Sunday morning, up with the lark
I think I'll take a walk in the park....
Sunday six thirty AM and I was out exploring the little world I now called home :) What was that big bus in front of the hotel I asked the lady behind the counter? It was the team bus she replied looking at all the young Basket ball players and their coaches slowly filling the cafeteria. I went out and Walked to the pool side. It was bathed in light and empty. The crows my friends :) called and I went out. The mulch under a tree caught my eye. This mulch had been shred by a machine :) so unlike the whole leaves under our trees. I stood and stared. Slowly the Sun rose and the hotel façade glowed in the early morning sunlight.I gave Oatmeal a break and had bread toast with Peanut butter and jam :) Yesterday it had been Apple Cinnamon Muffin with Oatmeal :) Peanut butter and Muffin were childhood fantasies thanks to Enid Blyton:) I was living all my childhood dreams:) I walked around the hotel. The road to the mall was tempting I took it :) It was barely five minutes from the hotel. I crossed the main road and reached the beginning of the parking lot. It was empty. Would there be anybody inside the mall and is it open I wondered. What if it was open but had only few people? Nope I was not going in this early alone :) I turned and looked at the hotel. It was at arm's length :) I walked back. The Sun was young above the flyover. The road was empty and glistened in the sunlight. Stories of my photos had reached my fil. I mailed him a few. Today I would be going out for sure, my neighbour's sister had confirmed. But that would be in the afternoon. I settled down with Deepa Mehta's "Fire" in front of the window :)
The road glistened in the Sun
A worried sister called to see if I had a date at least today :) She closed off with a suggestion to eat a full meal :) I cooked two Chapathis . They were a little roasted :) I had finished the Puloa and started on the Kichidi :) Lunch done I continued watching the movie. Shabana Azmi and Nandita Das wow what a combination! To be honest all the characters have given sterling performances. I closed the iPad and got dressed.
My friend arrived at one thirty with her two daughters and we were off to downtown. Her husband was in another city and she was alone this weekend with those kids. They hadn't finished their home work. She apologetically said she would drop me and go back to oversee it. She was so unhappy at having to leave me alone. I cringed. I had to apologize for disturbing her :( I had met the kids in India so no surprises there. They were enjoying their outing. Half an hour later we had parked and walked up to Sixth Floor the memorial for John F Kennedy. The buildings seemed to sway when I looked up and why were they crowding me :( I looked straight ahead. My friend insisted on staying with me until I entered the museum and we joined the queue. There were a lot of young couples in the queue. And love made a couple lean then cling to each other. They were cozying up and nobody batted an eyelid. I was getting uncomfortable but acted nonchalant. Suddenly there was a passionate lip lock right in front of me :( I tried to stay calm but blushed inside. Instinctively I turned to look at the children; luckily they were at the back of the hall playing. It then hit me hard the answer to why Indian parents esp with daughters return to India. Finally I bought my ticket and picked up the change. Too embarrassed to count it I put it into my purse and entered the museum. I didn't know my cents and dimes yet :( My friend walked off with her daughters.
It is November 22nd 1963 and John F Kennedy the 35th President of USA arrives in Love field airport, Dallas. He was running for a second term and had arrived to support his re-election campaign. What a good looking couple I thought as I saw a picture of them getting down the aero plane. They were supposed to drive through Dallas in an open Limousine to a luncheon with civic and business leaders. Kennedy remarks his wife Jackie is more loved here than him and I cannot help but admire a radiant Jackie in a pink outfit. A few days before I left for the US my father had mentioned that Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas and today I was at the spot from where the shot that killed him was fired. John Kennedy was hugely popular all over the world. My parent's generation simply adored him.
The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza is located on the sixth floor of the Dallas County Administration Building (formerly the Texas School Book Depository) in downtown Dallas. It overlooks the intersection of Elm and Houston Streets. On that fateful day the cavalcade was supposed to come down Elm Street so that it could take the Stemmons Freeway exit to the Trade Mart where the luncheon was hosted. At 12:30 PM the President's cavalcade enters Elm Street to a waving and adoring crowd. Just as it crossed the Texas School Book Depository shots were fired at Kennedy and he became a searing memory of a Nation. The cavalcade does take the exit but instead of the Trade Mart arrives at the hospital where he is declared dead. Lyndon Johnson takes oath as the President on Air force One in the presence of a brave Jackie Kennedy and the body is flown back to Washington DC. A world is inconsolable and goes into mourning. World leaders pay rich tributes to him and he is buried at Arlington National Cemetery on the 25th of November. Lee Harvey Osborne the assassin is arrested 70 minutes later. And two days later as he is being escorted to the court Jack Ruby kills him. Warren Commission that is set-up to investigate the assassination rules out conspiracy and opines both Osborne and Jack ruby acted alone. Charismatic Kennedy's clarion call "Ask not what your country can do for you but what you can do for your country" in his inaugural speech in 1961 resonated with an entire generation of youth all over the world. He has left behind a huge legacy including US landing on the moon.
Elm Street | Stemmons Freeway exit |
Gary Mach the curator of this museum has done an incredible job as he meticulously takes us through this entire saga using photos, audio clips, videos and even a movie. He has showcased the gun used by Osborne to kill Kennedy. The cartons where Osborne is supposed to have rested his gun is arranged just as it was then. The cutlery set up at the business luncheon Kennedy was supposed to attend is also showcased. Every photo comes with an explanatory legend and an audio clip. We watch the video of Kennedy's cavalcade enter Elm Street, get shot and race towards the Exit and then look out of the window to see them down below eerie :) The picture of a young couple dropping onto the grassy knoll after witnessing the assassination and of Jackie climbing the car to retrieve Kennedy's scalp are evocative. The mood gets more and more somber and the museum becomes quieter and quieter as people with headphones move from exhibit to exhibit. Nobody talks and the children are shushed as the tragic story draws you in and engulfs you. It is so sad that at the end I saw people shedding tears. Remarkable and touching memorial to a people's darling. Wonder if anybody's memorial in India matches this pathos.
I put my headphone on the rack and walked out. My friend would be arrive in half an hour. I stood silently at the two huge pictures outside the 7th floor and paid my respects to Kennedy. A picture of Jackie made up of her husband's picture and Kennedy's made up of Jackie's is beautiful and romantic. Another picture built from The Dallas Times Herald's collection is testimony to Dallas's agony at having been the site of the assassination. On zooming in we can actually see individual pictures. I walked into the souvenir shop. Porcelain mugs, silver coins, commemorative stamp, T-Shirt, Key chains, books all of them celebrated Kennedy. I picked up the coin for my father and others. I was again shy and didn't count the change :( I have done this throughout my stay. I am wondering now if America owes me money :) Or do I owe America money :) I walked out just as my friend and her kids walked in.
Made from each other's pictures | Made from Dallas Times Herald's collection |
This time the buildings didn't sway as we walked out. We were friends now :) The train with a coach painted in Yahoo colors caught my eye. With the kids talking nineteen to dozen we drove off. My friend had prepared an elaborate dinner. I was eating plain white rice with "rasam" after five days :) For some strange reason I was not very hungry, perhaps the sensory overload of all I had seen and experienced since I left India had kind of overwhelmed me :). The affectionate kids wanted me to stay back but it was office for us adults the next day so it was back to the hotel.
A new week would begin tomorrow :)
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