It so happens I have been in USA around October quite a few times. Few years back while in North Carolina I started hearing about changing colours of the trees. First I wondered how trees could colors, even though I had seen lovely pictures of trees with orange and red leaves, I had not connected them with any change in colors. Then I understood that during the fall season when the trees shed their leaves, just before falling, they change their color. The color ranges between yellow to red with so many different shades in between. At some time you just see lovely reds and yellows around you when you go outside. I was told all the places in Eastern coast from Boston to North Carolina has this change of color. At that time we went to near by mountain ranges to see the thick trees which had changed color enmasse. This lasts for a week or less and then all the leaves start falling.
This time when I was travelling by train to North Carolina from Baltimore, I could see wonderful trees all in different shades of color. In between I could see some dark green trees defiently standing straight . I could make out they were coniferous trees.
This reminded me of a tree we had in our Railway house in Palghat. We had this very tall tree just in front of the entrance of our house in the lawns of our garden. It looked like a pine tree but I knew it was not a pine tree. Then my father in law who was visiting us told me it is called an ever green tree. There this magestic tree stood all the eight or so years of my living there, giving me some sleepless nights when it leaned dangerously(I thought) towards the house. But it was a beauty to behold and gave a special look to our house which stood out amidst the same model houses in our street. (I wonder what happened to that ever green tree now as it is more than 15 years since I visited Palghat ).
Coming back to the present I could see a lot of Christmas Trees which are also a variety of ever green trees. Now I could understand and appreciate the significance of such type of trees being called ever green trees. Within a month or so from now all those colorful trees will be standing leafless and only with sticks as branches. It is entirely a different sight which is equally if not more beautiful to see those seemingly lifeless trees covered with snow flakes in the winter months.
Now something else came to my mind. I was thinking may be this particular tree, or part of tree was used for decoration during the christmas as it must have looked nice to see a tree full of green and full of leaves amidst leafless trees in the winter when christmas is being celeberated and that is why it became a symbol of christmas and came to be known as christmas tree. I remember reading in Da vinci code that December 25th is not the acutal birthday of Christ but since that day was some festival day of Pagan People (those who were following some other religion those times) the day was adapted to suit the newly converted Chrstians. So the christmas tree is significant because of the season in which christmas is celeberated.
Now I really have a new respect for my good old ever green tree of Palghat and would like to go and check on the tree.
Saturday, October 21, 2006
Train Journey in the US of A
I was very excited that I was travelling by train to Raleigh in North Carolina from Baltimore in Mary land. The excitement was understandable because I was taking a long distance train for the first time in all these years of visits to America. As I keep mentioning, the Public Transport system in US of A is not at all good, as everybody seems to be travelling by road in their personal transport what ever the distance.
When I decided to visit Ralleigh, many options were discussed. Srini volunteered to drop me which was nice of him but I felt to drive 12 hours up and down to drop me was not worth the trouble. We had visited the previous week end by car and had spent the week end with Anand and gone back to Baltimore. The distance between the two places is around 360 miles or so which is around 550 kms if my calculation is right.
The next option was to fly and that option was also ruled out as it is a pain to go through all the hassels of check ins, arriving early etc. and of course the cost is also not that attractive.
I said why not Grey Hound. Grey Hounds are big buses which take people across to many cities. Anand who had travelled by Grey hound was vehement in opposing that option. He said the buses are bad and the bus stations are worse and they are (the bus stations) so shady that I should not travel by that alone.
Next was to look upto Amtrack. That is what they call the passenger trains here. I was thinking I can travel by night so that I don't have to sit in the train the whole day. But to my surprise there was no night train at all between these two places. So we chose a train which would start at 10 a.m. and reach at 5 p.m. That was fine with me and we bought the tickets.
The interiors of the train was quite impressive and it was a chair car with lot of leg space and quite comfortable. It was a small train and it was almost full. I had not expected the train to be full as the day I travelled being a working day. So there were quite a few people who had time to spare to waste a whole day travelling.
The journey was very nice as the season being fall I could see lot of trees changing their colors and it was really a beautiful sight. I could do my hand work, read the book I had taken with me and I did have some chit chat with the passenger sitting next to me. It was exactly like a journey by day train back home where you exchange the small detalis about you and your family while gathering the same from your co passenger.
