The Pony Express - Part 3

APRIL 14TH 2008: PHILADELPHIA:

The tale of three cities is complete...

Philadelphia, The Cradle of Liberty, The Quaker City, and also, as its name translates, known rather embarrassingly as “The City of Brotherly Love” (Greek: philos – love and adelphos – brother) - the ancient capital of the United States of America. As we flew over the city at 4:00 PM, it looked much like any great European capital, with the mighty Delaware with its huge metallic bridges cleaving the city into two parts. Winter had given away to spring, and the ice and snow at the mouth of the great St. Lawrence River in Canada had started melting. The muddy waters of the St. Lawrence had greeted me when I opened my window during the flight. The earth was sheathed in a layer of snow, as if someone had sprinkled salt on the ground. The clouds were thick, resembling bales of cotton bundled up together and left to waste. This was a flight I would remember, in spite of “Enchantment” (I nearly wrote it as “Enhancement” – too much of work!) and “National Treasure: Book of Secrets”.

Philadelphia International Airport is one of the busiest International Airports in the world (as of 2008, it is the 10th busiest in terms of aircraft activity), a fact not lost on me, since it took me more than an hour to exit the airport after baggage claim and immigration clearance. As I waited at the entrance for the taxi, I noticed that most of the cab drivers were Asians. Not surprisingly, so was my taxi driver. And the taxi, it was a “Lincoln”. I gladly remembered that my previous car ride in the United States had also been in a Lincoln. “Hindi mein baat keejiye na? yahan pe bilkul sunne ko nahin milta” exclaimed the amicable Mr. Malik, from Lahore, Pakistan. What greeted me as I entered the cab was Lata Mangeshkar’s voice crooning one of the songs that I had unsuccessfully hunted for on the web: “Dil Ka Diya Jalaake Chala, Yeh Kaun Meri Tanhayee Mein…”

We drove through the countryside. Spring was breaking and the barren trees had started flowering. Colours of white and yellow dominated the roadsides, and the odd cherry blossom added to the revelry. It was almost six o clock when I settled down in my apartment. I switched on the television for relaxation and immediately found a Tele-Shopping Channel. And ironically, they were selling stones.