THE MAID OF THE MIST

THE MAID OF THE MIST

It was a perfect summer day in Toronto with the sun trying its best to push the temperature beyond the late teens . We had driven the route from there to Niagara in quick time and soon I was walking down the ayle( my son decided to keep off, having lived there for some time) leading to a landing area where I was to board a motor boat.
I was taking in the sound of the falls , my gaze transfixed at the far end, where the great Canadian end of the falls was visible. Then, all of a sudden, I felt I was in another world, the one where I came from. Panic struck as I heard familiar sounds all around me. There I was, a second back, looking at and immersing myself into the magnificent journey of the river Niagara, and to my horror now , felt I was in Ahmedabad! Of all places! They descended with all their exuberance and chatter, attired in trousers and tops, with a few hats too thrown in for form, bottoming out in the Nikes and Adidas. All of them, men and women, in the wrong side of fiftees, without a care in the world for the other inhabitants and living beings around them, perched them self around me. Confusion set in and a sence of desperation.

I was certain that I had boarded an International flight from Mumbai, few days back , had immigration wondering what purpose I may have in travelling to Canada or the US and finally deciding to let me through after concluding that I was a harmless character. But then how come I am hearing Ahmedabad chatter and the familiar Manibhen and Karsenbhai!
The sound of the burly policewomen who resembled an hourglass designed the wrong way, got me back into my senses. Relief gave way to depression. The lovely Niagara Falls was there, all real, ready to spray its droplets on me. I was not in Ahmedabad but was in the midst of a group of Gujjus right there next to the boat that would take us close to the falls.

Bliss returned and my instincts and years of exposure to good old Gujjus told me to move away to the other end and join a small group of Japanese and Europeans standing still and very quiet.

The Nigara falls , seen by riding on the boat aptly named "Maid of the mist ", soon chipped off decades off my age, as I marvelled at the majesty of the falls, at the sheer power behind the descending water, while the droplets sprayed all over me. The heavens opened up and crowned the falls, both ones, in an arc , as light broke through the mist and clouds and got refracted into the seven awesome colours of a rainbow. The child in me reached out , unabashedly stretching both arms as if pleading to be lifted and placed among the clouds. The falls , the rainbows , the sun rays , the droplets my body and my being all merged into one, as the quarks and masons( fundamental particles we all are made of) all greeted and recognised each other. Nature became one. For those few minutes space time curved and stood still.

As the boat meandered its way back, my thoughts lept back into the ancient times as I visualised native Americans who first realised the power of the falls. Soon after the ice age , more than 10000 years or more back, the melting ice resulted in the water being released into the river Niagara. Ever since that, the annual freezing and thawing of the Niagara River wears away at the rocks under the surface and gradual erosion and periodic rockfalls steadily move Niagara Falls farther upstream. I , a few hours back ,had a look at a map that showed how the edged slope from which the water falls have eroded and moved upstream even during the last 200 years. Seeing its might up close, I realised that the power of nature has no match. Till the ingenuity of man , particularly the engineer ,whose name I dont know, who tried and succeeded at harnessing hydroelectric power from this fall way back in early circa 1800 AD . The Horse Shoe falls as the Canadian one is called , over 57 meters in height , is much larger than the American side one.
The area was one of the key territories which was witness to the undeclared bit obviously evident war that was fought between the British and the Americans. The British colonies in North America and upper Canada were the focal points. The war which went on during the years from 1812 to 1814 had its ups and down. The British led forces, in their blue uniforms, had earlier started losing substantial ground around 1803, mainly due to poor supplies and motivation. Some deserted and joined the red uniformed American forces.
The Battle of Lundy's Lane as it was called, was the bloodiest war fought in Canada.
In respect to the effect of the battle on the War, the British won a strategic victory, since the Americans on the Niagara had suffered so many casualties that they were badly outnumbered, and were forced to retire.

As I got into the car and glanced to bid goodbye to the falls, the sound of the falls continued to reverberate in my ears.
Earlier, like Neil Armstrong who allegedly found a narial pani wala from mallu land as soon as he set foot on the moon, my son located a mallu restaurant and there I had sumptuous lunch.
The falls and its majesty and history