Fall in the Garden state of USA

My first view of USA, as, on October 7, 2007, I disembarked from the Continental Airlines plane at Newark Liberty International Airport in the state of New Jersey, filled me with awe. Across the Hudson River, skyscrapers of New York were readily visible. Newark airport itself was magnificent. We took our time, observing the surroundings, coming down an escalator to a spacious waiting lounge. We left the airport, our heavy baggage [as luggage is called in the US] on carts, reached the Newark Air Station, an attractive structure, spellbound, entered a large lift [called elevator in the US]. From one side, came up, and exited with our loaded carts from the opposite side. The short journey from Newark Air Station to Newark Penn Station is as memorable for observing beauty outside the windows as for the symmetry inside of the train. We traveled by N. J. Transit up to Edison, where my son’s car was waiting to take us to his apartment.

I cannot with certainty say as to when the grandeur of tall buildings and wide, clean roads gave way to the scenic splendors of green grass and colorful trees. I visited the tennis courts, a couple of miles away from the residence, in the very evening of my setting foot in America, and kept this routine till a fortnight when chilly wind began disturbing and deterring me. I, on my turn, seldom disturbed the deers who kept on grazing non-chalantly by the roadside. Green, blue, brown, purple, yellow and flaming-fire-red leaves held me in rapt attention. Perhaps because it rains there every alternate day, there is abundance of greenery, which rightfully makes New Jersey the Garden State of America. The vehicles registered in the state duly proclaimed the fact, as those registered in Connecticut boast of Constitution State because American constitution was written there.

Alas, my arrival coincided with the onset of fall – as autumn is called in the US. The leaves started changing colors and falling wherever I went, yellowed leaves appeared to swirl in my wake, filling me with unmistakable scent of autumn. By the 31st of October, the Halloween Day, various kinds of vacuum cleaners had been commissioned onto the roads, either to suck in the leaves or to push them aside in continuously increasing heaps. Excepting Pine and Fur etc. Coniferous trees, all other trees were fast discarding their leaves especially the plentiful Maple trees.

On 22nd November, the Thanksgiving Day, people were on a shopping spree – not unlike our Dhanteras. Macy, Wal-mart, Pathmark, Sears and 7-11 etc. chain-shops open early and announce heavy discounts. I, too, had many things to purchase to take back home. I was mostly out that day, mostly in cars; but when on foot sometimes, the wind made me ache in my open parts and I had to hurry along, crunching the leaves, fallen in mad, variegated drifts.

The very next day was Black Friday. The relevance of the name remained unexplained to me. For us, it was a full moon night. A pious Telugu couple, the immediate neighbors of my son, escorted us in their car to Bridgewater temple, half an hour’s drive. There the presiding deity is Balaji Venkateshwara, but Ayappan, Vishnu, Ram, Krishna, Lakshmi, Durga, Kali and, of course, Shiva are also held in veneration. This system is found not only in every Hindu temple in America to accommodate all the Indian immigrants coming from different Indian states, but in Indian temples too, to honor the religious sentiments of different sects. Whatever, on this Kartika Purnima night we saw many more idols in the temple premises than leaves on the trees. And only after a lapse of a week’s time, from the second December to be exact, the twigs and branches, bereft of leaves, began getting covered by snow. Soon it was snowfall rather than mere fall.

Author name: A.D.B. Lal
Copyright @ openarticlesubmission.com

No related posts.