The Bridges Of Lancaster County

Wanderlust found a unique way of fulfilling itself this year, right here in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania. Lancaster is the home of the Amish, a conservative Christian community that arrived in the 1720s from Europe, to avoid religious persecution. Their presence has helped this area retain its pastoral ambience, owing to their adherence to a mode of living sans the use of modern amenities. Just about an hour away from where we live, it is an easily accessible drive and this year, it has often featured in our escapades from isolation at home.The county has twenty-eight covered bridges and the highlight of our trips was a passionate hunt for one bridge after another, with several conquered. These covered bridges were built around 150 years back and the reason for such construction was to protect the wood from the vagaries of weather, combined with preventing the horses from getting spooked while crossing the brooks and rivulets and jumping right into them. They were also called 'kissing bridges', as in the olden days, lovers took a moment to kiss in the privacy they afforded, while crossing them. Take a look below and if you live in the area, visiting these bridges, can be a fun activity for you too.

Resilience and You!

Have you seen a plant withering for lack of water? I am sure you have. What happens after some time when you water it? It springs back to life. That is resilience. The ability to spring back into our normal healthy, positive self, no matter what we endure, in the course of our existence.

Resilience is one of the foremost qualities that we need to imbibe in ourselves, so we can make forward-looking strides in our life’s journey and thus be positive and spread positivity around us. It has become even so much more relevant, in the current circumstances, with the pandemic taking its toll on every aspect of our life, social, economic and most importantly our physical, emotional and mental health. Humanity is suffering from a collective fatigue.

During the pandemic, I have been seeking to find what activities could be done, whilst socially distancing from others. Among several things, we visited a lavender farm in Milton, Delaware with beautiful fragrant flowers, that refreshed our minds. Here is a glimpse of it with a humble request that each of you seek out ways in which, you can feed your soul with positive experiences, until we overcome this calamity, with a firm belief that all this will be over and move to our distant memory soon. 

Life in the Time of Corona

The sapiens were all jet-setting on thier own trajectories, when the whole wide world came to a grinding halt.

It was early March, when news of the COVID-19 outbreak started hitting the headlines more often, overshadowing everything else and moved quickly to panic. Even more quickly, the distinction between the 'haves' and the 'have-nots', was reduced to hand-sanitizer. A very rude awakening, to say the least, but one that will hopefully keep us grounded and humble, at least for the lifetimes of the generations, living this nightmare.

We were traveling in India at the time the panic spread, almost at the fag end of our trip. Until a few days back, the Bengali Koro-na or Beer Corona jokes had evoked laughter. At this point though, all humor was overcast by pall of the doom, the virus was bearing, in several countries.

Abandoning last minute shopping plans, I desperately looked for just a bottle of sanitizer. The commodity was nowhere to be found. But goodness prevailed.  A blessed lady, who didn't even know me, shared a small bottle of Lifebuoy brand sanitizer, on being asked by someone, who was looking for it for me. I hadn't thought about masks at that time, but by the end of the day, I wanted them just as desperately and managed to procure somehow. It was a 15-hour flight from New Delhi to Newark with a plane-full of people, otherwise mundane, but now a pretty daunting task to undertake.

For the first time, we donned masks in the airport, in a long line of many firsts to come. I enjoyed a Raj Kachori, at the Dehli airport, despite seeing instructions to avoid eating cold stuff and I am glad I did, because that would be my last nice meal eating out, for a very long time.

Raj Kachori at Delhi Airport

Back in US, we hardly got to step out for two days, before everything went on lockdown.I didn't care to find out, why toilet paper was running out, which I later read could be due to herd mentality or since people would have forty percent more consumption, as they would be home instead of their workplaces or schools.

I desperately looked for sanitizers though, at the end ordering a 1-gallon bottle from Amazon, that cost me a whopping eighty dollars. It was all the sanitizer I would need forever, but the item was unavailable soon after I ordered, so I was glad I did. After a wait of several days, it finally came.Now that I was a 'have', I decided to pay forward the good Karma of the lady who donated to me. I filled small mineral-water bottles with sanitizer and gave them to some neighbors, who couldn't find them.

Life as we knew it didn't exist anymore, other than indoors. Social distancing and video calling became the norm. The garage and kitchen became a war-zone and doing grocery (sanitizing, washing and drying) took precedence over doing laundry, which dwindled in volume anyway.

Hotel Ponce De Leon, now Flagler College of Liberal Arts in St.Augustine, Florida

Just four months back, when I was touring yellow fever torn St. Augustine and Savannah, I had wondered, how primitive it must have been, to lose a vast population to a fever.  I had read somewhere, even as a child, that the viruses of the world are our true enemies and that our scientific strides were mockingly minuscule, when it came to not being able to conquer these enemies. Today, our 20-20 vision has shown us that reality, making us aware of how myopic we had become and jogging us back to our senses.

