Stopped at McD for some rest and here started the photo session. Soon were back at the roads with mast hindi songs. With Kishor moving to the front we had enough space at the rear (sorry bhai).
A smooth ride ..ooh why is Ganga pulling over the sides so suddenly. Hmm saw blinking red lights behind us. Ok, here comes the chacha (cops) - We were over speeding - Damn him everyone else was and the answer we got was - "I can pull over only one car at a go" - wonderful and why should that be us - destiny guys , destiny!- we had to spend an extra 200 bucks on the trip - it was written. The good part is it would not affect his credit points as we were in PA state already. We started again sober for sometime - but only sometime ; such was our group. Stopped at Denny's for lunch. Or at least was so for others - All I could have were potatoes, tomatoes, onions, lettuce ..oh yeah I forgot the bread. The good thing was a coffee at Lavazza to keep me going.
We were nearing at the state of NewYork - it started raining heavily -oh my God this is not what we expected. Reached Niagara. Drove through the old but beautiful downtown of Niagara. We checked-in at Econolodge. The rooms were very comfortable. We jumped into a bed and phew we went down with it. A nice yellow comforter , aesthetic lampshades. the bed was inviting. But we came here for the falls. We gathered ourselves and took a tram to the falls. By the time we were at the entry it was 8 'o clock in the light. Ah here the sun does not go down till after 9. Ok here we were, taking photographs of the gateway to Canada. This is the only border that can be crossed by air, road and water. And the two countries were so friendly -thought about India and Pak for a moment. Then off to the falls..
I was walking slowly .. wanted to savour the moment I get a first glimpse of the falls. Heard so much about the magnificence of the Niagara and wanted to capture the first moment of the look in my heart forever. I could see the mist .. hmm getting closer. We reached the railing ... Was this Niagara????%^$&$&$&^c... Yeah it was big - but magnificent? I was pretty much disappointed. Looked at my friends.. they were too. We took photographs , but the disappointment was
obvious. Okey! people have told us that the falls is lit up during the nights with beautiful light and that is a must see. We pinned our hopes on that . On the other side of the river was Canada. tall skyscrapers and casinos. Phew it started raining heavily . We were all worn out then - so went into a gift shop and did some shopping . But rain was not planning to stop. How long ?? had we come all the way to get stuck in a gift shop?. Frustration mounting, we got our self plastic coats and ventured into the rain. We went to observatory desk. Waiting for the lights that would light up the falls , hoping that it would suddenly make the falls a wonder.. Here are the lights..red.. hmm ok so ? Not much of a change. Oh my God! The lights kept changing colours once each after a dragging 10 mins, but colors on our faces had drained by then , due to the rain, cold and disappointment. We could not take it any longer and came back to our rooms and jumped into the inviting beds.
Next day morning , amazingly the guys were ready before we were. I have a feeling that they had skipped their bath - could not think about any other logical reason. We put some enthusiasm and talked our self into believing that the rides would definitely be fun. Waited for the bus only to realize that we had one , an hour later. Thinking we'll go back to the econolodge and wait .. we went in, only to get hooked on to a tour "Over the falls tour". They had a van to take us there and show over the entire place - And Chris was our Guide.
Chris wished us with a "Namaste" and "Vanakkam" - he really did. Most of the visitors to Niagara were Indians. He gave us fundas about the place, history of the falls and rest. First ride - we were dropped at was the "Cave of the winds". There was an elevator that would take us down 150 feet where the falls would drop and we could have a closer look . This was on the American falls. 10% of the water flows to the American falls and the rest 90% drops on to the Canadian horse shoe falls. Down we went in 22 seconds and entered armed with yellow coats and slippers. Walked down to see the falls dropping from the heights...
Oh GOD.. we were all speechless for a moment. The power, the force, the strength, the height, the volume - indeed it was magnificent , or can we find a better word? We were stunned and gaped at the falls and I felt it was mocking at us to say - come near me if you can.. after all that you said yesterday.Every step I took near it made me feel small. when I reached the end of the railing to actually reach out to the magnificence of the Niagara.. it just pushed me back. I could not , the mist, it was just the mist not even the water that was pushing me back. I was breathless. A now or never moment as my friend rightly put it , we fought as much as we could to fight the magnificence, we gazed at it and tried to sink in as much as we could the truth that this was an epitome that proved, nature was magnificent and we are powerless. We dragged ourselves unwillingly out of the cave and reached the planes.
Then comes the horse shoe falls. We were driven there and given some time there. If 10% of the water was so much, then I'm not going to describe the 90%.. man I don't have words to . So we took photographs, unmindful of the fact that our hairs were standing straight up like a porcupine !, so much was the static. Not a wonder that Niagara generates electricity for USA and Canada and power shortages are a rare event here.
Then off to a gift shop, our guide called it a museum. It had a few photo frames about the history of Niagara. We guys were pissed off about wasting our valuable time here. We had very little time.Had to head back by 1. Probably the tour concern had a tie up with the shop. Left soon to take the boat ride.
Maid of the mist. This would take you close to the horse shoe falls and head back . Wow, again down by 150 feet and we were on the boat with coats, blue this time. Pom , Pom started the boat. We were getting closer to the falls. Suddenly I felt insecure, actually scared - never loved boat rides. As we inched closer, I summoned my courage to look at the Canadian horse shoe falls. The sheets of water falling through. As we got closer, we were surrounded by nothing but water on three sides. The place where the falls had begun had merged into the sky , without even mimicking a demarcation and I felt as if I was in a different world. Keep staring into the waste whiteness, you are lost there!.
This accomplished the purpose. The rest of the places we visited were indeed good. But the Cave of the winds and Maid of the mist, I felt gave us a peek into the epitome of magnificence.
Niagara, Nature - I salute thee!
