Niagara

“Namaste” the park ranger gestures to me as I stand in the line to get my tickets. I am so shocked at his gesture that I utter a meek “hi” and rush away. As the line progresses we reach the location where we need to take the boat ride.

Behind me I see numerous people mostly Indians and hear a variety of languages from Hindi to Kannada to Tamil, Punjabi apart from English. The usher tells us to keep going and not stop for clicking the snaps throughout since we will get a better view later on.

I see old women in saris patiently waiting for their turn. The Usher then sternly tells us to hurry up and then shouts out “Jaldi Chalo, Jaldi Jaldi”. All the Indians around me turn to this American Usher and give her a smile as if she was not serious in what she was saying. But she means business. She repeats “Jaldi Chalo” and we all speed away to the awaiting “Maid of the Mist”!!

I had to pinch myself to believe that I was in Niagara, USA and not in India!! I truly felt that it was like one of the places of pilgrimage in India where you have to wait in line in order to reach the deity.

But deity it surely is!! The feel of how close you are to nature’s beauty and strength both at the same time struck me when the “Maid of Mist” stopped right below the horseshoe falls and the misty spray from Niagara hit me. You look around are spell bounded by the view. I will never be able to forget the feeling of awe at how powerful nature can be.

The Native Americans revered Niagara as a sacred place and when you see the falls you can understand why they did so. The freshwater gushing from high up is nothing that you can imagine!! It is no wonder than that we Indians are recommended to visit this place while in US. It is like paying respect to mother nature!!

Here is a link on facts about Niagara!