A visit to the United States of America

Our member Mr. K. Roy used to visit his daughter, staying at Atlanta, USA, every year till 2018. He reminisces some fabulous moments and a few wonderful places that he had come across while staying there.

When last time we visited USA, we could witness the Independence Day celebration of US. They had organised an air show to celebrate that day. It was a marvellous celebration. A red carpet was spread out till the sea beach. It was really a sight to watch people of different communities walking in harmony, peacefully to the beach. People of all ages, caste and creed were present. Even the Bangladeshis, Pakistanis, Indians walked together without any bitterness. There were Africans and Chinese too apart from the natives. It was a fantastic sight.

As people gathered, at the appointed time, the former air force personnel began the airshow. Unfortunately, during the performance one of the pilots had suffered a heart-attack during the show and died. Nonetheless it was a great show.

Apart from this experience, we were fortunate to have visited various other places, such as the Niagara Falls, Alaska, Chicago etc. Niagara Falls, a group of three waterfalls, is one of the best, spanning the border between the province of Ontario in Canada and the state of New York in the United States. The cascade of water plunging deep into the gorge, was really an unforgettable experience. I noticed the presence of a lot of South Indians there.

Alaska on the other hand is an extreme north west state of America which has many National Parks and museums to visit. One gets to see grizzly bears, wolves, reindeers, and elks in the Denali National Park along with ice capped mountains which heightens the experience. The Kenai Fjords National Park offers some of the best sightseeing. The water around, with the ice capped mountains in the background, is a sight to behold.

The Museum of Alaska University is a house of millions of artifacts and specimens, which represent millions of years of biological diversity and thousands of years of cultural traditions.

Yellowstone National Park is a wilderness recreation area atop a volcanic hot spot in USA. It is situated mostly in Wyoming, the park spreads into parts of Montana and Idaho too. Yellowstone features dramatic canyons, alpine rivers, lush forests, hot springs and gushing geysers. It’s also home to hundreds of animal species, including bears, wolves, bison, elk and antelope.

Our experience of Chicago was quite different from the others. This is one of the largest cities of US, and has a skyline punctuated by skyscrapers. This city also has numerous fantastic museums.

Apart from visiting these splendid places my general observation was that there were many Indians staying in Atlanta. Many are Gujaratis and influential people who have set up their business there. There is another place called Jackson’s Hide which is also called ‘Mini Bangladesh’. A lot of Bangladeshis have settled down over there and have built their own community.

It really feels good to see the Indian subcontinent residing over there. Overall, spending some time amidst those pleasing places, itself had made me feel delightful.