The Pony Express - Part 11

As I waited to be billed at "Giant", two guys in black jackets, earrings and all turned up at the next queue. They looked perplexed. "I need the least colourful Mother's Day card. I know it's too late, but that's what my mom likes" he blabbered to the clerk. This country is surely strange.

The drive to Washington DC was beautiful. As we entered I-95, the huge spans of the Delaware Memorial Bridge rose up in the distance. We would not be going up the bridge on our journey, but our ride would take us through a beautifully green landscape. The weather forecast had been cloudy, but the rain kept us company throughout the ride. For a change, we saw massive traffic jams, but thankfully not on our lane.

Washington DC was a major surprise. The city was more beautiful than i had ever imagined. Skyscrapers were conspicuous by their absence. Old masonry buildings hugged each other on well-planned streets. The streets were laid out in lattice patters, being named after numbers and alphabets. The bigger avenues were named after the states of the country. It was as if we had stepped into any European city.

We never needed a map, but then, we spent precious minuted finding a place to park. Every building seemed to have a huge park. "Colonial Park" - claimed the logo everywhere. Little do they know that "Colonial" had a different connotation in India. However, all the Colonial car parks seemed to be shuttered - until we realized that even though these were public car parks, they required some kind of card to be accessed.

We parked in the basement of a huge glass building - perhaps the only one in the neighborhood. Getting out of the basement seemed to be the biggest challenge for us. Following the "Exit" sign on the stairway, we stepped out into a corridor full of doors on each side, with flourescent lights hanging from above. It resembled something out of a science fiction movie - a laboratory where virus had been accidentally released.

As we ambled along, the beauty of the place was growing on us. Soon, I spotted the huge triangular top of the Washington Monument obelisk rising above the trees. A storm seemed to approaching and in the swirling clouds the immense structure seemed to sway. The sky was filled with the drone of aircrafts landing and taking off from the nearby airport. Behind us stood the massive dome of the Capitol, and ahead the sparkling fountains of the World War II Memorial, where thousands of tourists were busy clicking innumerable photgraphs. The long rectangular tank with its still water resembling a sheet of green tinted glass stretched all the way till the Lincolm Monument, a scene which I had until now, witnessed in innumerable movies. And on our right, nestled amidst a huge garden, lay what is considered by some as the most important place on earth - the White House.

But for every human, home is the most important place on earth...

Tossing him the bottle of shoe polish I had gotten from "Giant", I told Sandil: "You should be proud of it!" Written on it in small white letters were the words "Made in India".

Pic of the Day: Babies' Day Out