But we are Sapiens - wise, thinking, collaborative humans. According to the book Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari, that is what makes us different from all other species and has led to our predominance and development, our willingness to work with and trust each other. It is not seen, in any other life form, to the same degree. We have lived through crisis of much larger magnitude and evolved to be better and stronger, as a species.

We shall overcome. Hopefully, that day will come soon. Until then, stay safe and strong!!

The Spring

This vernal equinox was especially benevolent, in restoring our lost smiles. After losing Max, a new puppy was not in the cards for us, both emotionally and due to hectic work and travel schedules. However, a bigger destiny fabricated by this circumstantial and indefinite home-stay, brought this adorable 14-week old golden retriever into our home and hearts. 

'If winter comes, can spring be far behind!'

Say Hello to Milo !!

Max & Me: Act III - The Marley Puppy!

Come spring it was time to explore the world with our brand new puppy. We had taught him his name  Max, his wobbly feet were now more stable and he was learning basic obedience commands like ‘Heel’ , ‘Walk’,  ‘Easy’ ,’Keep walking Max’  and ‘Halt’.

One of our first trips with him, was to watch the cherry blossoms in Washington D.C. We went around the tidal basin and Max got to explore his first gig at real social networking. A tug here, a jump there, a lick here, a wag there, the world was a brilliant place with something called humans in it. He had the heart big enough  to love them all immeasurably. It was one huge rushed overdose of love from him towards one and all and most in turn showed him their abundant adoration. For one little Labrador puppy, it was one big happy place to be in.

As we went round the tidal basin, kids and adults alike, said just one thing, ‘Oh, the Marley puppy’, ‘ Look,  the Marley puppy’ , ‘There’s the Marley puppy’ , ‘Mom, the Marley puppy’, ‘Dad,  the Marley puppy’.

At that time, I hadn’t read or watched Marley and Me, both of which I later did. All I knew was that one and all were admiring my fur ball. I let myself fall a little behind Max and daddy and lost myself in the resounding bliss, of Marley puppy compliments, that came from everyone,  after he crossed them. I had my very own Marley puppy and the rest of the journey was no less exciting as Marley’s own, just that Max is ‘The World’s Best Dog’.

Max & Me - Act II: Be My Valentine!

Fast forward a month and we were back home actively looking for a puppy to fill the home and hearth with fuzziness. It was time to realize the long unfulfilled wish  for that big friendly Labrador retriever.

The initial search took us to a website with several adorable Labrador pups, with exotic names like Rani and Rajah. We were hooked. But on google searching a little about the breeders, I found that they were Amish puppy mill owners, convicted for animal cruelty in the past. So that lead was abandoned.

Next was the American Kennel Club route. We picked an AKC certified breeder who bred pedigreed Champion pups. Champion breeds are ones who were sired by a dog who had won championships. He told us that a litter of ten pups had just been born, but all of them were already booked by other people. We would have to wait for the next litter in May, which was acceptable to us. A few days later, we received a call from him - one of the pups got canceled. Bingo! He was ours!!

It was on Valentine’s Day of 2009, that the purest love I have ever experienced, walked into my life, with little wobbly steps. His real doggy mom Mae, groomed my hand while I held him, with pleading eyes. I could only assure her that I would take good care of him.

In my arms, he witnessed the beautiful world outside,with his large droopy eyes, for the first time. I definitely said ‘Yes’, when this eight week old, seven pound fur ball asked me , ‘Be My Valentine’.

Max & Me: Act I- A Christmas Miracle

It was the joyous time of Christmas and we were in the City of Joy, Kolkata. Unlike in the US, where Christmas is a quiet family affair, in India everyone is out on the streets celebrating, mostly in gastronomic delights. 

We were there for our yearly trip to India and staying at the condo we still owned in the city, at that time, for the duration of our visit.

Along with the pleasures of the delectable Bengali cuisine, I also splurged myself with some gold and a lot of costume jewelry at Anjali jewelers in Gol Park. One thing that refuses to leave my memory though, is the delicious Mongines fruit cake, that my classmate from NIFT, Rachna had brought while visiting.

 Mongines is a famous bakery chain in Kolkata and used to be my favorite stop, when I lived there earlier. The cake came in fancy festive packaging and true to the stores punchline ‘ Moner Jinish ’ (things the mind loves) , it has lingered in my mind.

Amidst those material pursuits, unbeknown to me, in the other side of the world, my destiny was being written in liquid gold. It was the holy night of Christmas and a mother went into labor. Max was born.