There were quite a bit of jolts , making me wonder about the track conditions, which was remiding me that I am a Railway man's wife who is sensitiveto the jolts. I had noticed while waiting to board the train in the station that some trains were delayed by 2 hours or so, which was put up on the big board. The other thing I noticed was it was a single track , and our train had to wait for other trains which were mainly freight trains to pass in many small stations. The freight trains were a sight to behold as they were so lenghy I just lost count. I am used to this habit of counting the bogies in any goods train when I watch them pass. It was more than 60 or so and the train had some four engines.
The train made stops in many stations and all these stations were small and had an old worldly look, one or two stations were almost on the main road. I could see the passengers being picked up by relatives parking their car on the road just near the train.
The train did have a caffetaria, but since I had taken some food and drink with me I did not bother to check it out.
At around 4.30 the coach attendant announced that we will be in Raleigh in another half an hour. So there was busy phoning time around, as each one of the passengers held their cell phone to call their dear ones to be at station on time. I was no exception, thanks to Srini I also had a cell phone with me.
We all got ready to get down as we could make out we were almost there. Now the train suddenly slowed down and came to a stop. It was amidst some trees and it was just 5 minutes to the arrival time in the station. There was no announcement and after some 15 minutes or so we heard an announcement apologising for the delay and telling us that there is a freight train ahead of us and so we are getting delayed. How long they did not say.
It was almost 45 minutes and still there was no sign of this train moving. So I cornered the Attendant and asked him why this delay and if there was a derailment ahead. He said there was no derailement but the freight train ahead had some technical problem and so they are checking it and he can not say how long it will take. Oh the Trains they are the same every where I thought. Then I called to tell Anand about this freight train ahead having a problem. He said I am just seeing a looooong freight train moving out of the station and so I think in few minutes your train will start. Luckily the train did start after a few minutes and it was just less than 5 minutes ride to the station. I reached after a delay of one hour.
But in spite of this I did enjoy the train ride.
When I decided to visit Ralleigh, many options were discussed. Srini volunteered to drop me which was nice of him but I felt to drive 12 hours up and down to drop me was not worth the trouble. We had visited the previous week end by car and had spent the week end with Anand and gone back to Baltimore. The distance between the two places is around 360 miles or so which is around 550 kms if my calculation is right.
The next option was to fly and that option was also ruled out as it is a pain to go through all the hassels of check ins, arriving early etc. and of course the cost is also not that attractive.
I said why not Grey Hound. Grey Hounds are big buses which take people across to many cities. Anand who had travelled by Grey hound was vehement in opposing that option. He said the buses are bad and the bus stations are worse and they are (the bus stations) so shady that I should not travel by that alone.
Next was to look upto Amtrack. That is what they call the passenger trains here. I was thinking I can travel by night so that I don't have to sit in the train the whole day. But to my surprise there was no night train at all between these two places. So we chose a train which would start at 10 a.m. and reach at 5 p.m. That was fine with me and we bought the tickets.
The interiors of the train was quite impressive and it was a chair car with lot of leg space and quite comfortable. It was a small train and it was almost full. I had not expected the train to be full as the day I travelled being a working day. So there were quite a few people who had time to spare to waste a whole day travelling.
The journey was very nice as the season being fall I could see lot of trees changing their colors and it was really a beautiful sight. I could do my hand work, read the book I had taken with me and I did have some chit chat with the passenger sitting next to me. It was exactly like a journey by day train back home where you exchange the small detalis about you and your family while gathering the same from your co passenger.
There were quite a bit of jolts , making me wonder about the track conditions, which was remiding me that I am a Railway man's wife who is sensitiveto the jolts. I had noticed while waiting to board the train in the station that some trains were delayed by 2 hours or so, which was put up on the big board. The other thing I noticed was it was a single track , and our train had to wait for other trains which were mainly freight trains to pass in many small stations. The freight trains were a sight to behold as they were so lenghy I just lost count. I am used to this habit of counting the bogies in any goods train when I watch them pass. It was more than 60 or so and the train had some four engines.
The train made stops in many stations and all these stations were small and had an old worldly look, one or two stations were almost on the main road. I could see the passengers being picked up by relatives parking their car on the road just near the train.
The train did have a caffetaria, but since I had taken some food and drink with me I did not bother to check it out.
