation! That is how I felt - everyday of my holidays, which opened up new and exhilarating experiences, and I wished to share each one of those overpowering emotions with you!

          I looked upon the two commencement ceremonies with pride and joy! Both my daughters graduated this year, one received a Masters Degree in International Development from the School of International Service, American University; the other, a Masters Degree in Law from the Harvard Law School. The events were ceremonial, beginning with the traditional band, followed by staff and students marching in their academic Regalia-caps, gowns and hoods with tassels!   As they came up on the dais to receive their certificates, parents hugged one another and families burst into congratulatory cheers and claps to felicitate and celebrate the event. Both the schools honored their students, enumerating the achievements of each and every student award winner, thus proclaiming that it is the students and their body of work, which gives the school its distinct and special status! What a remarkable and inspiring thought! 

          I am happy to note that my daughters did not impose any limitations upon themselves in the pursuit of their dreams. One gave up a dream job, to follow her heart, and found a dream come true in the pursuit of her education. Another worked hard so that she could pursue her education in the college of her dreams! At this juncture, I could not but help make a comparison with two other sisters, my younger sister and I. We grew up in a small town in the seventy’s, and looking back, I feel, we were afraid to dream, binding ourselves to real and imagined limitations! How happy I am to see my daughters, young accomplished women, unafraid and confident! There is just one thing I am extremely happy about being born in the decade I did! No painful cosmetic waxing for me and no formal clothing either! To me, the sari has indeed proved to be very versatile, I just had to match it to the occasion and the weather!  

          Another unforgettable event was a trip to the Niagara Falls. We were lucky, the snow had just melted and the Maid of the Mist tour had commenced a week ago! What an imposing sight! The mist, the water, the birds, all together form an awesome sight, the thrill compounded by people watching stupefied!  As the cruise boat stood still, there appeared a rainbow below the falls! We seemed to be moving into a timeless chasm, into the spirit of an ancient age gone by! However the next day, the weather did not permit us for a walk round the caves but the tulips and the garden all round was an alleviative sight for every human soul!

         The sights and sounds leading to Niagara on our road trip were an indication of things to come. Our roads took us through rural Pennsylvania and life in the towns and villages made us envy the folks who lived in the quaint cottages amid sheer countryside! Elsewhere the rows of neatly laid homes, the flowery gardens, the parks and inns, presented another vignette of American Life, where speed and style did not hit you in the face.  

         Well, Washington DC watchers will tell you that the best times to visit would be in April when the white Sakura or Cherry tree is in bloom or during the fall, when all of nature is painted in red and gold! But I tell you this, April showers bring May flowers! All round Washington DC, at every street and every corner, the flowers were in bloom, in a multitude of colors! Their magnificent presence adds colour to the everyday life of people there! They infused in me a special longing, reminding me of gifts from a beloved! I would stop, stand and stare at them, again and again, relishing their beauty, so vivid, only to behold, but impossible to hold!

    
This second visit emboldened me and I did something unusual -- a salute and a shake of the hands with the Memorial Day bikers, veterans who roar across Washington DC on their thunderous motorcycles as a tribute to the American war heroes. I posed  happily at Madame Tussauds - with the wax idol of my Hollywood heart throb, Johnny Depp and the American Icon, Larry King! I did not have to reckon with any security problems nor heartburns!

           I also decided to be brave, to be friendly and say hello to the person sitting next to me! And the pleasure was all mine! The Afro- American clerk, the grandmother from Montana, the beautiful and smart lady who was a part of the Oprah Winfrey Farewell Show, the  primary school teacher from California, the Iyengar mami, who had retired from service in the India Postal Department, a young chatty fiancé from DC, a software engineer from India…… it was easy to connect! I found people warm and willing to share! What a learning experience it was for me! All these  wonderful moments made my second visit to Washington dc, an affair to cherish!