At around 4.30 the coach attendant announced that we will be in Raleigh in another half an hour. So there was busy phoning time around, as each one of the passengers held their cell phone to call their dear ones to be at station on time. I was no exception, thanks to Srini I also had a cell phone with me.
We all got ready to get down as we could make out we were almost there. Now the train suddenly slowed down and came to a stop. It was amidst some trees and it was just 5 minutes to the arrival time in the station. There was no announcement and after some 15 minutes or so we heard an announcement apologising for the delay and telling us that there is a freight train ahead of us and so we are getting delayed. How long they did not say.
It was almost 45 minutes and still there was no sign of this train moving. So I cornered the Attendant and asked him why this delay and if there was a derailment ahead. He said there was no derailement but the freight train ahead had some technical problem and so they are checking it and he can not say how long it will take. Oh the Trains they are the same every where I thought. Then I called to tell Anand about this freight train ahead having a problem. He said I am just seeing a looooong freight train moving out of the station and so I think in few minutes your train will start. Luckily the train did start after a few minutes and it was just less than 5 minutes ride to the station. I reached after a delay of one hour.
But in spite of this I did enjoy the train ride.
Monday, October 02, 2006
The Lost German Slave Girl
Yeah this is the heading of a book which I read here recently. It is written by John Miller.
According to the cover of the book it is 'The Extraordinary True Story of Sally Miller and Her Fight for Freedom in Old New Orleans'.
This book is really good and the author says he was researching for writing about court cases in the 1840s when he got interested in the court cases involving the above mentioned girl and he has written it as a story.(narrative) which makes a very interesting reading.
The place this has happened is New Orleans which is a State in USA which was recently in news because of the 'Katrina' the strom which played havoc with this city which is situated below sea level.
There were many things which caught my attention , which I had not aware of. In this State there were many Blacks who were not slaves and were free. They were freed by their master or they bought their freedom by paying for it. (working extra hours and thereby earning ). There were lot of intermingling between the races, (not exactly marriage) there by having lot of mixed race children and adults in the population. Even the native Indians could be held as slaves. This lead to lot of white skinned people being slaves. Only pure whites could not be a slave legally.
This book is about a white girl who is supposed to be of German origin. A case is filed that she is a lost German girl who went absconding after landing in New Orleans from Germany. We get to read how there were so many Germans and other immigrants from Europe who also had to suffer a lot and do many kind of jobs , but they could not be held as slaves. (being of white race of course) .
The slave owner argues (his lawyers) that this particular girl is not of German origin but she is of a mixed race, who has definitely African blood, which makes it legal for him to have her as a slave.
I was horrified to read about how even if a mother becomes free, her children born while she was a slave are considered as slaves and are owned by the erstwhile Owner of the mother .
The story has many twists and turns . Thank God within some decades of this legal drama, due to civil war and Abraham Lincon slavery was abolished in 1865.
According to the cover of the book it is 'The Extraordinary True Story of Sally Miller and Her Fight for Freedom in Old New Orleans'.
This book is really good and the author says he was researching for writing about court cases in the 1840s when he got interested in the court cases involving the above mentioned girl and he has written it as a story.(narrative) which makes a very interesting reading.
The place this has happened is New Orleans which is a State in USA which was recently in news because of the 'Katrina' the strom which played havoc with this city which is situated below sea level.
There were many things which caught my attention , which I had not aware of. In this State there were many Blacks who were not slaves and were free. They were freed by their master or they bought their freedom by paying for it. (working extra hours and thereby earning ). There were lot of intermingling between the races, (not exactly marriage) there by having lot of mixed race children and adults in the population. Even the native Indians could be held as slaves. This lead to lot of white skinned people being slaves. Only pure whites could not be a slave legally.
This book is about a white girl who is supposed to be of German origin. A case is filed that she is a lost German girl who went absconding after landing in New Orleans from Germany. We get to read how there were so many Germans and other immigrants from Europe who also had to suffer a lot and do many kind of jobs , but they could not be held as slaves. (being of white race of course) .
The slave owner argues (his lawyers) that this particular girl is not of German origin but she is of a mixed race, who has definitely African blood, which makes it legal for him to have her as a slave.
I was horrified to read about how even if a mother becomes free, her children born while she was a slave are considered as slaves and are owned by the erstwhile Owner of the mother .
The story has many twists and turns . Thank God within some decades of this legal drama, due to civil war and Abraham Lincon slavery was abolished in 1865.
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